In January 2012, Gemma Parkin from the UNICEF UK Media Team travelled with The Sun newspaper to East Africa to meet women and children in some of Djibouti's urban slums and refugee camps. What's the impact of the food crisis on their family lives, and how is UNICEF's work helping them?
(Above) This is Fatouma Ali Ahmed. She lives in Balbalo, one of Djibouti's urban slums. Here, she's showing us the 100th latrine to be constructed in the area. UNICEF works with local partners to reduced cases of killer diseases in children by making sure that families living in these areas have access to proper toilets and clean water.
Amina Elmi (40) has used her sewing skills to start a business selling clothes at the market in Djibouti City. Her husband can’t find work and she has seven children to support. UNICEF has identified these children as extremely vulnerable during the food crisis. Amina received a cash transfer from UNICEF, to give her the means to generate an income for her family. The donation was made on the condition that her children remain in school, which is the best long-term solution to poverty.
Fifty-year-old Moumina Abedid has a similar story. She sells homemade donuts outside the local school in Djibouti City. Her husband passed away and she has cares for five orphans, as well as two of her own children. The cash transfer from UNICEF enabled her to buy materials to start the business. She sells the donuts for one penny each but earns enough money to care for her family.
This is Moumina's son, Abdoulmagid Idriss Abdillohi . He's 16 and has remained in school thanks to the UNICEF cash transfer scheme. He's now top of his class and plans to become a maths teacher.
Suleika Abdirahman Omar (23) and her children Fardowsa (1), Ahmed (3) and Rahma (5) are waiting for a check-up at the UNICEF-supported medical centre in Djibouti’s biggest refugee camp, Ali Adeh.
Suleika fled th
e conflict in Somalia with her husband and children, and travelled for 15 days to reach the camp, arriving with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Her husband collects firewood from the forest to sell, so Suleika says her family is not the poorest in the camp. "We pray to God for a better life," she says. We only believe in God and UNICEF – they are the ones who protect us, not our country." She doesn't even know if the family they left behind are alive or dead.
Khadija Mohamed (20), her baby daughter Fatouma (1 month) and her husband Abass Abdoulkada (31) have been housed in a tent in the same camp.
Khadija was forced to flee the conflict in Somalia while heavily pregnant and gave birth to baby Fatouma at the side of the road, near the Djiboutian border.
Miraculously, Fatouma is a healthy baby girl, and a true survivor. On arrival at the camp Fatouma was vaccinated by UNICEF and given a medical check. The family receive food, water and shelter but Abass is a proud man and says all he wants in to be able to work and provide for his family.
Every day more families arrive at the camp from Somalia, Ethiopia and within Djibouti, in search of food, water and safety. UNICEF supports the refugee camp by funding a nutrition programme to make sure that children get enough to eat so that they can grow up healthy.
At the community health centre in Balbala, severely malnourished children like Jamila (1) are given one week’s supply of special high-calorie peanut paste.
Drought has killed crops and cattle, driven up food prices and forced rural families to move to the cities in search of food and water. On arrival, these families build shelters from scraps of rubbish and search for work.
All of the major cities in Djibouti are surrounded by informal settlements, which have sprung up on a land that is too dry even for camels. UNICEF is delivering water by truck every day and is working with the Government to find more sustainable water sources and permanent shelter for these displaced families.
All photos: © UNICEF / Djibouti / Gemma Parkin
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Gemma Parkin is a Media Officer at UNICEF UK