Ed note: Jon Warren just returned from Kenya to document the ongoing drought and famine in the Horn of Africa. Here’s a few of the images he saw.
One-year-old Zam Zam’s name means “pure water” in Somali, but he is malnourished. I worry if he’ll live long enough to see the drought’s end. His mother, Layla Mohamed, 23, who fled to Puntland from Mogadishu, Somalia with her husband and five children said, “I don’t sleep enough because I am so worried. I wake up in the night and give drink to the baby.”
Thousands flock to places where there might be food, water, and safety. Isnino Siyat, 22, had to borrow materials to shape some kind of shelter on her second night in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world, situated outside of Nairobi, Kenya. "We don't have enough food now. The last time we ate was this morning. Our food is finished,” she said. Isnino's husband couldn't help build the shelter. He had to attend the funeral of his 3-year-old nephew Ibrahim Haret who died in the hospital soon after they arrived at Dabaab.
In Dadaab swirling sand and intense heat adds to the misery of the refugees.
Life in the Dadaab refugee camp is difficult for children, especially if they have lost a father like Alihassan Hussein, 13. “We beg people for what we eat since we are newcomers. My mother begs. She borrows food from our neighbors. I only eat once a day,” he said.
Workers dig their third child’s grave of the day in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. This time it was for 3-year-old Ibrahim Harett, who was to weak to survive the 10-day trek to escape the drought in Somalia. He was the nephew of Isnino Siyat.
World Vision’s response includes health screening and nutritional feeding in Puntland, Somalia, on the border with Ethiopia. Two-year-old Mohamed Abdi isn’t happy to be examined, but his mother listens carefully when the doctor explains that he is malnourished and has a fever.
Communities surrounding the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya aren’t neglected either. World Vision is trucking in clean drinking water to some groups and drilling or repairing boreholes in many others.
My colleague Robert Coronado traveled to the Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya after I left. He was there to witness a 5,000-tent extension provided by World Vision in partnership with Shelter Box International. Despite the grim circumstances Robert said, “What I realized in photographing the situation at the Dadaab camp was the hope that the people we met have. These refugees know they'll get food and water once they reached the camp. But what really gave them hope for a better tomorrow was knowing that the have a simple structure to call home."
More photos from Jon’s trip to the Horn of Africa.
Photo Journal: Somalia, from worldvisionacts.org
Horn of Africa — Hunger, drought, hope, from worldvision.org
>>Visit faminenomore.org to learn more about the Horn of Africa famine and support World Vision’s efforts to save the lives of malnourished children.