Islam Times - The forgotten children of Somalia

Islam Times - ”It is the forgotten crisis.” This is what the UNICEF's Representative in Somalia, Christian Balslev-Olesen, said in 2008.

Islam Times reports from Yet it continued to remain forgotten, until recently, when the world decided to remember.

Less than a month ago, a famine was declared in five areas in southern Somalia. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the famine is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming two months. And nearly the same tragic story applies to the central part of the country.

A famine is a widespread shortage of food, which of course means widespread hunger. Malnutrition and death are what follows.

More than 29,000 children under the age of five have died over the past three months in the south. That's one child for every five minutes.

A further 800,000 malnourished children are now at risk of starving to death.

This starvation is catastrophic, as children are dying en masse. The severe drought however, as one of the root causes of this starvation, is surely a catastrophe in a class of its own.

Somalia has not experienced any significant rain for almost eight years. Most wells are dried up. The parts of the country with the greenest fields are in the south, which is suffering from deforestation; and which is now struggling with a devastating famine

Devastating indeed, when nearly 3/4 of Somalia's economy is agricultural based. Even though statistics from the US and the CIA World Factbook might have one believe the economy is “healthy,” it isn't!

The labor force consists of just a bit more than one-third of the population. Somalia imports twice as much as it exports. And this is a country that has oil, although no one knows exactly how much. But, if the economy was healthy, it would seek ways to gradually increase its oil production to meet its domestic oil consumption that is currently 50 times more than its production level and more than three times its oil exports.

Food shortage, drought and poverty are not signs of a healthy economy.

In fact, poverty is so extreme, that parents in Somalia are left with a horrible choice no parent should ever be forced to make. Which child to save and which child to leave behind?

“Finally, I decided to leave him behind to his God on the road,” said Wardo Mohamud Yusuf, a 26 year old mother of two, who was left with no option but to leave her four year old son to die alone, just so she could save her one year old daughter, as she was walking towards Kenya hoping to find some water and food.

This is in fact a scenario faced by absolutely too many in Somalia. Wandering around, hoping to find some water. Wardo is a real person, and she did lose her son. Luckily, she found a refugee camp in Kenya and managed to save her daughter and herself. Too many however, are not as lucky.

Somalia is a failed state. And even though it was called the “forgotten crisis” three years ago by UNICEF, one must acknowledge the time it takes to forget something, and the time it takes for a country to turn into a failed state. The conditions for the famine were ripe long before the world chose to turn its attention to the current humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

In fact, Somalia has been experiencing an extreme drought for over five years. And Mr. Balslev-Olesen warned the world about the great risk for a famine in 2006.

But too little has been done, and it was done absolutely too late. And now, just to remember what has been forgotten, will do no good.

While charity-based aid is greatly needed to help save the few it can, new policies need to be put in place to break this vicious cycle of starvation and poverty. The international community should put aside its differences and work together to bring life into the economy of Somalia in the name of humanity.

Trade is needed much more than charity-based aid, as the latter will only do so much for so long. A revival of the economy however, would help save the country from future famines and thus help save future generations, as no child, no matter their skin color or faith, should ever be left behind.