Precis

Somalia is one of the most dangerous places on earth.

Almost two decades of conflict with the al-Qaeda backed terrorist group al-Shabaab has taken a huge toll on the country.

Now Somalia is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years.

With the world distracted by the war in Ukraine, the crisis is escalating away from the public gaze. 

This week on Foreign Correspondent reporter Stephanie March and producer/cinematographer Matt Davis travel to Somalia where makeshift camps have become home to more than a million hungry children and their families. 

There, they meet mothers with babies who have walked for days without food and very little water.

They hear incredible stories of courage and survival in a landscape that is unforgiving and unsafe. 

And they also face their own safety problems when their security team worries al-Shabaab has been told of their whereabouts.  

As the Somali government fights back against al-Shabaab, another threat, which they have no control over, is driving the extreme weather: climate change.

In the midst of this turmoil, the Foreign Correspondent team meets extraordinary people who are determined to make their story one of survival. 

Episode teaser

00:10

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Somalia is one of the most dangerous and devastated places on earth. There is conflict.

00:17

"What was that?"

00:24

And climate change.

ABDIRAHMAN ABDISHAKUR, Somali Drought Envoy:  This is the worst drought Somalia ever experienced.

00:26

More than 7 million people affected by the drought. There is also a terrorist threat.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: This has forced a staggering number of people from their homes and put parts country on the brink of famine.

00:31

All while most of the world is focused on the war in Ukraine.

00:47

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Somalia: When the world turns its back on Somalia, bad things happen. Mass migration. And when people are in the move, there is nothing that is going to stop them.

00:53

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Somalia has a reputation for being a hellscape and many parts of it are,

01:03

Super:
Stephanie March

but there is so much more to this country and its people. Amid this record breaking drought, is an immense amount of resilience and determination.

01:09

PAMELA WASONGA, Nutrition coordinator, Trocaire: I'll give this mother some credit. They're strong, that's what I can say. You can see she's still holding on to hope that tomorrow will be better.

01:17

ABDIRAHMAN ABDISHAKUR WARSAME, Somali Government Drought envoy:  I see the challenge, but I see the opportunity and I'm very much really hopeful that we have more, brighter future for this country.

01:26

Music

01:38

Title:
SOMALIA: A STORY OF SURVIVAL

01:44

Map: Africa showing Somalia

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter:  Somalia sits on the Horn of Africa; it has the longest coastline on the continent, but is beset by drought and terrorism. 

01:51

Flying to Dolow

We are flying to Dolow, a town that is under government control, but danger isn’t far away. 

02:02

Stephanie to camera in plane

Down there is Al Shabaab territory

02:10

Plane landing at Dolow. Super:
DOLOW, SOMALIA

02:13

Stephanie alights from plane. Wreckage beside airstrip

02:17

Armoured guard accompanies crew

In this part of Somalia, we have to travel in armoured cars, with armed security everywhere we go.

02:23

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Somalia:  People from neighbouring areas,

02:37

Adam interview. Super:
Adam Abdelmoula
UN HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR SOMALIA

especially areas under Al Shabaab control, have been fleeing to Dolow on the expectation that

02:40

Drone shot of camp

they will get some humanitarian relief.  I see the camps swelling more and more. The influx is just unprecedented.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Two years ago,

02:47

Camp

this camp on the outskirts of the town didn’t exist; now it’s home to 30,000 people.

03:03

Women building home

Work is beginning on a home for this family who got here yesterday. 

03:14

New families arrive at camp

As we are filming, a caravan of new arrivals appears on the horizon. 

03:36

They’re exhausted and have barely any possessions.

03:49

Camp officials process families

CAMP OFFICIAL 1:  Stand as a family.

03:59

CAMP OFFICIAL 2: Separate into your family groups.

04:03

CAMP OFFICIAL 1: Madam who is with you? Whose cart is this? How many families are in this group? How many days did it take you? 

WOMAN 1: We only counted by the shadow of the sun.

04:05

WOMAN 2: We have no food.

04:19

Stephanie to camera

STEPHANIE MARCH: This group behind me just walked in, they have been walking for ten nights, with no food and very little water. There is at least one child who is malnourished,  They are currently getting registered, they will be given a plot of land to set up a tent and then this will be their home for who knows how long. And the thing the camera can’t show you is how hot and unforgiving it is here.

04:24

Dust storm blows through camp

Dust storms blow through the barren camp, blanketing everything and everyone.

04:50

Aisha in camp with children

Aisha Sugal has arrived with her two children, 1-year-old Hamdo and 2-year-old Mohamed. The boy is malnourished.

AISHA SUGAL: For the journey, I didn’t have anything.

05:17

I put the kids in other people's carts and I was walking. I didn’t have my own resources or transport. I had to ask people to help me along the way.

05:32

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: She's walked 30 kilometres a day for ten days, and she is seven months pregnant.

05:47

Stephanie with Aisha

She was desperate to escape from Al Shabaab’s control.

05:54

AISHA SUGAL: Where I come from, Al Shabaab hide in the bush. If you own anything they come and take it from you. Even though we had almost nothing, they would take it anyway.

05:57

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: There was no room on the donkey cart to bring her three and four-year-old daughters – she left them behind with her husband.

06:15

AISHA SUGAL: I was so worried about them, but I couldn’t bear to stay while all the kids were hungry.  So by leaving with these two I could at least get some help for them and hopefully I can bring the others later.

06:26

More women and children arrive at camp

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: While the first group is being registered, hundreds more new arrivals walk in, all needing shelter and food.  The World Food Program is feeding more people in Somalia than ever before.

06:43

Camp official distributes food to Aisha and others

CAMP OFFICIAL: This is energy food. You'll be given a card so you can get food every month and the child will quickly recover.

07:03

AISHA SUGAL: Listening to your own children crying with hunger, I couldn't stay there.

07:19

I decided to go where there's a better life for my children. That is why I made this long journey while heavily pregnant.

07:25

Security guards get Stephanie into car

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Suddenly the mood goes from tense, to panicked.

SECURITY GUARD: We need to get moving, kind of now. Come on let's go let's go, keep walking to the car. Come on. Now!

07:37

Stephanie in car

STEPHANIE MARCH: We’ve just been bundled into the car by the security team because they found a man on the phone telling someone about our position and because we know that Al Shabaab are not far from here, we have to go.

07:52

Drone shots. Dolow

A couple of kilometres from the camp, the Dolow hospital is where you find the most devastating consequences of this drought and conflict.

08:04

Pamela walks to hospital

Nutrition coordinator for the NGO Trocaire, Pamela Wasonga has been working in Somalia since the last famine in 2011.

PAMELA WASONGA, Nutrition Co-ordinator Trocaire:  It is really getting worse when you look at the data. Most of the children that are coming in, they're in a very bad situation.

"Hello. How many admissions today? Eight admissions?

08:18

Hafey with Kalson

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Pamela goes to check on 2-year old Kalson, who came in with her mum Hafey five days ago. She weighs just 6.9 kilograms, half of what a healthy toddler her age should be.

08:45

HAFEY HASSANOW EDIN, Mother: She was sick with a constant fever. She had stopped eating and drinking, and we didn't know the cause.

08:59

Doctor examines Kalson

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Despite how sick she looks, Kalson’s prognosis in the short term is good.

09:07

HAFEY HASSANOW EDIN, Mother: Now she can drink milk and will even say she's hungry. Before she had to take nutrients through tubes.

PAMELA WASONGA, Nutrition Co-ordinator Trocaire: The prognosis is actually very good. Most of the time if we lose children here, they pass on the same day as admission.

09:14

Stephanie with Pamela

If a child survives the first 48 hours really, there is no reason we should lose a child.

09:34

Mothers and children at hospital

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The UN believes at least 40,000 Somalis may have already died because of this hunger crisis – half being children under five. It will likely get worse.

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Co-Ordinator Somalia:  Eighty five percent of Somalia's

09:40

Abdelmoula interview

wheat imports used to come from Russia and Ukraine. Consequently, the price of food across the entire Horn of Africa has increased by 49%. The traditional donors more or less wash their hands from Somalia. And if that continues, we will see a huge catastrophe in this country this year.

09:59

Stephanie with Pamela, doctor and newly arrived mother with child

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The newest arrivals to the clinic are Habiba Ibrahim Nur and her four children.

PAMELA WASONGA, Nutrition Co-ordinator Trocaire:  The youngest, the one who is really very severely malnourished, they are all severely malnourished, but she is in a very, very bad situation if I may say, but I am hopeful. With the care that we are giving I am hopeful.

10:28

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: A single mother, surviving on a dollar or two a day if she's lucky. She does what it takes to try to keep her hungry children happy.

10:48

Habiba interview

HABIBA IBRAHIM NUR, Mother: They just are kids, it is hard to raise them but I try to make them happy. I tell them "I'll buy you clothes, shoes, I’ll buy you this and that" and that keeps them happy.

11:02

Safiya

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Habiba’s 9 year old daughter Safiya stands by her mum's side.  When Habiba goes to town to find work washing clothes, Safiya looks after the other kids at the camp.

11:15

Habiba with children

HABIBA IBRAHIM NUR, Mother:  I say "get water" or "feed the kids" and she does it. She is young, but thank God she does these things. She is my support.

PAMELA WASONGA, Nutrition Co-ordinator Trocaire:  If you look at her, to me, I think she is strong.

11:27

Pamela interview

She is hanging in there and I'm having hope that since she is here she will get the help she needs. The women are very resilient. They are strong, that is what I can say, because if you look at the conditions they have passed through or they are in, you can see they are still holding onto hope that tomorrow will be better.

11:41

Mothers and children at hospital

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: These mothers and their kids are in many ways the lucky ones – they've been able to escape Al-Shabaab territory in order to get help.

12:06

Security guards. Stephanie in car

PAMELA WASONGA, Nutrition Co-ordinator Trocaire:   We know that there are people that are completely cut off from services. Because for them to get to where the services are, they would probably need to pass one of the areas that are controlled by them. Then it means that they can't come, or likewise, we can't go to them.

12:17

Map Somalia showing Al Shabaab controlled territory

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter:  The terrorist group Al Shabaab, holds large swathes of territory across Somalia, and has operatives in the capital Mogadishu.

12:40

Mogadishu airport

12:51

Stephanie to camera at airport

This is Mogadishu’s airport and you can see all the UN planes and helicopters behind me. It's one of the most heavily fortified and secure places in the entire country. But even here isn’t safe; just a few days before we arrived Al Shabaab terrorists launched a mortar attack that landed inside the compound.

12:59

Abdisakur in car

ABDIRAHMAN ABDISHAKUR WARSAME, Somali Government Envoy for Drought: It's very scary and very challenging. Myself, I survived so many times the terrorist attack, including my home, while I was traveling on the road, I survived a suicide road bomb. So you are dealing with that challenge and threats. I remember one of my colleague in the cabinet, he was killed by his niece.

13:26

Abdisakur 100%

She killed him. So when you live that reality, you don't know who you trust.

13:50

Stephanie walks with Abdishakur in compound

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Inside the airport compound, I am meeting Abdirahman Abdishakur, the Somali President’s special envoy for drought.

13:57

Abdisakur 100%

ABDIRAHMAN ABDISHAKUR WARSAME, Somali Government Envoy for Drought:  When you are living in rural communities in Somalia and facing a drought and Al-Shabaab impose you heavy taxes, or if you cannot pay, ask to recruit one of your loved ones. They put you in difficult situations.

14:07

Terrorist attacks

And that has created uprising against Al Shabaab.

14:23

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: After more than a decade of deadly terrorist attacks, authorities are fed up, and last year the government launched an all-out war against the insurgents.  They have the backing of the United States, Somalia’s neighbours, and most importantly – Somalis themselves.

ABDIRAHMAN ABDISHAKUR WARSAME, Somali Government Envoy for Drought: When the community comes against you

14:30

Abdisakur 100%

and you are insurgency living among the public, I think your time is over. It's like fish in the water. If the water rejects the fish, I don't see the fish can survive. Al Shabaab are now rejected by Somali public and Somalia people and now uprising against them and government providing leadership to fight against them.

14:52

Abdelmoula interview

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia Adam Abdelmoula, first worked here more than twenty years ago and says success isn’t guaranteed.

15:14

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Co-Ordinator Somalia:  The government continues to move from one operation theatre to the next. So its holding capabilities are very limited. They recover an area, they move to the next, and in some cases, Al Shabaab comes back and takes over the territory again.

15:26

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: But the government is resolute.

15:45

Abdisakur interview

ABDIRAHMAN ABDISHAKUR WARSAME, Somali Government Envoy for Drought: In my opinion, in my calculation, in my understanding, this is the beginning of the end of Al-Shabaab.

15:48

Map showing Somaliland

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: To see what a peaceful Somalia could look like we’re going to the country's north, to a place called Somaliland.

15:54

Somaliland street GVs

This region declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991, but it hasn’t been recognised internationally. Al Shabaab hasn’t been able to gain a foothold here, and the sense of freedom in the capital Hargeisa is a total contrast to Mogadishu.

16:05

Abdelmoula interview

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Co-Ordinator Somalia: Somaliland, and especially Hargeisa, is a testament to what peace could bring. You see a bustling city in par with any other major city in Africa.

16:29

The leaders did not create all of this. The leaders provided stability and peace, and the people did the rest. And what happened in Hargeisa could happen in any part of Somalia if the leaders bring about peace.

16:42

Stephanie walks with Abdirashid in Hargeisa

ABDIRASHID DUALE, Dahabshiil CEO: This is our downtown Hargeisa, this is where all the markets of the business come, and people come here to buy their fruit, clothes. This is the market where everybody comes to greet each other.

17:02

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter:  It will take us about two hours to get to the tea shop. Walking through Hargeisa with Abdirashid Duale is like being with a rock star. He’s the CEO of the biggest money transfer company in the Horn of Africa, Dahabshiil, and is one of the wealthiest people in the region. He says this part of the world is often misrepresented.

17:19

Stephanie and Abdirashid at tea shop

ABDIRASHID DUALE, Dahabshiil CEO: People read just one bomb went off in Mogadishu and they think entire Somali people are either killing each other or fighting. It's not true. You can see how relaxed it is, how calm it is, how people are doing business together.

17:44

Drone shot, animal market

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Peace like this across Somalia could pave the way for country to focus on its bigger fight - against climate change.

18:05

ABDIRASHID DUALE, Dahabshiil CEO:  Nomadic people by culture were independent people. They were people who do their best. They are not expecting aid, they were by nature self-reliant people. But climate change is beyond their control.

18:17

Drone shot, Togdheer

18:35

Map, Somaliland showing Togdheer

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: About 100 kilometres from the city of Hargeisa are the bone-dry plains of Togdheer.

18:41

Saleban with goats

Goat herder Saleban Farah scours the landscape for signs of life. Everything around him is dying, but he needs to feed his goats.

18:48

Saleban pulls leaves from tree for goats

SALEBAN FARAH:  They're not dropping. There is nothing on the ground. Only what we can get from the tree. For a long time now I've been feeding them from whatever is on the tree. As you can see, the ground they used to feed on is all dust. That’s because of the drought.

19:06

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Droughts are not new to the Horn of Africa, but there hasn’t been one quite like this.

19:39

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Co-Ordinator Somalia:  People say that this is the worst drought in 40 years,

19:47

Abdelmoula 100%

but that's wrong. This is the worst drought in Somalia's history, period.

19:53

Saleban pulls leaves from tree for goats

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Saleban’s neighbour’s animals hear the sound of leaves falling from branches, but this little nourishment is too hard won to share.

19:59

Son chases neighbour's goats away

SALEBAN FARAH: Chase them, chase them back! This is a robbery, a real robbery. Stop them from coming near us!

SON: I did! I chased them away.

SALEBAN FARAH:  Isn't there anyone with them?

20:11

The way it is going, if God doesn't stop this drought soon, everything will be gone. Nothing will be left here. Nothing will be left on this earth.

20:32

This drought is a real drought, isn’t it?

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Co-Ordinator Somalia:  If we go back to the 2011, 2012 famine,

20:54

Abdelmoula 100%

it was the result of three failed rainy seasons. We have already surpassed five

21:05

Camel eating thorny plant

and the sixth is on the horizon. So it is catastrophic by all accounts. Climate change is accelerating and intensifying.

21:11

Family tends goats

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Livestock is Somalia’s biggest export industry and vital commodity for families.  These animals provide milk, meat, and an asset to sell when they need cash.

21:24

Saleban interview

SALEBAN FARAH: If we lose our livestock, we'll be in a precarious position, because we're not skilled or educated. We can't start a different life. There is a saying: 'Where the animals die, the farmer dies with them'. Two thirds of my animals have died, they are gone.

21:40

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Two years into this drought, the toll on Saleban’s family has been immense. He’s had to bury his wife and two children.

22:00

Saleban prays in desert

SALEBAN FARAH: Of course I miss my wife and kids. As the saying goes, 'There is no family before a wife and nothing without her'.

22:16

Saleban and brother herd goats to well

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Once a week Saleban and his brother have to walk for hours to take their animals to water.

22:32

BROTHER: There is the well… Now it’s our only well. The well is ours and we defend it. No one else can use it.

22:50

Well at Hara Sheekh

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: This is the well on the edge of a village called Hara Sheekh where families have dug holes inside a dry dam bed to reach water.

23:02

Men haul water from well for animals

23:12

SALEBAN FARAH: When there's strong rain it fills up.  The animals depend on it.

23:43

Stephanie to camera

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: These pastoralists are just hanging on to their lives and livelihoods. Over the past two years they watched their animals die by the hundreds. The main rainy season is supposed to start right now, and if it fails, like the last five, they could lose everything.

23:55

Drone shot over Hara Sheekh

Here in Hara Sheekh, away from the rest of the family,

24:14

Hinda walks home from school

lives Saleban’s 15-year-old daughter Hinda.

HINDA: When my mum passed away, I was told there was no one to look after the children and take the animals to water. They almost convinced me to give up school, but I told my father 'The animals will come and go with the droughts, but I’m not going to stop my education'.

24:19

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: When she gets home from school she puts her books aside, gets changed, and starts work in her grandma’s shop.

24:56

Hinda interview in shop

HINDA: I’ve already fetched the water and everything, I’ve finished my other work. So now I’m here in the shop.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Nearly two million children in Somalia have dropped out of school because of the drought. Hinda fears she may be forced to join them.

25:08

HINDA: When the droughts hit, a lot of students dropped out. Their families had to move away to find new pastures for their livestock.

25:30

I do more chores now. When my mum died it got very hard.  Even now when I remember her, it's very painful. It's so hard without her.

25:46

Saleban tends goats

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Saleban wonders what their future may hold if he loses his animals.

SALEBAN FARAH: Before the droughts, we had three times the number of families here.

26:15

The majority moved to the cities once they lost their livestock. Now they have no animals. There's no one to look after them in the city. They have no relatives overseas. So they depend on aid agencies. When you don’t know anything else, that is all you can do.

26:32

ADAM ABDELMOULA, UN Humanitarian Co-Ordinator Somalia: When I was here in Somalia over 20 years ago, 66% of the Somali territory was covered in vegetation. Today, that percentage is 17%.

27:02

Abdelmoula interview

This is in a span of two decades. Is it accurate to keep referring to Somalia as an agropastoralist country? I don't think that the description is accurate now.

27:14

Hinda at school

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: With the help of international aid, Hinda is determined to complete her education.

27:36

HINDA: My mother would have been very happy with me and my education. Even when I was in grade 6 she was supportive of my studies. So she would be proud.

27:44

Saleban interview

SALEBAN FARAH:  Hinda is my number one. If you were to rank the children '1-2-3-4...' I would describe her as number one. Because of education, she seems to understand society.  She can engage with the world.

28:06

Hinda fetches water

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Her education is a source of pride, and an insurance policy against the devastating effects of climate change.

28:33

SALEBAN FARAH: Education very valuable. So I've sent her to gain knowledge for the benefit the family.

28:44

Saleban interview

I hope she goes far with her education and moves forward with the rest of the world. I don't want her to go backwards.

28:56

Hinda

HINDA:  I'm hoping to become the top person in the community, and to do well in my education. 

29:08

Drone shot. Hinda wheels barrow with water. Credits [see below]

29:21

Outpoint

30:00