OUR WORK

Girls running on the school grounds with school bags shared after cyclone hit the district of Mananjary © iAko M. Randrianarivelo/Save the Children iAko M. Randrianarivelo/Save the Children

Kowsar, 3, Awale, 4, Abdi, one-month-old, and three other siblings live with their mother, Amina, 25, in a remote village in Garissa County. Amina depends on her goats to feed her children, including Kowsar and Awale, but in the current season of drought, she is struggling to feed them. Awale became ill with Moderate Acute Malnutrition, followed by Kowsar, who had Severe Acute Malnutrition, and both were treated by Save the Children. The family have also received a cash transfer so they can buy nutritious food.

Umeyma, 4, is from a remote village in the windswept Garissa County. She lives with her two brothers, three sisters, her mother and father in a small traditional family home built of sticks, old blankets, and pieces of cloth. Nomadic pastoralists by nature, Umeyma and her family are always on the move looking for water and pasture. However, the ongoing severe drought, which has dissipated pasture in the vast Garissa County, has made the life and lifestyle of her family almost unbearable. According to her mother, Maryam, 42, they had to walk more than 40 kms to the nearest settlement just to be near a water source and to benefit from medical services and aid from the county government and aid agencies such as Save the Children. On this particular day a team from Save the Children makes their way to their home to check on their progress, her sister Fatuma, 3, is suffering from severe acute malnutrition and Rahma, 2, who is ailing from moderate acute malnutrition. The two girls have been enrolled into a Save the Children-supported Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) program and are currently receiving treatment. Delfhin Mugo / Save the Children

Emily, 29, lives with her husband and four children in Bungoma, Kenya. All of their children were born at Kabula Health Centre, which is supported by Save the Children. Emily gave birth to baby Blessing at the health facility. She wasn’t able to deliver the placenta at first and is thankful that the nurses were there to help her to do so. Emily advises that other pregnant women visit a health facility rather than risk giving birth at home. Emily chose the name Blessing because she feels her new baby is a gift and will be a huge blessing in her life. Emily tells us she has had enough children, and wants to focus on looking after them and working on her business. Sarah Waiswa / Save the Children

*Shankaroon lives in Garissa County with her five children in northern Kenya. The area has been hit by severe drought, killing most of their livestock which was their main form of income. Her husband left the family in search of pasture with the animals that survived, and *Shankaroon now lives alone with her children. Her children used to eat and play with full bellies, but the impact of the drought has meant they can only each twice a day and rely on a diet of just plain rice and grit maize. She only gives the children breakfast and lunch, and they often go to sleep hungry with no dinner. *Shankaroon says her children now just stay at home, and have stopped being active and just sleep instead. Her son *Hirsi* is suffering from malnutrition and is receiving treatment from Save the Children supported health services. Their village doesn’t have clean water, and the family walk for over an hour with jerry can rollers to the nearest well. *Shankaroon often sends her twelve-year-old son* Yunis to collect the water on his own, but he is sometimes beaten by older children on the way. She hopes that her children will grow up, learn, get a job, finish their studies and enjoy life. Save the Children have provided the family with a cash grant which aims to cover their immediate food and non-food needs to help protect or restore livelihoods options. We also support and train Community Health Volunteers in order to help treat malnutrition at community level, to ensure children have access to health and nutrition services. *Shankaroon’s story in her own words: “The drought has affected us, our animals have been killed. It has impacted us all, including all of our neighbours. “My children had been drinking milk from the animals, but they all died. Now there is nothing for them to eat. “We used to cook four times per day and now we only cook twice a day. “My children got sick and I was told that their immune systems are low. Like this one (Hirsi*), they said that he has malnutrition. “My children used to play, they would eat four times a day, and they had full bellies. But now they only eat twice, they have stopped playing and being active, they don’t have an appetite. “Now they stay at home, they have stopped playing and being active and follow me whenever I go. I am worried for my children. “I would like my children to grow up, learn, finish their studies, get a job and enjoy life.

Umeyma, 4, is from a remote village in the windswept Garissa County. She lives with her two brothers, three sisters, her mother and father in a small traditional family home built of sticks, old blankets, and pieces of cloth. Nomadic pastoralists by nature, Umeyma and her family are always on the move looking for water and pasture. However, the ongoing severe drought, which has dissipated pasture in the vast Garissa County, has made the life and lifestyle of her family almost unbearable. According to her mother, Maryam, 42, they had to walk more than 40 kms to the nearest settlement just to be near a water source and to benefit from medical services and aid from the county government and aid agencies such as Save the Children. On this particular day a team from Save the Children makes their way to their home to check on their progress, her sister Fatuma, 3, is suffering from severe acute malnutrition and Rahma, 2, who is ailing from moderate acute malnutrition. The two girls have been enrolled into a Save the Children-supported Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) program and are currently receiving treatment. Delfhin Mugo / Save the Children

Kazy and Mahefa with their family working in their field, Ambovombe district, South of Madagascar. Narindra Rakotonanahary/Save the Children

The third and fourth weeks of October marked the beginning of the rainy season (October – December) characterized by heavy storms that caused flooding, particularly along the Coastal strip, in some areas of the Central Highlands, Southeast lowlands and several areas of Northwest and Northeastern Kenya. Heavy rains, flash floods, and increasing river levels have caused fatalities, displacement of thousands of people as well as infrastructure damage, livestock and property losses, and restricted access to roads in various regions in Kenya. Areas of particular concern include Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, and Tana River and parts of the upper eastern areas of Kenya. mmediate response: In partnership with Community Jameel Forecast-Based Action funding, Save the Children has disbursed cash assistance for 600 families/ households in flood-prone areas in Garissa and Wajir (300 households in each county) to enable safe and timely evacuation ahead of flooding in their villages. Save the Children, with funding from the Humanitarian Fund is moving household kits (250 kits) and kitchen sets (250 sets) to Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, and Turkana counties to assist in immediate lifesaving and recovery efforts for households displaced by flooding. In Mandera county, which has borne the brunt of the flooding (approximately 4,934 households displaced), Save the Children is planning to map and support 200 most affected households with a one-off cash transfer disbursement at a rate of Ksh 10,000 (USD 66) to enable immediate lifesaving support and recovery. Response Scale Up Plan: Save the Children plans to reach 57,000 people (including 14,250 children) beneficiaries in the counties of Garissa, Mandera, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, and Nairobi with a budget of USD 2,500,000 through direct interventions. The planned interventions are scheduled to be implemented up to the period January 2024, when the weather experts have indicated the rains would cease and flooding will recede. Save the Children will consider scaling up its response, based on needs and assessment as the rain season and associated flooding progresses in the coming months, with a key focus on the following sectors and activities. Wajir County Government/Save the Children

Sufia* (24) grew up in a camp for displaced people in Somalia. When she was younger, her family was forced to leave their home due to a severe drought. They set up their home the camp and never went back. Life in the camp has been difficult for Sufia due to lack of access to healthcare, education, employment and water. After she married and had three children in the camp, Sufia’s husband often struggled to find regularly jobs, and this impacted on their ability to afford food for their children. Sufia eventually divorced her husband and moved to a different camp where she opened a small shop. The income from the shop was not enough to support her family, so Sufia applied for a business grant from Save the Children through our income generation programme, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). With the USD $680 grant, Sufia expanded the shop. The programme also provided Sufia with training in business management and basic maths, which helped ensure she knew which items would sell and which products to stock, and how to ensure she was keeping track of loans to customers. Sufia says the shop is now making a profit and she can feed her children, pay for their school fees and save some money in case she needs it for emergencies. In 2021, Somalia is facing yet another drought, which is pushing the number of children and adults who need critical support to 5.9 million – a third of the population and an increase of 700,000 people compared to 2020. In the communities where we work, Save the Children is seeing shallow wells drying up, families rationing their water, crops and pastures dying and people moving away from their communities in search of water and food for their livestock. Families who lose their livestock often move to towns or camps, like the one where Sufia lives, to access food and water. However, it’s difficult for them to find jobs to support their families. Alongside our humanitarian response where we’re delivering water to drought-stricken communities, treating malnourished children and providing cash assistance to families, we’re also working with local governments to build the long-term resilience of communities to cope with climate shocks. We’re also helping families like Sufia’s to find alternative sources of income so they can support themselves and survive the multiple crises they face. *Name changed to protect identity Sacha Myers / Save the Children