Hassan has had no chance to grieve the deaths of her children. She’s had to focus on keeping the others alive.
Her four-year-old and five-year-old died from malnutrition in their inland town of Burhakaba, victims of a record drought that has propelled Somalia to the brink of famine.
Faced with starvation, Hassan took her remaining eight children and began the 15-day trek to reach the capital, Mogadishu. Towards the end of their journey, her two-year-old daughter collapsed and died. They buried her along the way.
“I cried so much, I lost consciousness,” she said, “But we have so many problems. We have no food or shelter.”
Sitting on a plastic chair in a clinic run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Mogadishu, Hassan’s face is expressionless with exhaustion as a doctor examines the tiny little girl curled up in her lap.
Her daughter Muslimo is 18 months old but weighs just over 10 pounds. Papery skin is stretched tautly over her jutting ribs. She doesn’t cry. The doctor measures her tiny forearm. The tape shows red, indicating severe malnutrition.
This clinic has seen an 80% spike in the number of cases in the last month alone and a staggering 265% increase in severe malnutrition in children under the age of 5, IRC senior nutrition manager, Mukhtar Mahdi says.
