Fleeing Somalia's conflict

We are helping thousands of families who have been affected by the ongoing conflict in Somalia and the flooding last year in north eastern Somalia and Kenya.

Monday 16 July 2007

Over 400,000 people in south and central Somalia are thought to have been displaced at the start of this year due to an outbreak of fighting. The situation for people affected by the conflict continues to be desperate.

Somalia has experienced years of fighting and lawlessness since a military government collapsed in 1991. The conflict has led to an influx of more than 170,000 refugees to Kenya. Flooding in November 2006 affected north eastern Kenya and Somalia. The flooding led to outbreaks of cholera and  made the situation of many Somalis living in refugee camps in Kenya and at home in Somalia much worse.

What Save the Children is doing in Somalia

About 15,000 people have fled from Mogadishu into Hiraan region, central Somalia, to avoid the violence which erupted in the capital city in April, leaving hundreds of people dead. We're working to help those families, many of whom are living in camps because of the conflict.

We're helping to give children and their families clean water by rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by the November flooding. We've constructed more than 1,000 toilets and rehabilitated more than 60 wells.

We're working to ensure that children have access to education. We're training teachers and building and equipping schools.

We're providing basic supplies - like tarpaulins, bedding and blankets - for displaced families in Central Somalia. We're also improving water supplies and sanitation for more than 10,000 people.

We hope to be able to provide humanitarian support to Mogadishu and its surrounding area once the security situation there stabilises.

What Save the Children is doing in Kenya

We're working to protect approximately 70,000 children living in three refugee camps in Dadaab, on Kenya's remote north eastern region near the Somali border. Approximately 170,000 people live in the camps, set up around the town of Dadaab in 1991 when civil war erupted in Somalia.

  • We're responsible for reuniting lost children with their families.
  • We're establishing child friendly and safe spaces for children to play and learn in all three camps.
  • We'll also be setting up child protection committees with people living in the camps to make sure that the most vulnerable children are getting help when they need it.

In El Wak, a district in northern Kenya devastated by several seasons of drought followed by floods, up to 20% of 12,000 young children are acutely malnourished.

  • We're distributing kitchen kits, water storage containers and stoves to 4,500 families.
  • We're working with local communities to treat malnourished children in their homes with life-saving nutritious food.
Bookmark this page with: