City’s Somalis pray for urgent drought relief

by Julia McWatt, South Wales Echo

SOMALIS in Cardiff have expressed their heartbreak at the devastating consequences of the drought in their home country.

Tens of thousands of Somalis are feared to be dead after the east African nation’s worst famine in 20 years, with 10 million people now at risk of malnutrition – a crisis heightened by civil war.

Cardiff’s community – one of the largest in the world outside Somalia – yesterday spoke of the drought’s terrible impact and of how it has touched their lives, as horrifying television pictures of the sick and malnourished are broadcast globally.

Ibrahim Harbi, national co-ordinator of the Somali Integration Society in Cardiff, said: “The sad bit is that it’s not something that’s just happened now, it has been building for years and it’s almost too late.

“We need to prevent such things. This is happening in a world that has plenty and we need to ask is it morally right or acceptable for stuff like this to happen? You cannot sit and watch people dying like that. We have to do something immediately and come up with long-term solutions.

“There are two issues. One is security: we cannot expect aid workers to put their lives in danger. The second is infrastructure: there are no roads, so it’s difficult.”

He described how the city’s community had rallied round.

“In Cardiff there are fundraising events almost every weekend,” said Mr Harbi. “Employment in the Somali community is not very high and they may not have a lot, but they are still giving what they can.”

Abdi Hassan, 27, a community liaison manager at SIS, who is originally from Somaliland – an autonomous region of Somalia – now lives in Grangetown

“One morning I was coming into work and listening to the radio. They mentioned a mother who died just after giving birth and I just started crying on the bus,” he said.

“These are people who are innocent and vulnerable. We could have been there; it’s just because of luck that we are somewhere else.”

Abdi Ahmed, 30, who lives in Grangetown but is originally from Somaliland, said the community had been praying for the drought victims.

He said: “It is very demoralising to see the state of it. The drought is just nature, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s heartbreaking. We pray that they have rain.

“There is frustration with the political movement in Somalia because these people do not have anything to eat or drink. I hope the political situation changes and they see common sense.”

Source: www.walesonline.co.uk