Qatar Charity provides relief aid to drought-affected people in Somalia

QNA|DOHA: Qatar Charity has distributed about 5,000 food baskets to the displaced and those affected by drought in Mogadishu, Baidoa, Gedo, and Lower Juba.

These baskets contain essential food items that suffice for a month, 1,200 affected families, about 7,200 beneficiaries, benefited from these distributions.

The project implementation comes within the framework of Qatar Charity’s efforts to ease their living burdens considering the drought that prompted many people to flee their areas of origin to displacement camps, where relief teams from Qatar Charity set out for those affected areas and distributed aid.

The number of beneficiaries of the displaced has reached past 30,000 people since July. 

These distributions were praised and officially welcomed, as Baidoa city official, Abdullah Ali, praised Qatar Charity’s intervention in favor of the drought-affected displaced to alleviate their suffering, stressing that Baidoa alone shelters more than 700,000 displaced Somalis.

For his part, the official of Tobli City, Siyad Mohamed Hassan, said: “We thank the philanthropists in Qatar and Qatar Charity for contributing to support families affected by drought.

The official of the Gersabali region of Banadir region, Nour Hassan Ali, praised the role of Qatar Charity in helping the displaced families. He said, “The food baskets distribution project targeted the families who recently arrived at the camps for the displaced in the region, who are affected by drought in the governorates of Middle Shabelle, Lower Shabelle, Bay, and Buckol.” The majority of the displaced are pastoralists and farmers who were affected by the lack of rain, which forced them to flee to find a haven to save their children from starvation and infectious diseases. They welcomed this aid, which eased their suffering.

In this context, Maryam Mahmoud said, “I did not need such assistance before, as I owned a farm and a herd of cows, but the drought and the delay in the rainy season forced us to migrate to this camp. I thank Qatar Charity and the philanthropic people in Qatar for this assistance that eases the pain of displacement.” It is worth noting that Somalia is facing the worst drought in 40 years, with 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The drought has caused a major water shortage, prompting many families to migrate to major cities to obtain safe drinking water.

In 2022, Qatar Charity launched an urgent response call to confront the drought in Somalia under the slogan “Stop the Famine of Somalia”, where urgent aid was provided, and the necessary needs were provided to those affected by the impact of the drought.

Qatar Charity has implemented 37 water projects this year in all Somali regions, focusing on population centers in remote villages deprived of basic services.