Ethiopia: Lives devastated by drought

In the first of his blogs as a regular blogger, Charles Njanga, Islamic Relief’s Regional Media Creator for Africa, recounts a recent trip to drought-stricken Ethiopia.

A drought has been ravaging the Horn of Africa for nearly 5 years now, leaving devastated communities in its wake.

Many lives have been destroyed and numerous people, such as pastoralists, have lost their livelihoods.

During a recent visit to Ethiopia, I saw first-hand how many people’s lives have been changed forever by the drought that has been ravaging the region. Many communities have undergone 5 failed rain seasons and lost hundreds of livestock.

In March, I travelled to the Afdher Zone in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The hardest part of the trip is the six-hour journey from Gode, the nearest town where you can get a flight, to Hargelle.

Hargelle is a sleepy town with one main street and is the administrative capital of Afdher Zone and is located in south-eastern Ethiopia. The journey is back-breaking, and the 40-degree heat does not help matters.Children have been the worst affected by this drought. At Cherati Health Centre in the Cherati District of Afdher Zone, I met baby Fardowsa who was admitted to the facility with her mother. Baby Fardowsa was suffering from acute malnutrition.

“I did not know that my child was malnourished’, her mother told me. “When she started vomiting and having diarrhoea, I did not know it was malnutrition,” she said sadly. She learned that Baby Fardowsa was suffering from malnutrition while at the clinic.

Drought induced malnutrition

A recent report on the drought by Islamic Relief reveals that 7.4 million people in Ethiopia will need nutrition assistance in 2023. There has also been a 23% increase of cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among children, with many of these children at the brink of death when reaching health facilities since early 2022. Unfortunately, Baby Fardowsa was one of these statistics.

Baby Fardowsa with her mother at the Cherati Health Centre

Luckily for Baby Fardowsa, her mother brought her to Cherati Health Centre, a facility supported by Islamic Relief, where she received treatment. When I met her, she was smiling happily as she took a cup of milk. Between June 2022 and February 2023, 156 children have been treated at the facility the nurse in-charge of the Stabilisation Centre told me.

The Nutrition Programme at Cherati Health Centre is supported by Islamic Relief under our Drought Response and Recovery in Eastern Horn of Africa (DREEHA) Project. We are also supporting an outreach nutrition programme, together with the local ministry of health, which sees mothers and infants screened for malnutrition and supplements provided to those experiencing mild cases.

Ghost village

An eerie silence greets you as you approach Sog Sog Viillage in Hargelle.

The village has been abandoned by the residents.

An abandoned building in Sog Sog village

There is only 1 family living in Sog Sog now. All the other people have moved away because of the drought. Nearly all the houses have been locked with a padlock. The local health centre and school have also closed.

As we walk through the main street of the village, it feels like a scene in a horror movie. If you cue in the music and sound effects, the effect would be complete.

Displaced by drought

Despite the lack of people, we met Noor. He told me that he works at the site of the Haffir Dam, which is being constructed by Islamic Relief some kilometres away. He had come to visit his sister’s family, who are the only ones remaining at the village.

“My family was living here but they have moved to the banks of Web River,” he told me. Noor said that the village was occupied by 300 families who have left in search of water.
“I have never seen all people abandoning a village in my entire 22 years of my life;” Noor said in disbelief.

In Bardumiye village, Cherati district, in Ethiopia’s Afder Zone, a man uses a water point due to be repaired and improved by Islamic Relief

I have seen several droughts in my life but this one is something else. Thousands if not millions of livestock have been lost to the drought. Many roads in the drought affected areas are littered with animal carcasses. The animals drop dead on the road and people just leave them there.

As I write this, several drought-stricken areas have received some rains. But that is good news, right? No! The biggest irony is that the rains have produced flash floods. Some of the animals that survived the drought have been washed away by the floods. Talk about bad luck.

Let us spare a thought for these people and if you can, please support Islamic Relief so that we can continue supporting them.

Please help Islamic Relief to reach more people affected by drought in Ethiopia and throughout the Horn of Africa. Donate now.

Charles is one of our new regular bloggers. Each month, he’ll share stories from his work with Islamic Relief.