From: Jim Rosenfield <jnr@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Date: 05 Oct 92 21:36 PDT
Subject: Re: 9/24 Wire Stories on Hunger
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1471700142:cdp:1471700144:000:4532
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!jnr    Oct  5 21:36:00 1992


/* Written  8:58 pm  Sep 24, 1992 by jnr in cdp:hunger.general */
APn  09/24 1311  Somalia-Revitalized Village

Copyright, 1992. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Associated Press Writer

HOBISHOWLE, Somalia (AP) -- Ten days ago, this remote bush village was
nearly deserted, its hungry residents crowding bigger towns in search
of food. Now, 1,500 have returned, lured by the first truckload of
maize -- and hope that more will come.

"Many people left the village because they had nothing to eat, and
those who stayed were eating animal skins," said Abdulai Shek Ahmed,
45, supervisor of the food distribution and a member of the village
council. "If we get regular food supplies, more and more people will
come home."

What happened in Hobishowle (pronounced hoh-bee-SHOW-lee) is typical
of dozens of villages in southern Somalia: civil war and famine drove
those who could walk to overcrowded towns with poor sanitation, not
enough water, very limited food and rampant disease.

A major goal of relief agencies working in the region is to return
these wandering Somalis to their villages -- and to keep those who are
there from leaving -- by giving them food and seeds.

"By us going in, we brought back 1,500 people," said Phoebe Fraser,
26, of Melbourne, team leader of CARE Australia, which provided the
truckload of maize. "This means we have a target group motivated to
work in the community."

Ms. Fraser, the daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm
Fraser, said Hobishowle is one of six villages that CARE plans to keep
providing with food. Two others are already receiving regular
deliveries.

"In Hobishowle," she said, "we also plan to repair the windmill, open
a feeding center and clinic, provide shelter material and seeds, and
fix their water supply."

None of this welcome news, however, had reached Hobishowle, which is
40 miles and a two-hour drive down an often-disappearing, dusty road
from Baidoa, the focal point of the famine where CARE's office is
located. It is 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, the capital.

On the winding desert track leading to Hobishowle, about 60 conical
thatched huts remain deserted, one with an animal skeleton in its
yard, another with ragged pieces of cloth apparently put out to dry on
a now-brittle scrub bush.

In the center of the village, made up of dozens of similar huts, the
men had gathered to watch the distribution of the last of the maize.
Only a handful of men work, and it was the major activity of the day.

Women and children sat quietly in line, and men with branches acting
as monitors brought small groups forward to the maize sack. A village
elder scooped a pound of maize into cans, bowls, shoulder bags made of
skin, and every conceivable plastic container.

Noonai Ibrahim Ahmed, 45, whose husband died in the famine, said she
received 2.2 pounds of maize, but had five children to feed.

"We need food," she said. "I have been digging roots and then pounding
them to try to save my family."

Clutching a dirty plastic container, with his ration, Abdi Ibrahim,
40, worried aloud. "If the maize is exhausted, we won't survive."

No one knows exactly how many people have died of starvation in
Hobishowle.

Ahmed, the food supervisor, said 6,000 villagers had lost their lives
in the civil war and famine.

Throughout Somalia, starvation caused by drought and warfare threatens
2 million people, and officials say up to half a million could die by
Christmas unless they receive immediate food and medical care.

"There has been serious hunger for six months," said Sheik Yusuf Sheik
Ahmed, 50, the Muslim leader in the village. "We don't count. We just
bury the dead."

He urged the international community to provide more food and repair
the village's broken water pump and asked Muslims to restore the
looted mosque which needs new rugs, iron sheeting for a new roof, and
a loudspeaker with batteries.

"It is also the season of planting," council member Ahmed said. "We
need seeds since we are farmers. We also need medicine and clothes."

With the last of the maize quickly disappearing, everyone's thoughts
were on food -- and where their next meal would come from.

"Since the famine started, people have become very close to their
religion," said Sheik Ahmed. "Always, they pray, begging God to feed
them. Always, people come to the mosque and they beg God to give them
better opportunities."

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Used with permission of Associated Press


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