In August, Oxfam America’s Scott Paul traveled to Somaliland to research a money transfer system that helps support countless families in the region. A senior humanitarian policy advisor, Paul discusses how remittances provide a lifeline to Somalilanders and people all across the Somali region. This is the first in a series of three blogs on the topic.

A sign draws attention to one of Somaliland's money transfer companies. Photo by Scott Paul

Years ago, as a student working a summer job in Moscow, I came to the stark realization that I didn’t have enough money in my account to move into my summer digs. With no small amount of embarrassment, I called home to my parents and asked if they would send cash to help me cover my security deposit and initial rent payment until I received my first paycheck. Sure enough, the next day I found cash waiting for me in my bank account.

I forgot this entire experience until August when I traveled to Hargeisa, a city in Somaliland that might be appropriately called the remittance capital of the world. Of course, Somalilanders don’t receive money transfers just to cover a month’s rent until the next paycheck comes in. For many families, money transfers are the next paycheck.

A self-declared independent republic northeast of Ethiopia, Somaliland is viewed by many as an autonomous region of Somalia, not as an independent state. Somalis in Minneapolis, London, Nairobi, Dubai, and all over the world send money to their relatives, friends and their broader kin there, and in Somalia, to cover everything from basic needs like food and shelter to investments in small businesses.

The Somaliland Ministry of Planning and Development estimates that remittances reach more than 40 percent of Somaliland households and account for a staggering 25 percent of its gross domestic product. In South and Central Somalia, where drought, armed conflict and human rights abuses have created arguably the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the numbers may be even higher.

That’s why “Fast Money Transfer You Can Trust,” the slogan of the Hargeisa-based money transfer company Dahabshiil, is more common on billboards than “Just Do It” or even the classic “Always Coca-Cola.” And it’s why everyone I talked to in Hargeisa – women’s groups, government officials, youth leaders and others – made clear that remittances are nothing less than a lifeline to the Somali people.

In December, 2011 – in the midst of this century’s worst famine – that lifeline was nearly cut off when a key bank in the United States decided to stop doing business with the Somali money transfer companies. Oxfam’s partner organizations in Somalia sounded the alarm, urging us to help persuade banks and policymakers to find a way to keep the money flowing to Somalia.

But to do that properly, first we had to understand exactly how the Somali remittance system works. That’s how I found myself going through the time-honored tradition in Somalia of receiving a money transfer from America.

Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson/Oxfam America

Coco McCabe filed this report from Ethiopia, where she is reporting on the severe drought in East Africa. In August, she visited an area in northern Ethiopia – which has thus far escaped this year’s drought but has been devastated in the past – to report on initiatives to fight recurrent drought. Her reporting is featured in a World Food Day half-hour documentary special report from ViewChange and Oxfam: “ViewChange:  Africa’s Last Famine,” which is available online at www.oxfamamerica.org and www.viewchange.org and broadcasts on Link TV on Friday, October 14, and Tuesday, October 18.

When we left Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa for the long drive south to Yabello, the air that was cool at dawn turned dry as the sun inched higher—pucker dry, the kind that makes you lick your lips until they sting and leaves your fingertips feeling chalky. Maybe some of it was due to the dust in the air, a veil of topsoil whipped aloft by the wind and mixed with plumes of black smoke swelling from the tailpipes of trucks.

We were on our way to a triangle of drought that has plunged more than 13 million people in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia into crisis. Some places are the driest they have been in 60 years and famine has struck Somalia.

We stopped to stock up on water—plastic bottles of it covered with the brand name “YES” and a tagline that declared “for a better life.” As we pulled back onto the road all I could think about were the words of our driver: “On a long journey, water is better than food.” I reached for one of the bottles and settled it in my lap, taking long swigs as the sun grew hotter.

Climbing through coffee country around Yirgacheffee, we entered a stretch of respite from the sun. Clouds had massed over the hills and rain drops began to pelt the windshield. The wipers whisked them away, turning a morning’s worth of dust into a film of grime. We had caught the tail end of a downpour and through the side window of our car, I watched people watch the rain, standing alone in their doorways, peering out their windows, their faces solemn. I wondered how much they knew about the drought in the south.

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Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou has supported Oxfam’s work for more than five years.

In the last few years I‘ve had the privilege of taking part in many incredible campaigns led by some of the most inspiring people and organizations. Their fight continues, and the cause is still in need of your help. I’ve spoken about this before, urging you to assist in various crises taking place around the world. Today is no different. Those living in hunger are still living in desperation and their numbers are growing every day.

Oxfam Ambassador Djimon Hounsou and Kenyan Ambassador Elkanah Odembo spoke at the launch of Oxfam America's GROW campaign in June. GROW is a campaign focused on fixing the broken food system. Photo by Leigh Vogel for Getty Images.

Sadly there are still those that are not aware of the dire need that East Africa is in right now. In an area of the world already ravaged by civil war, the innocent people there are now displaced by one of the worst droughts the region has ever experienced. To some this problem is a world away and is easy to ignore, but I implore you to pay attention. Help us spread the message and raise aid for those that need it the most. Read the rest of this entry »

Oxfam Ambassador Scarlett Johansson talks to Paulina Natir, Turkana, Northern Kenya. Photo: Andy Hall/Oxfam

Right now, Oxfam is providing water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities to more than 45,000 people in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp—the largest in the world, and home to tens of thousands of Somali refugees fleeing famine in their home country. More people stream in to the camp each week, seeking refuge from other overcrowded camps and the unsafe areas on the camp’s outskirts.

“The scale of poverty in Dadaab is overwhelming,” said Oxfam Ambassador Scarlett Johansson, who visited the camp with Oxfam and is documenting her experiences for CNN and the Huffington Post. “I met countless women like Hawa, a local community leader, who lamented the seemingly endless struggle of the Somali people, as refugees of war and starvation and now left to suffer everyday life with the very barest of essentials.”

Johansson also visited the Turkana region of northern Kenya, where herding communities suffer from chronic droughts that have destroyed their lives and livelihoods. One herder, Sabina Loliyak, told an Oxfam staffer: “If there is no water, then there is no life.” A mother of young children, Loliyak lost half of her animals to the current drought and struggled to feed her kids. “We used to get nutritious food drinking milk and eating meat from [our] livestock, but right now there is nothing. Even the trees have dried up.” 

Sabina Loliyak, left, with her daughter. Photo: Caroline Gluck/Oxfam

In Turkana, Oxfam is scaling up our cash and food-transfer programs to support more than 250,000 people. For Loliyak, participation in an emergency cash transfer program means she can purchase more nutritious food for her children, as well as possibly make the transition from herder to small business owner. “If we can start a business, then our life will change automatically,” she said. “Cash will help us to start a new life.”

Maybe it’s that kind of determination to create a better future—even in a time of crisis—that motivates Johansson, Halima Hussein, and countless others to do their part.

 Oxfam aims to reach more than 3 million people  throughout East Africa with a variety of support, including food aid, clean water, and veterinary care for animals. We are drilling and repairing wells and distributing fuel vouchers to ensure that pumps on the wells can keep operating—even if people have no money. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

Oxfam's partner, Hijra, has been providing safe drinking water to more than 100,000 people in camps in Somalia.

Oxfam’s Caroline Gluck was recently part of the organization’s first visit to Somalia by non-African staffers in several years. Here is the second part of her account of a trip shaped by strict security rules. 

My glimpses of Mogadishu, behind the tinted windows of our car speeding as fast as it could to avoid being a sitting target, were tantalisingly brief.   The legacy of war was obvious: there were many wrecked or bullet-marked buildings.

But the city also showed surprising signs of brisk daily life. There were colorful hand-painted shop signs advertising wares; traders sat on the dusty roadside touting their goods—often small collections of fruit and vegetables. Some sat behind sandbags, which might offer protection if fighting flared.   Though signs of commerce and of food availability were evident, for many who fled hunger and drought, the prices were way above what they could afford.

That’s why the centers that offered some basic help were packed.   At one community-based therapeutic care center I visited run by SAACID, staffers were working flat-out as mothers and their children continued to stream in. Read the rest of this entry »

Oxfam's partner, Hijra, is helping to supply clean water to displaced people in Somalia.

 Oxfam’s Caroline Gluck writes about a recent field visit to Somalia where Oxfam and its local partners are providing life-saving assistance to families struggling in the face of famine and conflict.

It’s hard to blend in during a community visit when you’re wearing a heavy flak jacket. But here I was in Mogadishu, the conflict-ravaged capital of Somalia, dressed not in the hijab I’d just bought in Kenya, thinking it was culturally appropriate, but strapped into a bullet proof protective vest, weighing about 22 pounds, slowing down my movements as I ran about trying to film the work Oxfam is supporting and marking me out clearly as a foreigner.

I was part of Oxfam’s first visit to Somalia by non-African staffers in years.   The country has been mired in civil conflict for the past 20 years, and now severe drought has pushed millions into desperation.  The UN has declared six areas of the country famine-affected; more than a quarter of the population has been displaced by the crisis and conflict, with several hundred thousand fleeing into neighboring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.  And inside the country, many more are displaced.  Hundreds of thousands have taken shelter in makeshift settlements and camps around the capital, Mogadishu.  

I visited some of those camps with two Oxfam partners, Hijra, which specializes in providing water, sanitation and hygiene, and SAACID (a Somali word meaning “to help”), whose therapeutic care centers for malnourished children and mothers are supported by Oxfam. But we were under strict security rules and told not to linger in one place for too long: Somalia is not like most other countries.  While the security situation has improved in central Mogadishu, no one takes things for granted. People still worry about getting shot or abducted, cars being targeted, and explosive devices going off.

Gunshots often ring out – sometimes fired into the air by government forces or peacekeepers simply to clear traffic jams because there are no working traffic lights in the city. Read the rest of this entry »

The UN announced on Labor Day that famine conditions have now spread to six areas of Somalia, affecting 750,000 people—more than double the number in July when famine was first declared. Several hundred Somali refugees cross the border into Ethiopia every day; many of  them have walked for three to four weeks across the desert with very little food and water. They seek shelter in places like Dollo Ado, in Ethiopia’s southern Somali region, where Oxfam has been providing water and sanitation facilities for an estimated 11,000 people in Hilaweyn refugee camp.

11,000 people–that’s a lot of water. And a lot of lives depending on it. So what exactly does the relief effort look like? Check out Jane Beesley’s photos, below:

A worker loads Oxfam equipment onto a truck for transport to Hilaweyn camp. Photo: Jane Beesley/Oxfam

Shortly before Hilaweyn camp opened, Oxfam workers assembled a water tank called the “T70,” which holds 70,000 liters of clean water. Photo: Jane Beesley/Oxfam

Oxfam staffer Enthemanche Chane hands out clean water to people as they arrive at the camp after a long bus journey. Photo: Jane Beesley/Oxfam

Oxfam aims to reach more than 3 million people  throughout East Africa with a variety of support, including food aid, clean water, and veterinary care for animals. We are drilling and repairing wells and distributing fuel vouchers to ensure that pumps on the wells can keep operating—even if people have no money. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

Yesterday the UN announced that famine conditions have spread to six regions of Somalia and are affecting 750,000 people, many of them children. One of Oxfam’s local partners, Wajir South Development Association (WASDA), works with drought-hit communities in Wajir in northeastern Kenya, as well as in Lower and Middle Juba in Somalia itself. WASDA program manager Bashir Mohamed, who regularly travels into Somalia, spoke to Oxfam’s Caroline Gluck about conditions on the ground right now and the process of getting aid to those who need it most.

“… Some areas of Somalia, like Mogadishu and Gedo, have been getting more aid.  Apart from the border town of Dobley [which lies en route to Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya], nothing much has reached people in Lower and Middle Juba. Access is a big problem; it’s taken a long time to get agreement from authorities for programs to start and we’ve had many delays.

Bashir Mohamed. Photo: Oxfam

“But now I hope we will be moving fast in our work. We’ve now got agreement for our cash distribution program to start. We will be targeting 14,600 households in middle Juba and lower Juba and hope we might be able to start this week. 

“We have been trucking in water into Lower Juba since July.  But the numbers of people [who need] water are increasing as the situation is getting worse. And we’ve been providing fuel subsidies to some communities so that boreholes can run 24 hours a day, as well as rehabilitating shallow wells.

“We’re planning to drill four new boreholes in the next few weeks in Lower Juba (in Hagar; Nasiriya, Wel Marow, and Bibi). And the drilling could take several weeks. The sites have all [been] chosen for their strategic locations. These are pastoral areas, but very far from rivers, towns, or other water points … so when they’re finished, it will be a great help to many people.

“Conditions are very severe; there are no health facilities and people face restrictions on their movements. People are just praying for the coming rains. But even if the rains come and we manage to reach everyone targeted in our interventions, this emergency will continue will into January and February at the earliest.

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"We left our village because of the drought," said Fatima Mohammed, a mother of four from Somalia whose family sought shelter in Ethiopia. Photo: Jane Beesley / Oxfam America

Somalia remains the epicenter of the drought and food crisis in East Africa, with 3.7 million men, women, and children affected. Famine has been declared in some parts of the country, and the UN estimates about a quarter of Somalia’s population—1.8 million people—has been displaced. 

Since early August, Oxfam has provided clean water and sanitation for an estimated 11,000 Somali refugees in Hilaweyn camp, in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia. Oxfam’s Jane Beesley visited Dollo Ado last month and spoke with recently arrived refugees, whose stories are excerpted below.

Hussain Aden said his family walked for 30 days to reach a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Photo: Jane Beesley/Oxfam

Hussain Aden, left, and his family walked for 30 days to reach Dollo Ado from their village, Juwari. “We have a household of 20 people, including children and grandchildren,” he said. “We left due to hunger and drought. We used to have livestock. They all died: 35 cattle and 15 sheep. When the last one died that is when we decided to leave. We left our houses and came here. Before there were droughts but not like this. I don’t know when the drought will end.

“On the way we were very dusty and hungry. We had a little maize that we prepared on the way. We walked with our children on our backs … the children are small and couldn’t walk by themselves.”

Aden said one of the challenges the family faces now is the lack of opportunities to earn a decent income. “All the men want to work, but there is nothing for us. The women are collecting firewood, which they sell … [but] we are idle when we want to work.”

Hawa Aden said she collects and sells firewood to buy food for her family. Photo: Jane Beesley/Oxfam

 “I went out and collected firewood early this morning,” said his wife, Hawa Aden. “Normally we go at 7am and come back at 1pm. I go with a lot of other women. It takes three hours to get to the place where we collect wood.

“If I sell wood in the camp I get 5 Birr (about 29 cents), but if I go into town I can get 10 Birr (58 cents). It takes me one hour to walk into town and another hour to walk back. I use the money to buy tea, salt … food for the family. I get water in the camp, one jerry can a day. I use the water for bathing the children, preparing tea, and drinking. … I have two children, both boys; they are 7 and 4.”

Fatima Mohammed, pictured above, arrived in Dollo Ado with her four children. Her family was waiting in a transitional camp before moving to long-term shelter.  “We left our village because of the drought,” she said. “We’ve been experiencing drought now for three years. All the people from my village have come here. We’d heard people were coming to Dollo Ado. On the way we asked people for directions.

“I think life here compared to there will be different for us,” said Mohammed. “When I arrived I felt satisfied, because I thought now I’ll get everything I need—enough food, enough water, and my children will get good medicine.”

Oxfam aims to reach more than 3 million people throughout East Africa with a variety of support, including food aid, clean water, and veterinary care for animals. We are drilling and repairing wells and distributing fuel vouchers to ensure that pumps on the wells can keep operating—even if people have no money. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

Abdullah Ahmed Ali, 59, helps construct latrines. Photo by Oxfam.

Guest blog: Janna Hamilton, Media Coordinator for Oxfam, is reporting from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Oxfam is hiring camp residents to help build latrines and other work, which is helping provide services to more refugees and enabling workers earn a little money.

Abdullah Ahmed Ali, 59, has worked with Oxfam for four days, helping to construct latrines in the Ifo extension camp, part of the rapidly expanding Dadaab camp in eastern Kenya. More than 200 families are relocating to Ifo extension each day. Oxfam is scaling up its operations in order to meet the increasing demands for access to safe water and sanitation to prevent the spread of disease.

Cash-for-work initiatives offer the refugee community an opportunity to earn an income. It also helps reinforce some dignity for the workers, knowing they are helping to provide for their family. Men and women are paid between 250 and 500 Kenyan shillings (about $2.70 to $5.40) per day depending on their skill levels. Jobs for men include constructing latrines, reporting on dead livestock so they can be removed before spreading disease, and clearing new land for relocated families. Oxfam has employed women to help collect and dispose of the piles of packaging discarded from newly erected tents and materials.

Abdullah says the money he earns from Oxfam helps him to buy more food for his family of nine.

“In the camp we don’t get any sugar or vegetables, so the income I gain will be spent on buying more variety of food for my family.

“Without this job I would just be wandering around looking for any work.”