As Somalis prepare for the celebration of the Independence and Unity Days on June 26 and July 1 respectively, mothers who have not seen peace for the past 20 years, are still crying for the pain of death.

“I lost everything. My husband with my children died in the war. Finally, the only girl who I was protecting passed away.” These are the words of a Somali mother who lives in makeshift shelters along the road linking Mogadishu to Afgoye, some 30 kilometres to the west of the capital.

Pain of death

Amino Abdi, 46-year-old, who fled from her home in Howl-wadag district of capital Mogadishu in 2007, told AfricaNews that her husband with her two sons died three years ago after a mortar hit their own business place in Bakara Market.

“My husband with elder son were selling car parts near Bakara while a young boy took them for lunch but were hit by a shell,” recalled Abdi with a tearful eyes.

She had lived in sorrow and poverty after losing her husband and children. Her story is the same as other Somali mothers today. Abdi and her daughter Ayan Omar who fled their home after the tragic deaths settled in Elasha Biyaha, where over 366,000 displaced people are living now.

Joy taken away

However, Abdi’s sole source of hope and joy was short lived. Her daughter Ayan was also killed by a mortal shell that hit Mogadishu’s main market of Bakara as she was shopping.

“She was my only sight in the world and my life turned to the dark after her death,” Abdi said.

Ayan died when a fight erupted between Somali government forces backed by AMISOM and rebel militias which killed 22 civilians and wounded 55 others on 12 April, 2010. At that time, the country’s national army was celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Abdi noted: “I cannot see any improvement in the country’s situation now but I pray that a bright day come soon.”

Nearly half of the women and children in Somalia are anaemic while a third of them suffer from vitamin A deficiency among others, according to new study released in May.

The survey, first ever to be conducted in the war torn nation shows that women and children are suffering from shocking levels of anaemia.

No choice

Jawahir Aweys, 37, a mother of four, fled her home in Yaqshid district in 2007. Now her home is a make-shift shelter in the same camp as Amina for the internally displaced within Elsha Biyaha area.

Jawahir’s husband was killed in 2007 when shells hit their home; she said that her husband left her with four children, “nothing else”.

Although, it is very dangerous, she goes up to Mogadishu to look for job, she said she has “no choice”. She cleans people’s stores for a living.

Jawahir remembers a lot of her friends dying and trying to earn some money for their children. Her children depend on her so she worries about them going hungry.

”I am losing hope; I don’t know whether or not the situation will ever get better,” she told AfricaNews.

“It is better to be dead than live here,” she added.

Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
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Source:-AfricaNews

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