Hi

Hoping that all is well with u, i just wanna take this oppportunity to update you about the going !

Today is like those days when you get a bad news and you dont know how to react to it. you have other things in life to attend to, but then you have a bad news you really struggle to handle. I am dedicating this post to a good friend and a relative who became a dad today ! congrats bruv! I am not mentioning names in respect to the privacy of this great family.
 We were struck by the news that the doctors have done the mistake of delaying those pre-natal check ups (am not sure if this means those check ups before delievery)..in any case, the doctors were forced to react to an abnormal swollen thing in the brain of the pregnant lady (my cousin`s wife who is also a close relative)..the doctors decided to prematurely operate her and get the child to safety, they also simultaneously operated the brain and to everyones`relief both opeartions went well. The baby is healthy and the swelling on the brain proved to be an infection which they later treated.
So with this good news, i can relax for the weekend.
Thats how close things can turn upside down; thats why we should always remember our weaknesses as human beings..
Have a great weekend and a blessed night...night

Good evening ! its only the good memories thats keeping me warm !

Its so cold in sweden. sitting at the edge of my bed, considering having my socks on while sleeping or just remiving it..When its so cold, the brain is almost dysfunctional hence making one struggle with such a petty decision making moment..
After a short trip to the university, i acme home past 3 oclock..since then, i have been home surfing. Its one of those days the head goes blank. Am actually relieved that its bed time.
Am also struggling with the idea of going to stockholm, but again the brain is so slow in the decision making front..

Time to hit the bed now; hope u guys have good time out there..night ..take care all

the nomadic somali community in Kenya

We met Abdiya Mohammoud Osman, 74, at the designated shop where she was redeeming the Ksh 2000 (US $20) voucher she received as part of the support we are offering to 450 older people affected by the recent horn of Africa drought.
Abdiya is one of the 200 older people who will receive the voucher for the next three months in Hasabitto/Morotheley. At the time of my visit all the beneficiaries had collected their September ration while some had just begun redeeming for October.

Abdiya is a mother of seven and a grandmother to nine children. She had already calculated what she was going to take so she easily started asking Ismael, the shopkeeper to give her the food she wanted. She asked for various quantities of rice, sugar, tea leaves, maize flour, pastas and salt.
For her eight grandchildren, between the ages of 9 and 17, she said this food will be enough for 10-14 days. She was accompanied by her daughter who came with her young child to help carry the food.
We wanted to talk to her further, so we were taken to a backyard where a small number of goats and sheep were kept in an enclosed place where they are being fed as there is nothing out there to graze. No wonder they all looked healthy!
A system and community based on trust
Abdiya said her two sons, whose children she is looking after, have been away for more than seven months across the river to Malkamari near Ethiopia where they have gone to get water for their animals. She is now the sole provider for the children, four of which go to school.
While talking to us, a phone rings and Abdiya pulls it out from under her arm and walked away to answer the phone. Dagane, my colleague from Rural Agency for Community Development and Assistance(RACIDA), HelpAge's partner organisation that is implementing the voucher programme, overheard and told me that she talked about the weather and about a lamb that was eaten by a dog.
After all everyone is talking about the clouds in anticipation of the rain which had started to drizzle. Abdiya and many others like her are hoping that this will be the time they will be reunited with their children whose absence may end if they are guaranteed of water and pasture for their animals. Her grandchildren will also have their fathers back.
After she finished the conversation she rejoined us. She said it was one of her sons calling from Malkamari to ask her to borrow money as they are expected to pay for the watering of animals by the communities.
In anticipation of rain
When I asked her where she will borrow the money from Abdiya said: “I will go to one of the shopkeepers and borrow. If it rains my sons will come back and sell some of their animals to raise the money to pay the loan, so I will borrow from the shops around”. I asked if they will sign papers to prove the loan. I was told that no paper work is involved. It is all about trust.
Dagane who is a Kenyan Somali said: “In our community there is a lot of trust no one can deny having borrowed and if at all anything like this happens the elders will resolve it”.
Mohammed Hassen Sheikh who is the community mobiliser and supports RACIDA’s activities in Morothelye/Ashabitto as a volunteer, whose father’s shop we were sitting in, pointed at something wrapped in a paper bag hanging from the roof.
He said that his father who was silently sitting throughout our conversation with Abdiya had received a weighing scale and Ksh 10,000 (US $100) which he kept for someone for 11 years. Hassen said the owner never came back to claim the property and his father has hanged it to show that he has a responsibility to keep it until the owner comes. The Ksh 10,000 is also kept safely. He did not use it at all because if he did he needed to calculate interest and pay whenever the owner comes. He concluded saying that “this is included in my father’s will and we will honour it even after his death”.
It was so fascinating to see the level of trust and honesty the older man displayed and one wonders how much of this is upheld by the younger generation.
“You are our visitor and you do not pay"
The rain indeed started and we had to hurriedly say good bye to Abdiya. The rain which has come after more than two years will bring respite to the many families who will be reunited with their sons that have been away with their animals and who knows how much money that has been borrowed will be paid back this time.
I left remembering what Ismael the shopkeeper said that since the voucher was introduced, the rate of borrowing has gone down, a clear indication that many survived through borrowing.
Not only was I able to observe the progress of the project, I learnt a lot about the strong values and principles of the Somali community whose hospitality, warmth and friendship I was touched by. Even in the villages we were always offered tea and when I offered to pay, I was told: “You are our visitor and you do not pay."

A picture of the drought situation in East-Afrika

Omer is 67 and used to own businesses in Harar, Ethiopia before he came to Hagadera camp in 2006. He now lives here in a makeshift shelter made of shrubs and sticks with a plastic sheet roof. 

He is one of the 12,000 older refugees living in the three camps within Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. 10,000 new arrivals reach the camp each week, as desperate people affected by the drought in East Africa seek help. 

We visited the Dadaab camp a few weeks ago to assess the situation for older people there. We found them isolated, neglected, traumatised and suffering from poor health, insufficient and inappropriate food, and a lack of shelter.

Before moving to this shelter, donated by a fellow Ethiopian who left for the US, Omer had been sheltering in a mosque for two years. He complains of pain in his left ear (which limits his hearing) and suffers from kidney problems.

"I live like a beggar and eat the same food as donkeys"

When asked about his family, he said:  “I have lost contact with my family.”  He added that his son 17, had also arrived in Kenya, but left Dadaab camp on seeing the difficult conditions here and has not been heard of since.  

“I have no one here and I live like a beggar. I rely on my neighbours from Ethiopia who help collect the food rations and give me food when I run out of my own. 

"The food I receive here is for horses and donkeys.  Since I moved here I received one blanket, one mattress but I have not been given any utensils, not even a cup to drink water with.  

“My main problem is not getting enough food that I like and my poor health. Although I get medicines for temporary relief, I am sick again as soon as I run out of drugs.”

"Life in Somalia was better than here"

Unwilling to be photographed, we also met Daher Ali, 70, in the hospital run by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF).  He has lived in the camp for the last 10 months without a family as his wife and three children remained in Somalia. 

“My poor health is the main reason I came here. I have ulcers and suffer from incontinence.  I was a farmer and pastoralist but because of drought all my animals died and was left with nothing.

"For those with animals and family, life in Somalia was better than what we have here, despite the conflict.”

Dadaab camp is currently overflowing with a population of more than four times the capacity it was designed for living in three camps.

During our June visit, the population was estimated to be 360,000. Of this, more than 12,000 are estimated to be older people.

Drought is pushing more refugees to flee the country, further congesting the camp. An estimated 10,000 people are arriving in the camp every month, according to UNHCR.

June alone saw more than 30,000 new arrivals, three times that of previous months. 

Older people face multiple hardships

Our visit highlighted several key problems that older people candidly spoke of, and which the larger aid agencies working the camps confirmed.

For example poor mobility and disability affect 13,000 people across the three camps. Of these, 2,380 are older people (17% of the overall population of people with disabilities).

According to Handicap International, visual impairment stands out as the most common form of disability. Other common health problems include physical disability, hearing, speech and mental health - caused by lack of immunisation and gun-related violence.  

Hawo Yusuf Hussein, 68 lost her leg after being shot by warring groups. She moved to the camp after travelling for four months where she lives with her son and grandson. 

She says: “Life is very difficult here we cannot access any help. If there is any priority, I would have said food is the main one. My disability affects me. I cannot sleep. I am in constant pain and I do not get any treatment.

"While I was in Somalia I was active. Since I lost my husband 20 years ago, I earned a living by making mats to sell.

"I had nine children. Five died in Somalia and two are still there."

Sensing the danger she has putting herself and her children in, Hawo left for northern Kenya on her own. However, two of her children followed her and they now live together in the camp. 

"In Somalia I had a relative who used to send me money from abroad but have since lost his contact. I am now entirely depend on food rations given by the camp."

Mobility aids such as wheelchairs and walking sticks are unavailable for the majority who need them. And in any case, the sandy ground in the camp means wheelchairs, walking frames and other mobility aids are very difficult to operate.

Lack of suitable help for older people 

Overall invisibility:  Older people have no voice. They do not get the opportunity to air their views because agencies place no specific emphasis on this age group. 

When new arrivals come, larger agencies rapidly identify victims of gender violence, malnutrition, unaccompanied children, and undertake general registration.

Older people are lumped with the rest of the arrivals, despite their poor health, frailty and weak physical and mental health.   

Distribution centres have no special lines for older people and do not prioritise them. Arrival centres are crowded and chaotic, with a lot of pushing and shoving.

Insufficient food:  Older people told us they did not have enough decent quality food. With the increased influx of refugees, food rations are continually reduced. 

Moreover, the food that is distributed mainly includes maize, beans and wheat flour, with very small quantity of cooking oil and salt. This is not suitable nor palatable for the majority of older people. 

As a result a number of older people are malnourished and this is confirmed by various agencies. Although the International Rescue Commitee has a targeted children’s supplementary feeding programme, no such programme exists for older people.

Shelter:  Large numbers of older people are living in poor shelter because they are unable to make bricks and erect a shelter. Some live in makeshift structures made of wooden sticks with no plaster whatsoever, exposing them to adverse weather conditions. 

New arrivals are forced to remain on the outskirts of the camps with no appropriate shelter, often sharing cramped spaces with other relatives.

Poor health and limited access to healthcare:  None of the camps' health facilities have special reception areas or prioritisation for older people. Many older people have chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, but are not on drugs for managing these conditions.

The lack of ambulances means frail, weak and those with disabilities cannot reach the health facilities. There are trained community health workers among the refugees but they do not have any specific skill to visit and advise older people. The emphasis is on identifying malnourished children.

Inaccessibility of sanitation facilities: The areas in which the camps are set up are prone to flooding so toilets seats have been raised. Older people told us they cannot climb these raised seats and thus many have resorted to using plastic containers.

Isolation and loneliness: There are a number of unaccompanied older people who depend on the support of others who collect their food rations and help with cooking.  These older people live in the most appalling situations, with inadequate shelter, bedding and personal hygiene facilities. 

Protection:  Some older people have reported verbal, physical, sexual abuse in the camps.

Older men acknowledged that wife beating is common and rape also happens, to a lesser degree on older women as well. Some even said that rape of older women is not reported and even if it is, no action is taken.

Some older people commented they are no longer respected and valued by their families and communities.

What older people in Dadaab camp need

More, better quality food: Older people need improved food rations. Corn Soya Bean fortified with oil and sugar would provide better nutrition for older people. We will ask the major agencies to start a supplementary feeding programme specifically for older people.

Less isolation: Linking lonely older people with foster families can also help improve their emotional and physical needs.

Shelter and bedding: Materials to erect suitable shelters, blankets and mattresses.

Access to healthcare: Older people need outreach services for the bedridden and those with poor mobility. Eye screening and treatment of preventable blindness is also crucial.

Community-owned donkey carts (or donkey ambulances) would help older people to get around the camp, particularly to get to health clinics or hospitals.

Sanitation:  Accessible toilets with ramps and raised seats can go a long way in providing older people with more dignity.

Jambo ! Hej ! Hello !

Today was the first day in school. It was time to present what we went through in our practical training. there were nervous moments; but i feel that i had good time at the stage.
Thanks to my jewish friend Nesika :) and the cheerup of Ibrahim

Now, it feels so good to be done with that course..did the practice, sent the report and today i did the presentation,,now, a new chapter begins..

This is a report i read somewhere; its about a miraculous muslim kid who preaches Islam..remember am just sharing things that i thought was amazing; its not about trying to comvert anyone, its about the story !

According to a huge number of online sources, a 5 year old Kenyan boy - sometimes he's claimed to be Tanzanian or Nigerian - can recite the entire Qur'an and preach in at least 5 languages. The boy is alleged to have converted thousands of people all over the world. This article which was printed in the "Scotland on Sunday" newspaper seems to be the original source for the story circulating on a large number of Islamic websites:

There are orphans and street children everywhere. So much so that the sight of another small child standing on a street corner hardly merits a second glance. But only when the boy opens his mouth to speak do onlookers realise that Shariff Idd is special. The five year-old speaks in five languages - English French Italian, Swahili and Arabic - even though he is completely uneducated. Shariff is a preacher who draws crowds of thousands in Kenya to his increasingly regular sermons. The Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al Gaddafi is a great supporter following an audience with him earlier this year. Last week was a milestone for the child introduced to gawping throngs as the "miracle boy" of East Africa. He smiled triumphantly when told he had notched up his one thousandth conversion to Islam in a country where Muslims are a minority.
Tours of France and Britain now beckon, according to Hajji Maroulin, one of the boy's four guardians. he will travel as a missionary on a trip to e financed by a Muslim businessman from the Ivory Coast. "When he is not preaching he is just like any other kid - he likes Tom and Jerry cartoons, particularly." Maroulin said. "But when he preaches he changes. At one year old he was able to recite the Koran and went on to be able to preach in Arabic, Swahili and french without any learning. The number of his converts is growing daily." For a child he has strangely adult mannerisms. He speaks confidently, mainly in Swahili unless he is delivering a sermon. Then, he fixes his piercing brown eyes on the person he is addressing without inhibition. His squeaky child-like voice mesmerizes audiences. According to Maroulin, Shariff was born into a Swahili-speaking Catholic family in Arusha, north Tanzania in December 1993: "At the age of two months he refused to suckle his mother's milk and at the age of four months he started reciting verses from the Holy Koran."


Scan of the article which was printed in "Scotland on Sunday"; August 8, 1999 - Click for larger image
The boy's first words - "You people repent and you will be accepted by God." - were in Arabic. his concerned parents believed him to be disturbed by "demons" and called pastors to pray for the baby. Eventually, Muslim neighbors interpreted their son's alien speech and his parents later converted to Islam themselves. Although his father died in 1997, his mother remains in Tanzania while her worldly son continues his travels. There is no doubting his pulling-power and in a commercial world his entourage has been quick to produce videos of the high-pitched sermons. He has also been deemed genuine by Kenya's Muslim World League. Kaplich Barsito, 35 from Nairobi, saw Shariff in action addressing a crowd of more than 1,000 in an open are at the Pumwani district of Kenya's capital, and is in no doubt of the boy's abilities.
"He was like a politician, very confident," he said. "He seemed as though he would have been disappointed if there had been less people. The power went off and his minders wanted him to stop but he grabbed a loudspeaker and carried on in Swahili, English and Arabic It was very impressive and he mesmerized the audience with a focused sermon." Shariff himself seems mystified about his power. He said last week that he picked up languages as soon as he heard. "I went to Congo and heard people speaking Lingala (the local language). I just was able to start speaking it."

Kategori:

Good evening or morning depending on when u woke up

Hello guys! When i say guys, i mean both sexes..according to the American english, guys is generally refered to both men and women..
Today is anothe cold saturday in Sweden; i was awaken by my friend Mjanja; we had a deal that i was supposed to pass by his place at around 10, but i overslept giving him the chance to surprise me; this is the first time he ever woke up before me . It was a good surprise tho..
We went to the local petrol station and changed the engine oil and got a new oil filter fixed..this could of course not happen without mjanja`s reknowned mechanical knowledge ..shout out to him.
Now, we shall be relaxing untill six when we go out to play football in  a big hall some few minutes drive from home. This outings are ussually refreshing since apart from the footbal, we tend to socialise with our fellow somalis. its like the only time people meet since people are busy the other days of the week..
Hope everyone is having a relaxed time.
Finally, its always worth reminding u guys that as i am writting this, there are people around the world who are undergoing difficult times..so apreciate life and do somthing nice to people around you..cheers ya all .

Hi ya all!

Firstly, after thanking our creator for this wonderful opportunity of being able to breath and go about our daily chores., secondly, shout out to all the beloved ones that suport us in all situation; and thirdly, whenever u feel that the whole world is turning against u; take  adeep breath and remember that theres no permanent situation, and that this is just another temporary bumb in life..
Sory for my silence, it was because of the school work that was driving me crazy; as you know, i spent 5 months in Kenya doing some social work. Now, the school needs a report on that, thats the reason for my silence, please bear with me..
In addition to that; i regret to tell you about a bad news. The clients i have been working with in the past few months have turned against each other hence causing casualties. Its one of those sad things in life; people were starvin, their animals dying due to lack of water ..after their prayers being accepted and the rains had fallen, they could not agree on settlements. Clan A claims that clan B had passed into their territory and that clan B`s animals grazed on clan A`s land. This and other petty accusation lead to big conflicts.
I hear that the area MPs are on ground to settle the disputes, i hope that this works out.
Finally, the weekend is set to be another calm weekend if only my football team wins again. And this week will be perfect if mancity loses :)

I will try to be back to u guys as soon as i get the opportunity to post.

I apologise for the lack of pictures..

It was hard to publish a full report with pictures..but i hope u enjoy the reading
..sory about that

Final field report

MY EXPERIENCE DURING MY PRACTICE WITH RACIDA:

PERIOD: September 2011-DECEMBER 2011

PLACEMENT: RACIDA KENYA

CONTENT:  my experiences from my internship

Context:

The International Social Work program in the University of Gavle is a unique program that focuses on social work and social problems around the globe. Unlike the initial social work related programs within the Swedish context in the Swedish universities, this program is basically about equipping social workers with holistic knowledge concerning social work in both national and global contexts.

I being a student of social work student, I was attached to an NGO in Kenya as a part of my social work practical training. In this internship, every student was given the chance to choose an area to do his/her social work practice. Therefore, I chose to do mine with an NGO called RACIDA. Racida stands for Rural Agency for Community Initiative Development & Assistance.

My practical training in Kenya coincided with the worst drought in the horn of Africa in sixty years according the UN. Kenya being a neighbor to Somalia which was worst hit by the famine, there was an influx of refugees into Kenya. This meant that there was a ground for me to practice my social work instinct and get to get the experience from working with some of the complex problems involved in the famine.

In this paper, I will try to expound my experiences in terms of sharing the new concepts learnt, challenges, solutions and personal reflections.

The contents of the paper are based on academic literatures, interviews with clients, my supervisor, fellow social workers and community workers. When illustrating about complex issues, I might back my descriptions with pictures and case studies. It is my expectations and hopes that the readers of the paper find it helpful by reading this report. I wish you a pleasant reading.

The Area of Practice:

Below is the map area of the places I was doing my practice at. Racida has also other programs in towns of the bordering countries of Ethiopia and Somalia, but due to the diverse cultures that are synonymous with Mandera, I chose to do my practice here. I believed that the cosmopolitan nature of the town would offer different sorts of social problems hence giving me the benefit of dealing with all the challenges that come with them.

MAP OF THE PROJECT AREA

Mandera County lies between latitude 2. 11’ north and 4. 17’ north and longitudes 39. 47’east and 41.  4.8’east.  The county covers an area of 26,474 km and boarders Ethiopia  to  the  north, Somalia  to  the  east and Wajir  to  the  south  and  southwest.

(The map is an extract from the Ngo`s planning pamphlet)

The Emergency program:

This is a program that was not planned for by the organization, but due to the extreme famines in the area the organization was forced to suspend all the activities that were supposed to be dealt with. These activities included: civic education on human rights issues, human resource management, and empowerment on all levels i.e. economic and social empowerment. Moreover, there were projects that were in place on combating barbaric cultural practices like FGM and other gender balance related issues. However, all this were impossible to cover bearing in mind the situation in hand; the droughts.

When I first chose Racida as my place of practice, the aim was purposely to work with social work  issues, but as I earlier mentioned the situation of the drought worsened hence forcing the Ngo to focus on intervention programs rather than capacity-building. However, I could still relate this to the theoretical topics that I covered in school. These topics will be later mentioned in the reflections section.

The Kenyan nomads; who are famous for crossing borders (Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia) in search of pastures for their livestock were the main victims. The rains pattern in these areas has become erratic hence hampering the nomadic lifestyle. This meant that the nomads would move to places that are miles away from their usual pastoral targets and still not being able to see any grass. Therefore, animals being the livelihood of the nomads (animals produce food in form of milk, meat, fur and transport), the longer dry periods had caused starvation and strained the nomads’ social lives.

To mitigate this dire situation, Racida had undertaken the following intervention programs: Destocking, water trucking, food vouchers and help-age programs that are facilitated by help age international.

Before I proceed ahead, I would like to define the terms that are exclusively used in the daily intervention strategies. These terms are almost unheard of in the western world hence tempting me to share these concepts with my fellow social work students back home in Sweden.

During my visit at the field, where I was with my supervisor who was assigned to monitor areas where the Ngo has stretched its intervention programs, I came across the following terms: Water trucking, Destocking and Food vouchers. Apart from these intervention programs, I was also introduced to other concepts after the drought ended. I was involved in the planning of these strategies but was not there to witness the practical part of it. These strategies included: restocking and community managed disaster risk reduction program (CMDRRP). I will take time to explain this in the concluding parts of this paper.

WATER TRUCKING:

The main goal of our field visit was to monitor around 20 villages where RACIDA has provided water to. Our goal was to meet the beneficiaries and hear their reaction concerning the work done by the NGO. On the other hand, we wanted to confirm if the water being trucked to the areas has reached the beneficiaries.

  The act of transporting water to affected areas is called water trucking. The recipients of the water are mainly pastoralists who are drought victims. RACIDA together with other NGOs and the government of Kenya have been involved in these activities of mitigating the effects of the drought. The standard amount of water being supplied is five liters per person per day. However, water trucking is not challenge-free; as Somali pastoralists are known for their love for livestock, they share the water intended for the human consumption with the livestock hence calling for more water supply. Since the NGOs` budget is limited, it gets complicated since the social workers have to deal with the pleas for more water from their clients.

In reading the literature, Healy`s social work theories in context, discussing the dominant discourses, he mentioned that when service-users (like the ones I have been working with), don’t pay for the services, in many cases, this may lead to inefficiency of resource allocation (Pg. 29). I recognize Healy`s point; the beneficiaries were actually wasteful as in their usage of the resources and I believe that if a third party had not paid for it, the extravagancy would be much less. However, despite agreeing with Healy, I am not advocating for the neo-classic economic approach where cost efficiency is a core argument. While the cause of the extravagancy can be linked to the concept of the neo-classic economic discourse, it’s worth mentioning that while working with drought-devastated people; it would be unfair to consider asking the beneficiaries to contribute financially to the intervention project since these peoples` lives are between life and death.

Below: families assemble their water-drums when the water- trucking tanker arrived.

Above: six-year old Halima queues for water.

Case study 1:

In the backdrop of an ongoing drought intervention by various humanitarian agencies, lies a quite village whose normal life has been disrupted by the ongoing drought.

This isolated village is deserted during the day, and when I visited, was welcomed by group of children, their body dusty and weary; bloodshot eyes; obviously the lack of water means that bathing is a luxury to them. The parents, they inform me, went to a far place to get relief food. Few women come out of their huts, children clinging on their backs.

The drought effect is biting hard; this group was left out in the ‘water trucking program’ where water boozers deliver water to affected areas. Those villages in the vicinity are not prioritized by humanitarian agencies, rather those far away areas are considered. This made Qodi village the forgotten lot.

Observations:

·         Increasing eye infections especially among children

·         Long distance trekking in search of water over burdens women

·         The drought has affected school going children as hungry children cannot learn

·         Nomadic life of the community means that they have to look pasture and water for their animals-this disrupts learning life of the children

All the above observations have predictably resulted in total disruption of the social lives of these communities.

Available resources:

      Through lobbying, I was able to get a 10,000 capacity water storage tank from RACIDA, the organization am attached to for my field work. Thanks to contributions from Swedish private persons (this was facilitated by Somali Youth League; an organization that’s run by youths with Somali backgrounds), it was possible to fill the tanks with water.

Now, the village has formed its water associations and don’t need help when the tanks are empty and needs refilling. They explained to us that they charge a very small amount of money for every five liter container drawn from that tank and they use the money to hire trucks to fill the tank when the water is finished.

DESTOCKING:

This is a kind of intervention where RACIDA buys livestock (goats & sheep) and slaughters for the villagers. This is a two-sided process; the first phase of the process is making sure that the owners of the livestock don’t lose their animals through the drought. The livestock owners get money instead and allow the NGO to slaughter their animals. The second phase is about feeding the villagers with the meat from the slaughtered animals. One wonders why the NGO would buy the animals from the villagers only to slaughter for them again. Here, the love for animals is so immense that a nomad would be unrealistically sitting beside a starving animal until it dies rather than slaughtering it. Therefore, the NGO buys and slaughters the animal before the drought claims it. This is the only way to capitalize on the meat of the dying animal since un-slaughtered animals are not culturally edible.  

Above:  Racida stuff pays livestock owner money for the slaughtered lambs/goats.

Below, recipients carry home a slaughtered sheep. These couples explained to me that the mutton from the sheep can sustain them for up to three days; and the skin of the sheep can be disinfected and used for shelter or as a mattress.

FOOD VOUCHERS:

This is another drought intervention program where a voucher with a value of 1500 Kenya shillings (100 SEK) is given to the drought victims. The beneficiaries go to an identified shop where they buy food with the voucher. Like any other intervention program, those who are given the vouchers to are identified according to their vulnerability and are identified by community leaders and members.

The food vouchers are divided into two categories: there is a food voucher that is strictly meant for the older persons and this comes under the project of the help-age international. The other type of food voucher is not specifically for any age group as long as one meets the criteria of the-poorest-should –get their share.

One of the staff takes a signed list of beneficiaries who were identified for the food distribution.

Help-age:

This is a project sponsored by Help-age international. I don’t want to go into explaining about help-age international, I therefore refer you to the website for more info; http://www.helpage.org/.

This project involved giving food and non-food stuff to older persons in these communities. As a social work student, I was interested in the mobilization process since the food that was distributed was so little compared to the number of old persons. I made sure that the most vulnerable people were registered for the distribution.

Moreover, the food we distributed had an empowering effect on the old people since they shared the food with the other family members. The old people were now contributing things to the family budget. However, as Adams explained in his book Empowerment, participation and social work (pg.104) an individual`s empowerment can mean disempowering another person. Therefore, Racida made sure that the distributions were balanced on each family.

Above: an old woman is registered for the old-age program that is targeting old people in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the drought on old person.

Such an old person benefits from this program by receiving non food staff e.g. soaps, containers for storing water on monthly basis depending on the length of the projects contract. They will also benefit through a sub-program called CSB project; this stands for Corn-Soja-Beans. This project mainly targets hygiene and health related problems among the vulnerable older persons in the area.

From my private talks with amliset, who is a coordinator for Old-age International, I was made to understand us this was a unique program that has so far worked well in the area. She told me that the response was good and that they will be renewing their funding for the projects. She told me that they were impressed on the results of their help to the older persons.

Reflections:

My doubt has always been if the above interventions were more about humanitarian work than social work practice. Then after the field visits, I actually, through my interaction with the beneficiaries confirmed that the work was on the long term, social work. The beneficiaries told me that apart from the food and water distributions, the organization offers motivational seminars to the pastoralists on issues like climatic changes, environmental friendliness e.t.c. when I asked the pastoralists if these humanitarian interventions had any long-term impacts on them, they positively explained to me that the interventions` effects are wholly felt when the droughts end since one needs not to start life from nothing. It is like buying out someone from an economical depression, when the business comes back to normal, the business man who was on the verge of bankruptcy, needs not to look backwards rather than forward. This way, apart from saving lives during the drought seasons, the nomads easily become economically stable afterwards. Therefore, I find this economical aspect of the humanitarian interventions as economically empowering.

On the other hand, According to the international federation of social workers, social work is defined as the promotion of social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being.  Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.

Social work is also about enriching peoples` life and avoiding dysfunction. In the light of these definitions, by providing basic human needs to the pastoralists, one is enhancing the well being of the pastoralists. I also understood that, during such hard times like now, due to reduced resources thanks to the famine, people tend to fight over resources e.g. water, grazing areas etc. hence leading to conflicts and instability in the area. So, as far as social work principles are concerned, these complex problems in the human relationships can only be solved by making sure that conflicts are avoided as much as possible. Racida has so far done that; by making sure that every community gets food and water hence avoiding the conflicts that could arise as a result of the scarcity of resources.

As my teacher told me once, social work is teaching someone how to fish while charity is giving a person a fish to eat. In the case of the pastoralist communities, the issue of teaching them how to fish was not applicable. The pastoralists are famous for their hard work, although due to unforeseen prolonged droughts (thanks to global warming), they were faced by a situation where they could never single-handedly find their way out. Therefore, learning how to fish was not an issue, but rather helping them out in this emergency situation was the real deal. In support of the preceding arguments I will be describing another capacity-building project that I was involved after the emergency period was declared over.

Community Managed Disaster Risk Deduction (CMDRR) :

This is one of the projects that were upheld prior to the emergency period. The project started after weeks of rains in the area. Since the major problems that were facing the pastoralists was the lack of rains, after it had rained the humanitarian organizations had put down most of the drought mitigation programs. For Racida, they just replaced the short-term humanitarian efforts into long term community development projects. This started with disaster risk reduction program.

Below is a description of the project and a case study of former successes. I regret the fact that I was only involved in the planning of the project rather than being able to witness the practical part of it. This was because of the fact that the start of the project coincided with the end of my practice period. However, by going through the project descriptions in the organizations documents, I could fully understand the extent of the project.

According to Payne (2005), social work requires workers to seek social justice and therefore to empower people by responding to their knowledge and understanding. Clients often have best knowledge about their circumstances and objectives, which therefore should be followed. In the light of Payne’s point, Racida, with the help of the community, identifies disaster risks e.g. Droughts, floods, diseases, attack from wild animals. After the risks are identified, the organization employs the measures to curb the risks before they happen.

In some cases, the community might dismiss oncoming risks and will rather want other forms of help. Then the organization being a community development NGO, it tends to cope up with such challenges. For example, an example of such case is as follows.

Case study 2:

With frequent drought, depending on livestock as the only source of livelihood is no longer viable and pastoralists are diversifying and getting into alternative livelihoods for survival. Through the support of organizations like RACIDA and other development agencies in the district, these communities are recognizing the need to improve and adapt new technology for sustainable farming e.g. water conservation, trying new varieties of drought resistant seeds and using the machines such money maker pumps. Through practice, the dry land farmers in rural Mandera will be able to cope with natural hazards such as drought and devise strategies for sustainable livelihoods.

Use of money maker pump has been one of the successful technologies that the community has successfully adopted. The money maker pump can push water uphill as well as simply pulling it up from the source. It is suitable for use on steeply sloping land where the water source may be at the bottom. The pump is used to pump water from hand-dug wells, rivers, ponds, pans etc. This pump can draw water up from 23 feet (7m) and has a total pumping head of 46 fit (14m). It can be used to irrigate up to 2 acres of land. The main focus for this support to farmers is to improve their livelihoods and food security situation especially since they are living in drought prone areas.

Demonstration on how to handle the money maker pump

This project focuses on the farmers’ active participation to identify and manage their own farms. The farmers are positive that there will be an increase in their crop yields and harvest during the coming farming/rainy season. In such a project, farmers are in the recovery process after the disaster. This is not apart of the emergency program that I earlier mentioned where focus was put on saving lives of animals and people.

Farmer demonstrating the use of money maker pump to pump water from hand-dug well to irrigate his farm

Summary:

As it is impossible to summarize my full experience on the practice field here on this piece of article, I sincerely tried to give a good picture of my practice. I therefore hope that the readers of this paper might find the contents of it worth reading.

In this final part of the paper, I would like to expound the meaning of social work in its respective context. In Malcolm Payne’s Modern social work theory, he writes, “..social work is socially constructed through interactions with clients, because they themselves become defined as clients by social processes, through its formation as an occupation among a network occupations, and through the social forces which define it through its organizational, agency and social context.” (pg22). I think that how social work is seen in the western world is not necessarily portrayed in other parts of the world. For instance, the people I had been working with need short time help in this temporary disaster. Once the drought is over, what they will need is more about capacity-building rather than feeding them. Therefore, in case I have not made it clear in my earlier discussions, I would like to stress that what we worked with during the drought period is a pure social work in that context and a humanitarian help in a western context.

It is also worth viewing it from this angle; if we look back into the history of social work, it all began with charities and religious efforts. Today, social work has gone into another stage hence looking down on short-term interventions. And this new way of thinking is what we call modern social work. Moreover, it is fair to conclude and say that helping people to help themselves is just one way of seeing social work, and how other cultures define social work is up to them. My point is aimed at those teachers who already came to the conclusion that humanitarian interventions are less social work. It is just one of the short comings of our literature where everything is defined in view of European context.

References:

K.Healy, Social Work Theories In Context 2005, Palgrave Macmillan, London,UK.

M.Payne, Modern Social Work Theory2005, , Palgrave Macmillan, London,UK.

R.Adams, Empowerment, Participation And social Work (4^th edition)2008, , Palgrave Macmillan, London,UK.

Racida`s five- year strategic plan book.

Interviews :supervisor, Monitors, community elders and clients