Audio: In Somaliland, Devastating Drought Changes Pastoralists' Lives Forever
- Laura Angela Bagnetto
- Jun 6, 2016
- 1 min read
Some 20 huts made of twigs and clothing, a modern version of traditional Somaliland homes, dot an unpaved road leading through the autonomous region nestled by Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia to the south. Living on the side of a dusty road is not easy for pastoralists who enjoy their freedom and formerly resisted from living so close together. But a devastating drought has changed everyone’s perspective.
The El Nino weather pattern halted rainfall for about a year in Somaliland this year until the Guu rains arrived last month. Many older Somalilanders have noticed dramatic changes in the weather patterns over the course of their lifetime.
“In my 90 years, this is the worst drought I’ve seen. The last time there was a drought this severe was the year I was born,” Bildaley village elder Hashi Derie Elmi told RFI, adding that three people died during this drought and the one in the year of his birth.
Oxfam East Africa
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