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In the face of a humanitarian crisis, it’s easy to only imagine the worst, Allin says.
But she has also witnessed the difference every contribution can make.
Allin says that all it takes to be a humanitarian
is having the will to give up some of what you have and share it with others. (Her six-year-old daughter donated her school snack money to the hunger crisis.) It is “a selfless act that sustains the human connection,” she says.
Perhaps one positive takeaway from the pandemic is that it highlighted just how interconnected we all are, Allin says. “We have learned we are like one body, and if one leg
is not feeling well, then it affects the rest of the body. We also know that as one interconnected organism, we can collectively bring
about change.”
We are all in this together
But change happens – and you’re contributing.
When you see the scale of need in a community and then you go back another year and you see girls going to school or a shallow well where before there was a lack of water, you know that change is possible,” she says. “It may not be immediate;
it may not be linear.
“
”
“
”
We are all in this together.
When I see the support we receive,
I am touched by the humanity that has crossed miles and seas and mountains.
faced severe
food insecurity
in 2021
‡
923.7 million
people
under the age of five are suffering from wasting
†
45 million children
The hunger crisis
is affecting
globally**
345 million
people
But what will happen if
we don’t act –
and fast?
In 2011,
lost their lives due to hunger – most were under 5 years old.*
250,000+ people
One person dies from hunger
in the Horn of Africa.*
every 48 seconds
tap me to play
While much of Allin’s role involves meetings, paperwork and proposals as well as working with donors, UN agencies and government, she also schedules days when she can go out and talk to people about what is happening in their lives. “What we are seeing in the community is heartbreaking,” she says.
Allin has spoken to girls who had to drop out of school to help their families
and girls who must travel farther and farther to find water, their risk of being assaulted or exploited increasing with every kilometre. She has also seen an alarming rise in FGM as people search desperately for any means of income and struggling parents rush to get their daughters married. Cutters go door to door – one even approached Allin, asking to cut her two young daughters.
Caption to
go here
1.5 million children are at risk of being malnourished by the end of this year.
• Providing cash transfers
• Sending emergency trucks
carrying clean water
THE SITUATIOn
our response
what is happening
in somalia right now
And people are hungry. Allin met a man who had travelled for days to find food for his sheep and goats, but by the time he reached a place where there was still grass growing, his animals were too weak to eat. They died, and he lost everything – his livelihood, his identity, his dignity. He walked away with just the sheet he was wearing and his stick, Allin says, but he had nowhere to go.
Then, Allin met a mother of nine whose livestock had also died – they were her only source of income. She told Allin:
“I put my children to bed and boil water
in the night so that they will fall asleep thinking there will be food. But today,
I don’t have enough water to boil. We did not eat last night. We did not eat today. And I don’t think we will have anything
to eat tomorrow.”
Despite the desperate situation, Allin
has been struck – and buoyed – by the resilience, generosity and hope she has witnessed: a community sharing a bottle of water, allowing themselves only a sip from the lid to ensure there was enough for everyone; a family who lost most of their livestock giving a calf to a family whose cattle had all died.
Allin says talking to the children in these communities inspires her the most.
“It’s amazing when you speak with them,” she says. “They know that the situation is
bad, but they still have hope. They will tell you ‘I want to be a doctor, I want to be a nurse,
I want to be a teacher, I want to go to school.’ The children who didn’t eat today and won’t have anything to eat tomorrow are still hopeful.”
“
”
We did not eat last night.
We did not eat today.
And I don’t think we will have anything
to eat tomorrow.
In 2011, more than a quarter of a million people lost their lives because of hunger, and most of them were under five years old. Back then, Allin says, communication was limited and we didn’t know the scale of the problem. “This time, everybody knows there is a hunger crisis. We have the chance today to save lives, to protect livelihoods, to protect dignity.”
change
is possible
“I come from a patriarchal society where girls are undervalued and from a young age encounter multiple violations: They’re subjected to FGM, they’re excluded from education and they’re married off at a young age,” Allin says. “Helping each other is just something I grew up with. And then I realized that
I could actually do something about it.”
Allin joined Plan International three years ago as head of mission for Somalia/Somaliland, determined to change the lives of girls like her. “Improving girls’ living conditions and social status is not just a theory; it’s a reality that I’ve experienced,” she says. “I got
my first period while living in a refugee camp, and now I am educated and have held high positions
– I know first-hand that change is possible.”
Somalia ranks as one of the worst places
in the world to be a girl.
The global hunger crisis has only made
the situation worse.
Somalia, where cutting
is seen as a precursor to marriage, already has the
highest rate of FGM
in the world.
What does it take to be a humanitarian in a hunger crisis?
So many of the stories Sadia Allin hears are heartbreaking, but
she also hears stories of strength, humanity and hope.
If you ask Sadia Allin when she became a humanitarian, she’ll tell you it was when
she was five years old, after she’d survived female genital mutilation (FGM) in her village in Somalia. It is the when, and it is also the why.
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Words: Sydney Loney
Design: Bianca Jozwiak