The deadly cyclone hit northern Somalia the end of last year (2013) has claim the lives of many people and livestock. The cyclone made landfall in the semi-autonomous Puntland region. It triggered days of heavy rains and flash floods that swept homes, boats, cows, goats and other farm animals into the Indian Ocean. The region heavily depends on agriculture as a source of income.
Areas affected include
+ Baarweyn
+ Balli-Shillin
+ Budan Buto
+ Ceelmadoobe
+ Dhirwaraabe
+ Finley
+ Kabaal iyo Garmaal
+ Laasa-Xajiin
+ Labi-Cadaad
+ Qarxis Area
+ Qureexane
+ Tebin,
The situation in the region stressed the Somali communities living abroad, specially in the United States. The president of HARO, Ali Abdinur was entrusted with funds reaching $80K to take to the most effected areas of the region. Abdinur traveled to Puntland and met with the community leaders to find out the best way to distribute the funds.
Livestock and Infrastructure
Thousands of livestock died and hundreds of homes and bridges were destroyed by the strong cyclone.
How did HARO helped?
With the help of the local community leaders and dedicated volunteers, the president of HARO, Ali Abdinur visited the most effected areas and people. One of those people was Ahmed Hassan Ismail who lost all his family members.
The Man Who Lost all His Family
Ahmed Hassan Ismail lost all his family members consisting of 6 children and his wife. With all the pain he is going through, HARO build small house for him and his new wife.
The School of Blind and Visually Impaired
The school provides reading material to the blind and vision impaired students by Braille printing machine. The school teaches more than 170 blind students currently.
This man is one of students, he doesn’t have hands but he uses his tongue to read Braille papers so he can learn.
As you can imagine with all these equipments, the maintenance and the food is upon the shoulders of the head of the school…. HARO contributed $3000 which will cover for the cost of one month.
The insane Family
The father, his daughter and the son of the daughter are all mentally ill. The father is locked in chains inside the small hut for the safety of everyone else. The only sane person in the family is their brother who takes care all of them. The little boy grew thick skin like monkey due to dragging his behind to the ground for long period of time.
Although the family needs major medical assistance, HARO gave them one thousand dollar to make things easier for their brother who works tirelessly to provide for them.