The Drought Emergency Response in Puntland (DERIP) project is targeting 800 households (approx. 4,800 beneficiaries) in Somalia with emergency cash transfers. The project is an initiative of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and has people from several countries involved.

In Somalia, more than 2 million people are displaced because they have been affected by drought in the last five years and no longer have a place to call home outside of temporary camps. Many families have lost loved ones, livestock, and agricultural products as a result of this catastrophe.

Mother Rukia has never had means for enjoying three meals a day for her 14 children. However, over the years, she has managed to raise them even after losing her husband. Despite all these challenges, she never gave up; she left her rural home in Quraaro to come to the Sinujiif Camp in search of food, water, and shelter for her children.

Through the local community committee, ADRA Somalia staff assisted Rukia as part of its DERIP project.

“I managed to get food,” a happy Rukia said. “The money donated by the project was easily accessible through my phone, which gave me the freedom to buy what I needed.”

ADRA’s money transfer project has promoted the financial freedom of many, who can now buy what they urgently need, such as rice, beans, sugar, cooking oil, pasta, and many other household products. “ADRA came when we had no one by our side, and this program has helped many mothers like me who had difficulty caring for children without their father,” Rukia said.

Most of the affected populations are herding families living in remote rural areas. Many of these families have lost most of their livestock and possessions to drought and are now poor, desolate, and extremely vulnerable. Many poor families have already abandoned their normal livelihoods and migrated to places where they can seek support. They live a desperate life of absolute dependence on relatives, not knowing from where the next meal will come.

These families often go hungry, eating only one meal a day. The situation is particularly difficult for poor families headed by women, nursing mothers and young children, and the elderly and sick. Malnutrition rates are relatively high among these families, who will stop at nothing to sell their possessions to provide a meal for their households.

The DERIP project is funded by Swiss Solidarity and co-financed by ADRA Switzerland, together with some network partners, including ADRA Italia, through the support of the Italian Union of Seventh-day Adventist Christian Churches.

The original version of this story was posted on the Adventist Review website.