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Fadumo and her family originally lived in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Under the threat of utal armed force and incessant conflicts, they lived in daily fear of attack. Uneasiness still lurks in Fadumo’s mind every time she sees her big scar in the cease of her elbow. She recalls, ‘I was caught in the cross fire in Mogadishu and hit by a sporadic bullet, I was too scared to stay.’In order to keep her eight children safe, Fadumo resorted to leave her home and made a long and harsh trek to the refugee camp in Galkayo, the centre of Somalia, despite that she was pregnant with Kowsar.

Time flies, baby Kowsar is now 17 months old. Yet due to the lack of food, Kowsar looks smaller than she should be. Coupled with a poor habitat, Kowsar has an excessive cough and diarrhoea. UNICEF offers Fadumo a couple of Oral Rehydration Sachets for relief of dehydration caused by diarrhoea, and sets up mobile child and mother care teams in camp to provide medicines and vaccinations to Kowsar and other 1.2 million children up and down the country.

Conflict continues to maim and kill, thus refugee camps are no longer temporary residences, but becoming more and more permanent, to Fadumo and many families. Fadumo doesn’t know when she and her children will leave the camp. ‘I hope my children will study and lead a better life in the future,’ says Fadumo.

‘This life is a tough life,’ she says, ‘I think UNICEF will help my child’.