Return to Somalia
Hassan Noor is Oxfam's Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Somalia, based in Nairobi, and has just returned from a trip to Somalia where he was deeply affected by what he saw.
I started in the capital, Mogadishu, which I have visited many times over the years. What I found was an empty wasteland, just skeletons of buildings, wreckage, and rubble. What struck me most is that the city is empty. Most of Mogadishu's citizens have now fled because of the upsurge in fighting since last year.
Photo: Hassan Noor
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This used to be Mogadishu's Parliament. It was built in the 1950s and used as our first parliament from the 1960s to the 1980s. It was the powerhouse of nationhood in newly independent Somalia, and an architectural attraction. Now they call this area Ground Zero because so much has been destroyed.
Photo: Hassan Noor
It was sad for me to take this picture as I remember how beautiful this seafront was in the 1980s. I used to visit my uncle there who had a house, on the right hand side of the picture. It was like a Mediterranean resort. Now, it's just rubble, and Mogadishu's once thriving port stands empty.
Photo: Hassan Noor
Aisha and her family are sheltering in the 'Green Zone' of Mogadishu, where many of the city's remaining residents are. Aisha is one of the lucky ones because she's receiving help from an aid group. But I'm worried about her because there are many cases of young girls being raped.
Photo: Hassan Noor
Ahmed's father was killed in the conflict. He's his mother's only child. I came across him just sitting still while the other kids were playing. I asked his mother what was wrong with him. She said: "He's just having a bad day."
Photo: Hassan Noor
Around 745,000 people have now fled Mogadishu. A third of them have settled on the road between the capital and Afgooye to the west. This 15 kilometre stretch is now thought to be the largest gathering of internally displaced people in the world. When I came here to Elasha last November, it was virtually empty; now there are tents and people as far as the eye can see.
Photo: Hassan Noor
Displaced families are camping out in homemade shelters like these. Many of them are city people who've fled for their lives with next to nothing. It's a hand to mouth existence, incredibly tough. But Somalis are active, business-oriented people. They don't just sit around and wait for help.
Photo: Hassan Noor
Leila is from the minority among the Somali people known as Bantus. She's the head of her household, trying to take care of her five siblings and elderly grandmother. They lost everything when they fled Mogadishu. Because they're so vulnerable, they're receiving a monthly cash payment of around $30 for food and other essentials, provided by Oxfam's partner in Elasha.
Photo: Hassan Noor
In the Elasha area we're working with a local partner group to get clean drinking water to 120,000 displaced people. Each of these tanks holds 95,000 litres of water. It's pumped from local wells into the tanks where it's chlorinated, then flows through pipes to tap stands in the camp.
Photo: Hassan Noor
In a situation like this, where large numbers of people are living in such basic conditions, clean water is a lifesaver. It's getting more and more dangerous for aid groups to operate in Somalia. We're doing our level best to help people, but we cling to the hope that there can be a political solution to the conflict.
Photo: Hassan Noor
