SAACID is happy for all or part of this document file (photos and text) to be copied, published or cited elsewhere; as long as the source of the material is appropriately cited.
Photo Albums and Reports
weekly reports
daily meal tracking - week 33 (pdf file)
gender ratio - graphic - cumulative - to week 33 (pdf file)
total meals per day - graphic - cumulative - to the end of week 33 (pdf file)
Reliefweb Humanitarian Profile - June 2008
week 1 (pdf file) week 21 (pdf file)
week 2 (pdf file) week 22 (pdf file)
week 3 (pdf file) week 23 (pdf file)
week 4 (pdf file) week 24 (pdf file)
week 5 (pdf file) week 25 (pdf file)
week 6 (pdf file) week 26 (pdf file)
week 7 (pdf file) week 27 (pdf file)
week 8 (pdf file) week 28 (pdf file)
week 9 (pdf file) week 29 (pdf file)
week 10 (pdf file) week 30 (pdf file)
week 11 (pdf file) week 31 (pdf file)
week 12 (pdf file) week 32 (pdf file)
week 13 (pdf file) week 33 (pdf file)
week 14 (pdf file)
week 15 (pdf file)
week 16 (pdf file)
week 17 (pdf file)
week 18 (pdf file)
week 19 (pdf file)
week 20 (pdf file)
Photo albums
week 1
week 2
week 3
week 4
week 5
week 6
week 7
week 8
week 9
week 10
week 11
week 12
week 13
week 14
week 15
week 16
Focus story
The sad story of Mariam (pdf file)
Ma'ay story (pdf file)
The amazing story of lost and found (pdf file)
Ibrahim Hassan Abdulle story (pdf file)
Sharifo Hassan Adan (pdf file)
Kaltumo Ali (pdf file)
Hassan Awes Addow (pdf file)
Mogadishu Emergency Food Kitchens
Throughout the course of 2007, the humanitarian situation in central and southern Somalia continued to deteriorate, as the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), supported by Ethiopian military forces, attempted to crush opposition to its rule by force-of-arms.
Mogadishu is the historical capital of Somalia, and is easily the largest population cluster in the country. It has also been the heart of ongoing instability in the country that has left it in an anarchic state for the past 17 years. Throughout 2007, the TFG/Ethiopians have attempted to crush opposition to their rule in Mogadishu. The result has been 1.5 million displaced; with 500,000 in critical need of lifesaving assistance.
SAACID operated 75 food kitchens in partnership with ICRC back in 1992-3, when the US and UN were pushing for a ‘new world order’. With the levels of suffering and desperation again reaching the 1991-3 levels, SAACID requested and received support to establish 10 wet food feeding centres throughout Mogadishu from a number of INGOs, UN agencies and donor governments. Including, Oxfam-Novib, Danish Refugee Council, World Food Programme, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Dutch Government and the Swedish Government; as well as from all the communities residing within war-torn Mogadishu.
SAACID’s operational philosophy is driven by a rights-based approach. For the food kitchen initiative, this “rights-based approach” is manifest by providing local Mogadishu communities with as much empowerment and ownership as possible. To this end, SAACID conducted a 2-day mobilisation workshop for 120 key community leaders from all communities residing within the city (18-19 November 2007). That workshop resulted in local Mogadishu communities taking full ownership of the initiative, and identifying and agreeing upon 10 sites within the 16 districts of the city. Then establishing the food kitchens at those sites, and agreeing upon operating procedures, local hiring, and local input and ownership as to how they would be operated.
A key feature of the kitchens is that they are open to any and all who need a lifesaving meal - without favour to gender, age or clan. This unanimous philosophy has meant that the kitchens have immense support from all sectors of the public; and there has been no conflict at all at any of the sites.
The kitchens provide 1 cooked meal per day to those wanting a meal. The meal recipe consists of, 375 grams of cooked maize powder; 250 grams of pulses; 0.025 millilitres of vegetable oil; 0.06 grams of CSB; and a ‘soup’, consisting of lemon, garlic, Somali spices, tomato, onion, salt, Kamsar Caleen (Somali – unknown translation), Xawaash (Somali – unknown translation), and 1 banana. The recipe is consistent with local cultural tastes. The meal represents a calorie count of approximately 2,000 Kcal, with lipids at 15.9% (the normal range is 15-30%) and protein at 13.7% (the normal range is 10-15%). The meal recipe has no meat – because of cost; and because if the meal is too good, then those in lesser need will also come to the kitchens, and it will create unnecessary conflict. The meal is very basic, but genuinely lifesaving for those receiving it.
On 25 November the first 3 kitchens came online. Since that time, all 10 sites have come online, and have functioned fully without any security incidents since their inception. There was agreement that each site would deliver a maximum of 5,000 meals at each site every day – 50,000 meals per day.
The initiative was initially funded for 16 weeks. A second phase has been collectively funded until the end of October 2008 by DRC, WFP, ECHO, UN-OCHA, Oxfam-Novib, USAID, Swedish Government, Danish Government, Norwegian Government, The $10 Club, and individual donors. The programme is continuing into week 33.
As at 13 July 2008, some 9,913,318 hot meals have been successfully delivered to the starving in the city.