Amina* is only 12 months old, but she is a casualty of Somalia’s protracted conflict. When fighting lasts for decades, it causes not just war injuries, it disrupts the most basic norms of daily life: mothers face huge challenges to care for their children, and malnutrition is common.
Aid agencies estimate that at least 300,000 children in Somalia under the age of five are acutely malnourished, over 55,000 are severely malnourished. To save their lives, they need therapeutic nutritional support. At one year old, Amina should weigh 4.8 kg, in fact she weighs only 2.6 kg, and her mother Ayan* is worried.
“She has been sick from birth,” explains Ayan. “She has never been well. I brought her here {to the centre} because of her sickness. Now she seems a bit better, she’s playful for the first time.”
Ayan has brought Amina to a nutrition centre run by the ICRC. Here, mothers can stay with their babies while their weight is stabilised. The children, most of them under five years old, receive therapeutic nutritional drinks, and their mothers get support and guidance on how best to keep their babies well nourished.
“After I was admitted, I was told something on breastfeeding” says Ayan. “My baby and I were given a bed. Now she is receiving medicine.”
The ICRC centre has kitchens, and the families receive three freshly prepared meals a day. There is also space for mothers to do their own washing. The aim is to create an environment as close to normal home life as possible, while making sure the babies recover. Ayan is already proud of how well Amina is doing.
“Before {when we were at home} you could lie her down, and she just wouldn’t move,” says Ayan. “Her sickness was extreme. But now when she lies down, she stretches her hands, she looks around. Her complexion has more colour, as if her blood is stronger. That’s how I see it.”
Amina and Ayan will stay in the centre for at least three weeks, or until Amina reaches her ideal weight. Every day, thanks to the special feeding, the babies here get stronger and stronger. So too does the confidence of their mothers, who will be able to leave knowing their children are strong and healthy, and with new knowledge about how best to keep them that way.
*All names have been changed to protect identities.
Shotlist
Location: Somalia
Length: 3:36
Format: HD H264 mov
Production: Abdikarim Mohamed
Camera: Pedram Yazdi
Sound: Somali
ICRC ref: AV532N
Date: 24 August 2016
Copyright: ICRC access all
0:00 – 0:06 Underweight baby Amina and mother Ayan
0:06 – 0:16 Doctor examines underweight baby Amina
0:16 – 0:22 Mothers and babies waiting at clinic
0:22 - 0:33 Doctor weighs underweight baby Amina
0:33 - 0:41Close up scales
0:41 - 0:45 Baby lies on scales
SOUNDBITE mother Ayan (in Somali)
0:45 – 1:01 “She has been sick from birth. She has never been well. I brought her here {to the centre} because of her sickness. Now she seems a bit better, she’s playful for the first time.”
1:01 – 1:07 Mothers and babies on beds at clinic
1:07 – 1:09 Mother and two children, she is feeding one of them.
1:09 – 1:15 Clinic workers prepare therapeutic drink
1:15 – 1:21 Close up drink in cup, hand picks it up, removed from shot
1:21 – 1:29 Clinic workers mixing drink, mothers waiting
1:29 – 1:34 Young child drinking
SOUNDBITE mother Ayan (in Somali)
1:34 – 1:45 “After I was admitted, I was told something on breastfeeding. My baby and I were given a bed. Now she is receiving medicine.”
1:45 – 1:50 Close up hands preparing food
1:50 – 1:53 Women sit on floor of kitchen preparing food
1:53 – 2:02 One woman dishes out food
2:02 – 2:17 Families at kitchen hatch being served meals
2:17 – 2:30 Wide shot women and laundry in yard
2:30 – 2:37 Laundry blowing on line
SOUNDBITE mother Ayan (in Somali)
2:37 – 3:05 (Internal edit at 2:45) “Now she has be taken the treatment a little. I think she looks a bit changed. Before {when we were at home} you could lie her down, and she just wouldn’t move. Her sickness was extreme. But now when she lies down, she stretches her hands, she looks around. Her complexion has more colour, as if her blood is stronger. That’s how I see it.”
3:05 – 3:17 Amina lies on bed, waves arm
3:17 – 3:21 Close up Ayan eyes for cutaway
3:21 – 3:25 – Ayan feeds Amina
3:25 – 3:36 Close up Amina drinking
