Barlin Ahmed Abdi’s typical day begins at 5 a.m., after dawn prayers. She starts off by preparing breakfast for her two children, before hopping onto public transport to reach the Weydow settlement for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

Barlin is the founder of Kalama-Shoorto, a humanitarian non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides shelter, food and clothing to IDPs. She set up the Weydow IDP camp in March 2017 to help 130 families at the height of a crippling drought that put more than six million people in Somalia at risk of starvation.

“I felt that it was my responsibility to do something after I witnessed so much destitution. I saw people arriving in Mogadishu from HirShabelle with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” Barlin says.

A native of HirShabelle herself, Barlin used her own money to rent a house and shelter people displaced from the south-central state, before seeking assistance from donors.  

Currently, Barlin bears the heavy responsibility of looking after 2,000 displaced families. Some reside in Weydow camp, others who live outside the camp come to the site to collect food rations. She works with twenty other volunteers to cater for the needs of the families. Every day, Barlin meets with her team to plan distributions of food, water and clothing according to existing needs and the availability of items.

“While planning the meals, we do our best to ensure that all families are catered for, and no one goes hungry. The long queues for food at the camp are testimony to how dependent these families are on food aid,” she explains.  

Barlin adds that no Somali would want to endure the squalid living conditions of an IDP camp, relying on charity for their survival, if they had better options.

Those long queues for food motivate Barlin to reach out to other organizations and potential donors to gather more contributions and material support.

“I go out every day to look for more food and cash from donors to keep the IDP camp running,” she says, adding that her largest source of support comes from the UN World Food Programme.

The inhabitants of Weydow IDP camp have suffered from an outbreak of cholera and measles epidemics, and the Kalama-Shoorto NGO struggles to meet the needs of those who fall ill.

“The nearest hospital is Banadir, seven kilometers away, and there is no vehicle to move patients there,” laments Barlin, adding that they have lost several children to water-borne diseases.

Returning home at the end of an exhausting day, Barlin derives strength in the rewarding nature of her work. “My purpose is fulfilled every time I save someone who is on the brink of death,” she says.

Barlin looks forward to better times, when internally displaced persons can return to their homes and resume their normal lives.

“These people have no plans to live in the camp any longer than necessary,” she says. “They will go back and rebuild their lives.”