In one important sense, Medina Abdulahi has been lucky. All her six children were born at home, delivered by traditional midwives, and she has not lost a child.
Nor have Mohammed (16), Hassen (13), Hussen (11), Shukri (8) or Ibrahim (6), suffered from the acute diarrhoea that claims so many young lives in this part of the world until after they were weaned and had the strength to resist it. So far, two-month-old Aden has also avoided the disease.
“I breastfed all [the older children] until they were two,” says 35-year-old Medina, adding – although not very scientifically – that “it’s the only form of birth control we have”.
Resource conflicts
There is no health visitor in her community, which is an improvised settlement of displaced pastoralists who lost out in one of the tribal resource conflicts over water and pasture that simmer in Ethiopia’s Somali region.
“I would love to give my children meat and rice and pasta and vegetables,” she says, “but now we can only afford to eat once a day.”
Asked if she knows what malnutrition is, Medina says yes. She adds that yes, she does believe her children are malnourished.
“I haven’t eaten meat for more than a year myself. Not even eggs,” she says. “We live on wheat and maize porridge, made with camel milk, once a day at lunchtime. Our income just isn’t enough for more.”
Coping strategy
Medina Abdulahi’s husband is about 50 kilometres away in the bush, gathering firewood to make into charcoal that he can then sell. This is by far the most common coping strategy pastoralists use to stay alive once they lose their cattle, either to raiders or the drought that has not let up for two years now.
The children get camel milk and sugar in the evening, and little Aden will get camel milk mixed with tea in the morning when he turns six months. Why tea? Just to make it go further, she explains.
And in this community even camel milk is expensive - three Ethiopian birr (about 25 US cents) for half a litre. If the children get sick, the standard medicine – a kind of therapeutic syrup – costs 15 birr a bottle.
Acceptable level
The 25-head of cattle that Medina’s family used to own were more than enough to keep them at what, in a pastoralist community, would be regarded as an acceptable level.
Tough though their life would have been, it’s precisely the skills they hand on from generation to generation that are helping them survive now - above all, the ability to be extremely frugal with water.
One day, Medina says, she would like to go back to Meleb village, where they came from, and restart. But she’s also well aware that one good dairy cow alone would set them back at least 5,000 birr (more than 400 US dollars).
It does not look likely soon.