Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am an aid worker for Muslim Hands and I recently returned from a field trip to Somaliland after carrying out an assessment on how badly the area is affected by the drought. In the 2011/12 drought in the area approx. 265,000 people died.

The UN estimates that currently $105 million is required to initially support the people of Somaliland and Puntland and for the situation to become a full on famine.

I was deeply moved by the sheer devastation in the area. You read about/watch the dire situations and the suffering of people in the media but you are never really ready for what you will be faced. The water famine has emptied the river beds, plants and trees are dried up and cattle lay roadside or under what little shelter they find palpitation. Waiting to die.

People tell me they have walked up to 700km to camps in the hope of getting food or water. Others say they simply followed the clouds for the hope of getting to some rain water. Along the way they carry their small children or baby cattle as they are too malnourished to walk. When they get to their destinations there is no guarantee they will even receive any sustinence.

Perhaps my most haunting memory is that of the mothers who shield their children from the sun using their scarves. As the children cry for milk the painful truth emerges that the mothers are too malnourished to produce any milk and have nothing to offer their children. They pray they don't lose their young to this genocide of nature.

Water is a commodity which we take for granted in the west. The people I saw would do anything just for a few drops and were risking their lives to reach water.

I am under no illusion that I can save all the inhabitants of Somaliland but I believe we should all do our bit. I would like to build a well in the area so at least some inhabitants and animals can be sustained. It will help a small community to rebuild and reconstruct their lives. It will let them know that their cries of "Ya Allah, Ya Rabbi (oh lord)" were heard.

Thank you very much for your support.

Sofia Buncy