Snellville Nonprofit Sends Somalia Relief, Hope

Some 3,500 people flee Somalia a day, and now that the country is experiencing its worst famine in decades, nonprofit organizations around the globe are stepping up efforts to help. And, here in Snellville, one group is also making a difference.

In the wake of Somalia's recent devastating situation, The Somali Children’s Healthcare Relief Foundation (SCHRF), has committed to continuing providing healthcare solutions to the country's poorest children who sorely need help. Located across from Rhodes Bakery on Scenic Highway, the nonprofit organization is led by two women full of passion, Laila Ismail and Lilly Crook.

The organization is just a year old, but it is quickly making a dynamic difference halfway across the world. They have already raised enough funds to save the lives of eight children. There are an estimated 11 million lives at risk in Somalia -- a country the United Nations says has been starving its own people -- and, every bit of assistance adds to the global relief efforts.

Laila Ismail, a Somali native and transplant to the Atlanta area, knows firsthand the struggles people in her homeland face. U.N. officials have said the African nation is experiencing its worst disaster in probably 60 years.

Background on the Crisis in Somalia
Two regions of the nation of Somalia have been declared famine zones, which means there is a very high mortality level in children and adults directly related to starvation.  

“There is a very high level of desperation,” said Mark Bowden, U.N. Ambassador to Somalia.

(Interviewed by a Snellville Patch freelancer, Bowden's interview was orginally posted to the freelancer's section of Foreign Policy Blogs.)

He believes that right now the most pressing thing is to provide immediate assistance to the affected areas. The U.N. is calling for billions of dollars in aid over the next couple of months. 

“There is a shortage of money,” he continued. “We have an emergency response fund which the U.N. runs, which is drying up.”

Although nonprofits providing aid are receiving funds, it isn’t enough.  The major giving entity will be governmental. 

“There is a concern about the famine deepening,” Bowden said.  “What’s more worrying at a time of famine is measles, diarrheal disease epidemics; these are the lessons from previous famines in ’91 and ’92.” 

Bowden has personally been working in Somalia on and off since the 1980s, but most recently, he has been assigned there for the past three years.

“This particular period [of drought] starting when the Dayr [October to November] rains failed at the end of the year,” he said. “The current rains have been late.”

In such a fragile environment, even one season lost to drought has devastating effects. 

“People lost their crop production in the main growing areas in the south and lost their livestock,” he added. “We’ve had three or four years of drought. Most areas are going to be in famine. Averting the crisis is going to be very difficult, but we can still save the lives of tens of thousands of children.” 

Impact of the Somali Children’s Healthcare Relief Foundation
Somalia has been without a government since the early 1990s. That means no government sponsored police, education or healthcare.  That’s where the Somali Children’s Healthcare Relief Foundation steps in. 

“These kids are very poor, and have no education,” founder Laila Ismail said. “Sometimes they come by our Somali office just to get food,” even though they do not have any themselves.

Ismail is currently traveling in and around Somalia to raise funds for a possible hospital in Somaliland, a northern province of Somalia that has partially seceded from the rest of the nation. Their Somali office is in Somaliland, an area chosen because of its lack of violence and lack of connections to the terror group Al-Shabaab. The foundation has very limited funds, but thousands of families flock to the Somali office with sick and handicapped children. The SCHRF keeps a register with everyone’s information. 

For a young foundation, they have big dreams.

In their first year, they raised $8,000 in the United States and $15,000 is Nairobi, Kenya. Right now, there is no facility in the area that can treat children with health conditions like scoliosis, hydrocephalus, cleft palate, or other life-threatening diseases.  

The first goal of the SCHRF is to build a hospital in Somaliland. 

“We cannot depend on taking these kids outside the country,” Ismail said. The cost of treatment is not terrible, but the foundation also pays to host the mothers of the children, as well as food and transportation.

The second goal is to create a facility where mothers can bring their handicapped children while they work and care for their other children. 

“[The mother] is not able to feed them, bathe them or spend 24 hours with this kid,” Ismail explained. “She doesn’t even have the capability to give them food. She locks the child in the house to go out and get food for him. We would take the children during the day and bring them back at night.”

None of the children currently have wheelchairs, or the necessary medical items to keep them healthy. One of the things that the SCHRF office does in Somaliland now is teach the parents how to care for their children. They go house to house to ensure the homes are sanitary. 

Najah, a child with scoliosis, was fully healed after her surgery in Nairobi. Another child with Spina bifida was treated in Kenya. They were also able to treat two children, a six-month-old and a two-month-old, with hydrocephalus. 

From Snellville to Somalia
Lilly Crook, the SCHRF’s family care coordinator, met Laila Ismail around five years ago.  She attended Ismail's garage sale in their neighborhood and bought a bedroom suite for $500; about a month later, she found out where the money went.

“It was [Ismail’s] first deposit with the Somali Children’s Healhcare Relief organization,” Crook said. 

After inquiring at local area hospitals, together they determined it would be best to do the surgeries in Kenya. According to Crook, Ismail began the foundation with her own funds. She works tirelessly to raise money and support more children. 

“Neither one of us has accepted a penny (in compensation) for SCHRF. This is a passion for me,” Crook said.  “I’ve worked for 30 years to pay the bills, and never done anything I am so passionate about.”

“Our biggest need is funds to help these children,” Crook added.

The children that the foundation helps are sent to Kenya for surgery.  They originally planned on bringing the children to the United States, but the cost was exponentially more than they could afford. In Nairobi, Kenya, the SCHRF’s first child had surgery to correct her scoliosis for $500. That would have been ten times as much in the U.S.

was one of the first companies to support the foundation. Owners Becky Evans and Karen Williams were searching for a way to reach out to the community for Christmas. Instead of bakery employees giving gifts, they wanted to do something for someone who needed help. 

“At first, I didn’t know if that’s what I wanted to do,” Evans said. “I wanted to help someone locally.”

When she found out that Najah, the child with scoliosis, would possibly be treated in Atlanta, she decided to collect presents for her. All the employees brought gifts to their Christmas party, including pajamas, tennis shoes, and toys. Najah ended up being treated at the AIC Kijabe Hospital in Kenya, but Ismail brought her all the gifts.  

Along with Laila Ismail and Lilly Crook, the nonprofit is led by president Abdi Mohamed Farah, vice president Fardous Hassan Adam and treasurer Awale Rage. In August, they will host a fundraiser through Ramadan. You can personally sponsor a child's surgery for $28 per month. Ismail is currently raising funds and networking in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  

In an upcoming story, we will share before and after photos of the children that have been helped by the Somali Children's Healthcare Relief Foundation, along with short biographies of each patient.