Tuesday November 15, 2022
By Philip Drost
Photojournalist Lynsey Addario hopes showing people these photos will inspire people to help
Sokorey Mustafa holds her severely malnourished one-year-old, Dahabar Noor, after arriving at the Sahal Macalin Stabilization Centre in Baidoa, Somalia. (Lynsey Addario/National Geographic)
WARNING: This story contains graphic images
Edaba Yusuf sits over the covered up body of the third child she lost in a month because of malnutrition, as photojournalist Lynsey Addario captures the grief in her eyes.
Many have a similar story, as millions of people across the Horn of Africa face severe hunger as a result of famine and two years of drought.
"That is just devastating. I cannot fathom as a mother sitting over the body of the third child that I've lost in a month," Addario told Matt Galloway on The Current.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario recently visited Baidoa and Puntland in Somalia on assignment for National Geographic.
According to the United Nations, about 21 million people in the region are "highly food insecure," and more help is needed. The UN says response plans are only 50 per cent funded.
"It just felt like a really important time to go and try to bring attention to this story," said Addario. "It's dire."
Multiple subpar rainy seasons in the region have led to severe drought in southern and southeastern Ethiopia, southeastern and northern Kenya and south-central Somalia. It's the worst drought in 40 years.
At COP27 in Egypt, Kenyan president William Ruto said the drought has caused "misery on millions of people."
During her time in Somalia, Addario saw that suffering first hand. She saw and photographed many mothers and their children who were in pain.
"I think the most devastating sight is to see a child who is so weak they can't even express emotion. They're frustrated, yet they they don't have the energy to cry," said Addario.
She also remembers seeing a five-year-old boy who had been given a bag of Lego, but the boy couldn't even muster the energy to open the bag and play.
At a camp in Baidoa, Somalia Edaba Yusuf sits next to the body of her four-year-old son, Salman Mohamed, who died that morning from severe malnutrition and measles. He is the third child the mother of eight has lost to hunger in less than four weeks. "They were hungry, and I had nothing to sell," says Yusuf. "I thought to myself, 'Let me move to where I can get humanitarian assistance before I lose the rest.'" (Lynsey Addario/National Geographic)
Difficult to photograph
Addario said the war in Ukraine has made life even harder for the people she met, as it has delayed important grain shipments to the country. The war has also taken people's attention and diverted resources, she said.
"There are aid agencies, but so much of their budget has gone to the Ukraine war," said Addario. "There needs to be more aid going into places like Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya."
She hopes her photographs for National Geographic might change that.
It's hard for her to take some of those photos, Addario said. During her 25 years as a photojournalist, she's seen people die of war, malnutrition and poverty. But she continues to do the work. Now she's in Ukraine, using her lens to document the impact of the war there.
"I really believe that if people see these photographs and they care enough, then maybe it'll inspire people who do have the means to help," said Addario.
"I'm not an activist, but I do think that people do respond viscerally sometimes to photographs if they're good enough."
Sadio Abdi Rahman Ahmed, 50, stands with three of her six children near their tent at a camp in Baidoa, Somalia. Front left to right are Faiso, eight, Abdi Haffid, three, and Ahalan, five. (Lynsey Addario/National Geographic)