Tuesday morning, the SOS Hospital in Mogadishu was evacuated. Al Shabaab rebel insurgents fought Somali government troops in Mogadishu, close proximity to our hospital there.
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The staff and patients are used to conflict being nearby, and had evacuated children from the hospital. But when the stray bullets started flying by, people fled.
It’s not the first time armed conflict has been seen at the SOS Hospital in Mogadishu. Over the past two decades, the hospital has seen some harrowing times, including today’s activity.
But SOS has not gone away. SOS Children’s Villages has stayed in Somalia for almost 30 years and will continue to do so.
SOS has stayed in Somalia through its bitter civil war, and now in times of unrest and families, caring for families and vulnerable children in these places:
- The SOS Hospital which provides urgent medical care, particularly to expectant mothers and children. It served over 120,000 people last year
- The SOS Community Nursing School, which trains Somalian youth to become nurses and midwives. It is the only vocational school of its kind in Somalia
- The SOS School, which is one of the only schools in Mogadishu, which has an organized curriculum and qualified teachers
During the current crisis in Somalia, the SOS Hospital has mobile clinics in refugee camps in Baidoa and Mogadishu, treating thousands of refugees—half of whom are under the age of five.
You can help all of this good work continue throughout Somalia and the famine-plagued Horn of Africa by contributing to SOS Children’s Villages. Please donate now to help SOS Children’s Villages offer urgently needed aid to those who are most vulnerable.