On October 6, the Faribault Rotary Club (FRC) hosted Mohamed Idris, the Executive Director of the Minnesota based, America Relief Agency for the Horn of Africa (ARAHA) and ARAHA’s Deputy Director Rodwaan Saleh. Both gentlemen spoke about ARAHA’s charitable relief efforts in the Horn of Africa, which is focused on the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan.
Explaining the cycle of drought followed by extreme flooding people living in the Horn face, Mr. Idris emphasized that these extreme conditions, particularly drought, results in residents of the impacted areas losing all their crops and livestock, forcing residents to move into camps to receive assistance. Mr. Idris highlighted the critical role access to clean water has on poor residents of these countries.
Mr. Idris stated ARAHA is focused on delivering relief projects such as providing food, digging wells for clean water, and building new schools - all for the benefit of people living in the Horn of Africa, which is one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. To date, ARAHA’s efforts have resulted in more than 500 new water wells being constructed, providing food to over 1 million people, and building several schools
Some of the strategies ARAHA tries to implement in providing assistance to impacted populations is to try to build resilience through education, teaching water harvesting techniques as well as to build water wells, focus on child nutrition, support agriculture and livestock, promote forestation through tree planting and promote solar energy applications.
Mr. Idris highlighted how blessed we are in the United States and this is particularly apparent when he travels to the Horn of Africa. He shared the story of a young immigrant from Uganda graduating from college in Kentucky. She was giving the commencement address and highlighted that she was the luckiest girl in the world because of a goat. Her family had been too poor to send her to school even though at a young age she wanted to attend school. A donation to her family of a goat led her family to become more prosperous. Soon they had enough money to send her to school. She did well in school resulting in her receiving scholarships to attend school in Kampala and eventually earning scholarships to attend college in Kentucky.
Mr. Idris and Deputy Director Saleh provided Rotarians with brochures explaining ARAHA’s activities and how interested individuals can donate money to support their ongoing relief efforts. It was a pleasure hosting both gentlemen, who gave a thought-provoking presentation of the challenges people face living in extreme drought conditions.
