A beacon of Hope in Gedo: Muslimo’s Journey with NoFYL’s Mobile Outreach Teams
In response to the urgent need for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) emergency services, NoFYL, with support from UNICEF, has established and deployed three specialized mobile outreach teams across Bardheere, Belet-Xaawa, and Dollow districts. These roving teams, comprise of trained caseworkers and psychosocial support (PSS) counselors, work tirelessly to deliver immediate and comprehensive support to survivors of […]
NoFYL’s Safe Spaces to Heal, Connect, and start again
“The women and girls’ safe spaces provide social support, skills training, access to safe and multi-sectoral GBV response services and information on women’s rights and health,” says Ikran Omar, NoFYL’s case worker from Bardheere. With funding from UNICEF Somalia, Northern Frontier Youth League (NoFYL) established three Women and Girls Safe Spaces that offer holistic support […]
The Healing Journey: Improving Mental Health through Psychosocial Support
Hibo Abdi, a psychosocial counselor at the UNICEF-supported women and girls’ safe space in Bardheere, Gedo, is proud of her work. She has been deeply involved in addressing the mental health needs of women and girls. She joined NoFYL in 2023, taking the role of psychosocial counselor at the UNICEF-supported Women and Girl’s Safe Space […]
Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault in Somalia through GBV One-Stop Centers
“Scary, painful, traumatizing,” that’s how Halima*, a 20-year-old girl from Gadudey site in Bardheere describes her ordeal at the hands of 2 perpetrators. Recounting her traumatic experience of sexual assault stirred profound emotions hidden beneath her façade. Halima still vividly recalls the memories of the events that transpired that day: “They threatened to kill me […]
Remedy After Malady
Hafsa Adan* is a 25-year old mother of two. When we first met her, she was sitting outside her house, her 1-year old baby tightly on her back. The other child, a 3-year old boy was playing callously not far from the mother. She was busy with chores but was occasionally interrupted by her son’s incessant cries. She was unperturbed by it. Her face told of a story replete with oppression, cruelty and debilitating poverty. She often wore a smile for her children but underneath the mask was a sea of sheer pain.
Sexual Violence in Conflicts: A Heirloom?
Throughout history, sexual violence has been tragically prevalent in armed conflict, and often viewed as an unavoidable consequence of warfare. Its preponderance in armed conflict is dismaying. Sexual violence is a conspicuous phenomenon and a common thread in conflict dating back centuries. They are infinitely tangled. And it is tacitly accepted as unavoidable. Conflicts often exacerbate and escalate sexual violence. It is organized. It is endemic. It is barbaric. It is vertigo-inducing.
The Runaway Bride.
Batulo is 18 years old divorced and a mother to a 3-year-old son, she was brought up by her grandmother since her parents were so poor to support her and her 11 other siblings. When she was 15 years old her father and her grandmother arranged an early marriage for her to a stranger “I had no say in any decision so I silently cried and accepted my fate, and when I was 6 months pregnant he divorced me; rumors were that he had a habit of predating on young girls;
