Women refugees fostering children at Dadaab Camp

• Today, the baby Ms Abdullahi saved from the claws of hungry desert cats is a strong, charming and bubbly seven-year-old boy.
• Abandoned and orphaned refugee children at Dadaab Camp have found loving families to call their own.
• Ms Abdullahi took the baby into her care under a foster care arrangement facilitated by Save the Children, a leading child welfare organisation.

The fourth day of April 2012 was a night like many others. The moon was out and the stars were shining brightly. Across many makeshift shelters in the Ifo Camp, one of the three that make the Dadaab Refugee Camp, the 9pm news bulletin was broadcasting on radio. Ms Rahmo Abdullahi was seated in her kitchen, listening to news in Somali language while preparing super for her seven children. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside her house.

RESCUED FROM CATS

It began with the sound of a car pulling over, which was strange because cars are not allowed into the camp beyond certain hours. When she got out to check on what was happening, a white car speeding off. On the ground was a package.

Within seconds, wildcats ran towards the package and started clawing away at it. And then the sharp and wounded cry of a baby rent the air.
It dawned on Ms Abdullahi that the car she saw speeding off had abandoned the baby, whom she swiftly rescued from the cats.

At a nearby health facility, where Ms Abdullahi rushed the newborn for a check-up, she learnt that were it not for her swift action, the baby would have died; the placenta was still dangling freely from the baby’s belly.
CHARMING