A Wealth of Kindness Among Somalia's Poorest

Mana Abdurahman embraces Asha, who has not been told that her family was killed in a bombing in Mogadishu. (By Stephanie Mccrummen -- The Washington Post)

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Here in the lower Shabeelle River region, long known as the country's breadbasket, vast fields of maize, sorghum and beans are shriveling for lack of rain, and food prices are skyrocketing.

Even without the beleaguered newcomers arriving daily, the situation has been so tenuous that the United Nations dispatched two ships this month with food intended to shore up the local population.

Mohamed said she had exactly one loaf of bread and a few tomatoes for her own family when Ali arrived last month. She divvied it up.

She had a bit of room in her house, and Ali and her children are still sleeping there. She had an extra dress and a piece of pink cloth, which she gave to Ali. "Without her, the problem would have been very bad. We're grateful she has a good heart," said Ali, who was wearing the dress.

Others arriving here have found refuge with local Somali groups such as one run by Mana Abdurahman, who has taken in more than 200 orphaned children this year, as well as families from Somalia's more marginal clans.

"I don't care where they're from," said Abdurahman, the daughter of a prominent clan leader.

Abdurahman walked through the place she calls her "village," a swath of sand and huts and shady palms, greeting two recently arrived families and a young girl named Asha, who had been dropped off by her Mogadishu neighbors.

In a small gesture of mercy, Abdurahman has decided to wait a while before telling the little girl she is the only one left of her family of seven. The rest were killed in a bomb blast in Mogadishu.

"Where is Ibrahim?" Abdurahman asked her gently.

"He's at home!" Asha said brightly.

"Where's your father?" Abdurahman asked.

"He's at home!" Asha said.