Halimo, a mother, who lives in an IDP camp near Farhiya’s camp, heard the news that a child had gone missing in the evening of Farhiya’s disappearance. She immediately volunteered to look for the missing child in the bushes near her camp. Fortunately, Halimo, out of the blue, heard a distant voice. She continued to move towards the direction echo was coming from until she spotted what seemed to be a child in a dense forest area near the camp. She couldn’t believe it was a human at first sight but Halimo continued to approach as slowly as she could with all the fears in her mind that it would be something dangerous. The more she approached little Farhiya, the higher her confidence grew. In a few meters range, Halimo saw a child walking around the bush terrified and crying. At around 9pm, It could not be clearer for Halimo that she had finally found Farhiya. Halimo grabbed, hugged and consoled the terrified kid.Farhiya had bruises and blood in her face, and tore down her cloth while running around a thorny bush. A little while later, Halimo started questioning the child but she was emotionally too terrified to tell anything. The more Halimo probed for questions, the little she would know. Halimo decided to take Farhiya to her camp and spent the whole night at her house.

On the other side of the camp, heartbroken, Fadumo was holding onto her last hope. The search crew was out in the bush checking everywhere they could think about. Hours of searching in the bush ended without a hope. Empty-handed but optimistic, the rescue team returned to camp later that evening. Early in the morning, the next day, efforts to find Fariya resumed. The search mission, this time headed to a refugee camp near where Farhiya was believed to have gone missing in a desperate last minute plea to locate Farhiya’s whereabouts. As soon as they entered the camp, they asked if they had seen a child missing. And to their surprise, Halimo pulled out little Farhiya from her tent. A moment of relief and happiness for everyone! Halimo explained the process of finding Farhiya to the search crew and later handed out the child to them so they could take her to her mother. The team, happy and tired, took Farhiya to Fadumo’s house.When Fadumo saw the search crew making their way back to the camp with her daughter, Farhiya, she passed out from excitement. She was in complete disbelief until she ran into her and hugged her. Anxious and excited, Fadumo expressed her gratitude to everyone who was involved in her daughter’s search. “My prayers have been accepted”, said joyous Fadumo.

The Wakaalada IDP community called Halimo’s heroism in finding little Farhiya overnight “truly remarkable.” As soon as Farhiya was brought home and reunited with her family, she was taken to a New Ways One Stop childcare center funded by UNICEF Somalia in Marko where she received medical care. Our counselors at the child center offered Farhiya trauma-focused cognitive and emotional counseling support days after her finding. Farhiya is now recovering from her trauma and is feeling happy. And while the search mission ended happily, Farhiya’s search tale is one of the few stories reported. As a storyteller who came across countless stories in my storytelling career, putting the story of mentally disabled girl like that of Farhiya, has moved me to tears. In Somalia, missing children is a common problem when tribal clashes erupt.