Since the start of the civil war, Somalia has been in the worst condition it has ever encountered. There was no government to control all the dispute, no education, and it was just chaos. Citizens that were not part of the conflict were sometimes arrested, this is because officials were suspicious about them, so they accused them of doing something against the state. Especially in the early stages of the war, the price of food and basic needs rose dramatically. This is in the interest of extreme droughts making it harder for crops and food to grow. Following this, standard trade was prohibited from reaching millions. This was a big issue as most people could not afford to pay triple the amount of money for things like food or water, so they feared for their lives and the ones of their loved ones. A 46-year-old woman named Amina who moved to Canada from Somalia after the civil war started stated that, “All of us that moved from Somalia feel like outsiders, it’s different everywhere in the world." To make it even worse, as we mentioned before, Al Shabab were preventing aid and relief from reaching Somali people by intercepting food deliveries for the starving Somalis. Where do they keep this food you may ask? They keep it in monumentally sized warehouses that are heavily guarded by Al Shabab troops. Also, the intense droughts wiped out a population of animals, hence food and other materials becoming more expensive. This point was supported when the Bakool Commissioner, Mohamed Abdi Mohamed said, “Lack of food and water is our biggest challenge now, food is too expensive even for those with money. The town is under a blockade.”

 

In the civil war, the only source of food and services were airlifted goods that were transferred to private organizations who would aid and provide to those in need. However, this is very uncommon because the process and care it takes to carry out this task is eminently pricey. As the war has calmed down in recent years, the Somali people, along with international supporters, are making progress to bring everything back into order. Since the government was installed in 2012, the establishment of the constitution has taken place. The new president of Somalia is Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. During the war,  almost all the schools were destroyed. The most known school in Somalia is called  Um-Alqura school, which has been re-opened with help of UNICEF and U.N agencies, despite being destroyed several times in the conflict. In this school, the demand for education is on the rise. But, there is a lack of books, chairs, and the classes are of a particularly small size. From the teacher's point of view, salaries are low, and the wages do not satisfy them. Teachers say that most students are passionate about learning and care about their education and future lives. Before the war, there was no proper syllabus for any school. The newly appointed prime minister, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed has made a ministry of education, to bring in new, well-trained teachers to deliver an effective education for students.