Mohamed Omar, 80, his daughter-in-law, and two of her children inside one of their family huts. They are pastoralists from a village in Habasweyne, which means "huge dust", on the outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

With the help of the locals, they started moving again. Too weak to walk, they were put in trucks and brought to a village outside Boroma, the capital and the largest city of Awdal region.

When Kun Li, a communication specialist for UNICEF Somalia, met Hawa, she was sitting quietly in an open area filled with small rocks. There was no shelter, nor the sight of any food, or a single bit of shade to shield her from the blazing sun. There were no men in the group. She was surrounded by 20 people, all women and children.