April 13 2026
Three Lives, One Mother’s Strength
Under the harsh midday sun in the bustling Bakaro Market in Mogadishu, the scent of simmering stew and fresh bread drifts from a small, crowded corrugated-iron restaurant. Inside, Isho Madey, a softly spoken mother whose quiet strength has carried her family through hardship and uncertainty, and now to new beginnings, moves quickly between the smoky stove and eager customers seated at wooden chairs and tables.
When Isho was six months pregnant, she thought she was going into early labour. The news that followed changed everything: she was not expecting one child, but three. Triplets. Already a mother of three and struggling to support her family on barely $2 a day from her restaurant, the fear was immediate.
“I remember thinking, ‘How will I survive this? How will my babies survive?’” Isho recalls. “We could not afford private care. Without help, I feared I would lose them.”
From Fear to Hope
In the past, Isho had given birth at home, alone, assisted by traditional birth attendants. But this pregnancy was different and far more dangerous. Recognizing the risk, an SOS Children’s Villages midwife referred her to SOS Mother and Child Hospital in Mogadishu. There, for the first time, Isho experienced proper life-saving care.
“At the hospital, they received me and treated me well,” she says. “The doctors and nurses monitored my labour closely. They explained everything and never made me feel like a stranger.”
Her husband, now elderly and unable to work, could not help provide for the family. Yet cost was never a barrier. The SOS health facility ensured Isho received essential check-ups, medicines, and a safe delivery, support that many families who cannot afford private care or access healthcare can only dream of.
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“I know that without this hospital, my story would have been one of loss, not life,” Isho says, wrapping one of her triplets. “You didn’t just save my babies, you saved our family. Thank you.”
Today, her three newborn daughters lie peacefully beside her, healthy and strong. For Isho, they represent more than just a blessing; they are proof of what is possible when quality healthcare is made accessible to those who cannot afford it.
Stronger Families, Stronger Communities
Isho’s story reflects the resilience and courage of mothers accessing maternal and child health services at SOS Mother and Child Hospital, which records nearly 500 deliveries each month.
However, Isho’s journey stands as a living testimony that when vulnerable families receive timely, life-saving care, children are given a safe start, hope is restored, and futures once at risk can be reclaimed. It is this support that transforms survival into resilience and uncertainty into the possibility of a better tomorrow.
Such life-saving actions would not have been possible without the Caafimaad Plus Consortium, supported by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).