Somali boys wait in line at a World Food program "wet food" distribution center in central Mogadishu. Hundreds of new arrivals, mostly from the hardest hit drought regions in the south, are pouring into the Somali capital in search of food.

With a lack of food and water, Somalis are turning to one another for support. They can't wait for help from their government or relief groups as they face a possible famine.

Clan, or family, networks have been around a long time in Somalia. Somalia is a country in eastern Africa. Networks are the base for Somali society as well as its safety net. Combining these networks with social media, communities are using WhatsApp to help families. WhatsApp is a worldwide messaging app for cell phones. Groups are set up by clans in the program.

"This is the first time this has been done, because of the level of desperation," says Jamal Abdi Sarman. He looks through a group set up by his clan, showing how each member has pledged to give money.

Pooling Their Money

One family needs about $60 a month, so members of the group decide how many families they can help. Then they put the money into a bank account set up by a money transfer company.

A committee of five people gets the money and uses it for the families. They usually buy rice, powdered milk and water.

People started out using their own ways to handle the water shortage, says Sarman. He works for a worldwide help agency.

However, now it's too big for them to manage, he says. "People have lost whatever they had and have gone into camps," he says.

"The WhatsApp groups were organized by one person, and it just took off, snowballing. Someone added me, and then I added another. Then we were hundreds," he says. Everybody is concerned about their own clan, he says. "With this, you know that at least you have taken care of people who you know."

Large Communities In U.S. And Canada

Part of the growing networks are people with roots in Somali, who are spread all over the world. In Canada, just under 45,000 people give their ethnicity as Somali. The U.S. state of Minnesota also has a large community in the tens of thousands.

However, smaller clans have smaller networks and fewer ties outside the country. They are likely to face more of a struggle and rely on aid agencies for support.

Charity groups have warned that 6.2 million Somalis are on the edge of famine. Help has been slow in coming.

Saad Ali Shire is the foreign minster of Somaliland. It is next to Somalia. He says that food, water and medicine are needed quickly.

Traveling Herders Are Suffering

Somalis have also been helping each other in more usual ways. In Somaliland, small farming communities that have been able to harvest some crops have been taking in families hurt by a third straight year of drought. In many cases, the traveling herders have lost all of their goats and sheep.

Outside the city of Burao, Barre Mohamed shows off the green patch of crops he has grown. He uses a homemade water system on farmland he manages for a nearby owner.

Mohamed is 35 years old. He is from the Bantu community in the south of Somalia. With his farm knowledge, he helps families who have gathered nearby in a camp. The farm shares water with them from a tank, and food. Life is still a struggle, though.

"We can only spare so much, and the pipes have worn and need to be replaced because they are leaking. The tank is dying," he says.

The lack of water creates trouble between new people and those already there. If he is not there to control the use of the water tank, then people fight, he says.

Mohamed is proud of the crops he has grown, including orange trees and tomato plants.

It has helped some people "but time is running out," he says.

An Area With Grass Attracts Newcomers

To Somaliland's west, small numbers of people with their remaining animals have arrived in villages such as Carro Malko. There was more rainfall here than in other areas last year, so farmers have some grass.

A village committee has been directing the care of the new people, says Alice Ennals. She works with a Norwegian group helping to support farmers.

People in the village give help without questioning it, she says. They know they might need support one day too, she says.

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