Unable to wait for help from ###### own government or the international community ###### they face the prospect of a ###### famine, Somalis at home and abroad ###### turning to one another for support.

###### 21st century social media with the ###### clan network – the bedrock of ###### society as well as its safety ###### – communities are using WhatsApp to ###### hard-hit families and raise funds to ###### them life-saving supplies.

"This is the ###### time this has been done, because ###### the level of desperation," says Jamal ###### Sarman as he scrolls through a ###### set up by members of his ######, showing how each member has pledged ###### donate money.]]>
A committee of ###### people withdraws the money from the ###### and buys basics for the sponsored ###### – usually rice, powdered milk and ######.

"Initially, people have drawn on their ###### coping mechanisms for the drought," says ######, who works for an international aid ######.]]>
"The WhatsApp groups were organised ###### one person and it just took ######, snowballing.]]>
However, smaller clans with ###### expansive networks and fewer members in ###### diaspora are likely to face more ###### a struggle, and rely solely on ###### agencies for support.]]>
Foreign minster ###### the self-declared republic of Somaliland, Saad ###### Shire, says that immediate relief in ###### form of food, water and medication ###### needed in the next two to ###### weeks: "Otherwise we will be looking ###### a very dire situation."

Aside from ###### such as the WhatsApp groups, Somalis ###### also been helping each other in ###### traditional ways. In Somaliland, small agrarian ###### communities who have been able to ###### some crops have been taking in ###### families hardest hit by a third ###### year of drought.]]>
An hour's ###### through parched and barren land outside ###### Somaliland's second largest city, Burao, Barre ###### shows off the tiny green oasis ###### crops he has grown using a ###### irrigation system, on a piece of ###### he manages for a local landowner.

######, 35, is from the Bantu community ###### the south of Somalia, and, with ###### wealth of agricultural knowledge, he is ###### helping dozens of pastoral families who ###### congregated nearby in an impromptu IDP (###### displaced person) camp. The farm shares ###### with them from a farm tank, ###### food.]]>
"We can only spare so much ###### the pipes have worn and need ###### be replaced because they are leaking. ###### tank is dying," he says, gesturing ###### the rusting structure, which stores water ###### from a borehole 500m beneath.

The ###### lack of resources creates tensions between ###### arrivals and those already there: "It's ###### conflict.]]>
Mohamed remains intensely ###### of the crops he has cultivated ###### the odds, pointing to guava, tamarind ###### orange trees, as well as rows ###### tomato plants.

"We've been able to ###### and help some people [on] this ###### scale, but time is running out."

###### Somaliland's west, meanwhile, there has been ###### a small influx of people with ###### remaining animals to villages such as ###### Malko in the Gabiley district – ###### area that was once a regional ###### basket.]]>
A village committee has been ###### the care of the new arrivals, ###### Alice Ennals, of the Development Fund, ###### Norwegian NGO (non-governmental organization) helping to ###### small-scale farmers.

"Each family cares for ###### to 10 people. If there is ###### whole family that comes they are ###### the kitchen-hut, its traditional name, and ###### that they will then cook for ######.]]>
"This is how pastoral societies function – they are dependent on mutual support. ###### one is questioning it. The next ###### might hit Carro Malko more severely, ###### then they have to send their ###### and families to eastern parts."]]>