Mogadishu, Somalia

In northern Africa, the country of Somalia is torn with war and in the hands of an extremely unstable government. This has created huge amount of people being displaced and having to move to over locations every day. They are a country whose hopes for peace are often raised and then crush time and time again. The people of Somalia are taking the main impact of war and with in its refugee camps a new type/quality of "life" is emerging. In Mogadishu, Somalia for example old abandoned war ravaged buildings are now no longer stand vacant, but are houses for many displaced/homeless people. While at the same time the camps are full of people trying to create homes. The living structures that these people have created to act as a shelter show greatly of design with necessity and what is truly needed. They use what ever they can find and often times does not hold up to the elements or to time. As designers we should look to what they have created and how they are living so that we can design to aid people in this type of situation. The situation in Mogadishu is not unlike what is happening all over the world is war torn and poverty stricken areas. The need for shelter is a basic human need, unfortunately for the people being displaced because of war thy have no choice but to move and start over with what ever they can to created a new life for right now and for the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/world/africa/29somalia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin