After five years of drought, more that 1.5-million people were uprooted from their homes as their soils slowly, year by year, dried and cracked.
In Kenya, one goat can sell at market for $70.
While we are talking goats, we can also talk about cows and camels.
All in all, experts estimate that about 20% of the entire livestock of drought-affected areas has died.
While these estimates are not precise, it is safe to say millions of animals died.
When the Horn of Africa last had a famine in 2011, we talked of numbers which are hard to articulate.
Over the past year, governments and aid agencies worked hard to avoid famine, and large-scale death was averted.
How am I supposed to provide for my family with no livestock?” Ahmed, who lives with his family in a makeshift home built from aluminum and fabric in the outskirts of Hargesia, Somaliland, said: “I lost all of my animals decades ago during my first famine in the 1980s.
While this past year has brought rains to most areas, changing weather patterns mean this is an impasse and we need to think of the future.
For the more than 1.5-million people displaced over the past year, they will continue to be stuck in dismal camps for years to come and are dependent on our generosity.