A local Somali NGO has begun to deliver and distribute water to hundreds of pastoralist families living along the Elwaq to Bardere road in Gedo, after their plight was highlighted by Radio Ergo’s local reporter.
The severe water shortage of the residents in 10 villages between the two districts was highlighted by Radio Ergo’s local reporter Ahmed Omar Salihi, who travelled along the road last month.
He observed that water pans, boreholes and other sources of water had all dried up, as the deyr rainy season in November was inadequate to replenish water reserves. Local people were stopping passing vehicles begging for water. SADO, an NGO in Gedo, has started delivering tanks of water to the villages concerned.
Aar Mohamed Mohamud, the chairman of Geriley village, told Radio Ergo that the residents were receiving up to 10 trucks of water a day from SADO. “The water delivery has reached us at a time we were very thirsty,” said Ebla Aden Ahmed, a pastoralist mother in Awsquran village of Elwaq district. Hussein Ali Sheikh, from SADO, said more than 6,800 people had benefited from the water deliveries in the villages.
