(ERGO) – Dozens of pastoralist families fleeing drought-hit areas of southern Somalia are depending on food being shared with them by sympathetic local families in Bulogudud, a village north of Kismayo in Lower Juba.
Abdinur Osman walked for two days with his wife and young daughter the 60 kilometres from Irshiid village, hoping to find water and other assistance in Bulogudud, which lies on the river Juba.
“We came here with nothing. The residents have welcomed us and have been supporting us right from the day we reached here. They left their own families and have been busy helping to resettle us. These people haven’t been selfish at all, but to be honest they can’t keep on supporting us with food,” he said.
They are among 86 families reaching Bulogudud in the past two weeks, coming from rural parts of Sakow, Jilib, Afamadow, and Jamame in Lower and Middle Juba regions.
Abdinur said he received 50 kgs of dry food comprising flour, rice, sugar and maize from the local committee formed to help the destitute families arriving in Bulogudud, 30 kilometres north of Kismayo. His small family is cooking twice a day, but his biggest worry is what will happen when the handouts stop.
They are living in a flimsy hut he set up in Bulogudud IDP camp, which was established in 2020 and is already housing 240 families who fled from river Juba flooding last year. The camp is now filling up with drought-affected families. There is a well that was drilled by the local NGO, SAADO, early this year and is providing free water to those in the camp.
“Thankfully we have water, and we are living a better life than the one we fled from, but we still don’t have everything we need. I am planning to ask the fellow Muslims who came here before me to help me with some land where I can farm and earn a living for my family, since I am farmer,” he said.
Abdinur owns a 10-hectare farm in Irshiid, where all the reservoirs that catch and store rainwater were dry. He has not planted his rain-fed farm for the past two seasons as the rains failed. Eighteen of his cows died and he left the last two behind in the village with a neighbour who decided to stay.
They trekked to Bulogudud with 19 other families using donkeys to carry their belongings, sharing food with anyone who had managed to bring some small supplies with them.
Hashim Hussein Farah, member of the local committee collecting food for the new arrivals, told Radio Ergo that all the families are pastoralists, most of whom lost all or most of their livestock to the drought. Hashim said the locals have been touched by their situation and contributed enough food for a month for each of the newcomer families.
“The families who live in Bulogudud share the little they have with each other. When we go to collect the food, you see a family that has one kilogram of rice donating half of it to these families,” he said.
Nevertheless, the ability of the local people to support the influx is limited and aid is needed from outside.
“We request humanitarian aid agencies, the Puntland government, and the Federal government to help these families,” Hassan appealed.
Binti Mohamed Yussuf, a widowed mother of three, has been in Bulogudud camp for a week. She received 70 kgs of food from the community and is cooking her children two meals a day.
“Life has improved, the children are not complaining of hunger now. We cook breakfast and dinner,” she said with gratitude.
Binti told Radio Ergo that she lost all her 32 cows to the drought in Sakow district in Middle Juba. She said they depended solely on the cows and is anxious about her children’s future if they do not receive more help.
