Mohamed Malim Ali, 29, left his family behind in their village in southern Somalia’s badly drought-hit Bakool region, after losing his job on a construction site. As the Bakool economy has collapsed, he moved to an IDP camp in neighbouring Gedo region hoping to find work.
In Luq, he found a construction job and is sending $24 every week to his family back in El-damer village in El-boon from the 150,000-200,000 shillings ($6-$8) he earns a day.
“Before I started earning, my family had to rely on their neighbours and also took some loans to get by. Since I started working my income is now buying them two meals a day,” said Mohamed
Over the nine months that he was jobless, his family accumulated debts of $231 which Mohamed has been slowly paying off in installments with $64 left to clear.
“The problems I left in my former village still exist. The drought situation is getting worse there and I hope to bring my family here within the next three months,” he said.
Mohamed is among 45 men aged 25 to 35 from Bakool and Bay regions now living in Wadajir IDP camp and working in construction jobs in Luq to support their struggling families in the rural areas.
Abdullahi Dahir, 25, from Qansahdhere in Bay, is happy that he and his nine younger siblings are no longer worried about getting food. The first job he found in Luq was as a waiter in a small restaurant but the wages were only enough to provide one meal a day for his family.
After a month as a waiter, he switched to construction in May. Despite the arduous working conditions he now manages to provide breakfast and dinner for all his siblings.
“I am getting a better income; they used to get breakfast only and we often failed to afford tea for lunch. But now they can easily get two meals,” he said.
Abdullahi brought his siblings to Wadajir IDP camp with him and after saving $90 he was able to leave the relatives hosting them and build their own hut.
He is also managing to fulfil his lifelong ambition for education and has enrolled in school for the first time to learn language and mathematics, paying $10 a month for tuition.
“I couldn’t get an education in Qansahdhere, where I came from. I can now read and write the Somali language and do my maths! People should not only focus on drought, but we should also worry about our future. I attend my classes at night,” said Abdullahi.
