(ERGO) – Halimo Mohamed Hashi has been unable to find work since losing her job, among 60 other women, with a commercial cleaning and laundry services company that went bust in the central Somali town of Adado.
This internally displaced mother of six had been earning a relatively decent salary of $120 a month for two years and was able to support her family.
On 18 February they were laid off when the company announced they could no longer afford to pay the displaced women’s wages.
Halimo now goes into the city hoping to get work but has not found any. She has a partially paralysed hand that makes certain tasks hard for her to take on. Her disabled husband cannot work and barely leaves the house.
“Whenever we try to find work the people say they will give us a job if we can agree to work on credit and get paid later whenever they get money,” she said.
To feed her family she has taken $370 worth of food from one store over four months and has been barred from further credit until she pays her debts.
“Life has changed; everything is expensive now. If you get $5 it is barely enough and can only afford one meal a day. Before we used to enjoy three meals. Whenever I get income from the aid organisations or from people I pay off some of the debt.”
Halimo and her family fled Galkayo in 2016 following conflict and joined Badbado IDP camp where they have endured a hard life.
Washing clothes is also the sole income for Shukri Adan Hussein’s family of 11 in Daryel camp in Adado, where they arrived in the severe drought of 2017 after losing their livestock. The camp houses about 200 families. She said people did not want her services as much anymore and some households in town had got washing machines.
“God provides but there is a huge challenge in the camp. We have not seen any aid organisations reaching this area,” said Shukri.
Abdinoor Hassan Osman a lecturer in economics at Horn of Africa University in Adado, told Radio Ergo that drought, inflation, and the collapse of the Somali shilling were all factors in the poor economic times. Moreover, the use of mobile money meant people were less likely to contribute a small amount to support a poor person in the street begging.
“The only way these families could improve their lives is through government intervention to create jobs and make plans for training the labour force. Most of these people had one skill only and it is no longer in demand,” said Abdinoor.
The deputy commissioner of Adado, Nuur Yarow Hayle, also noted the huge amounts of credit given out by local businesses could pose risks on their continuity.
He also noted that their offices lack capacity to improve the situation of the drought-hit families, as the worsening drought conditions have had devastating effects in the whole country.
