(ERGO) – Madey Hassan Abdi, 65, a blind father of seven children, lives a life of helplessness in Said camp in Mogadishu’s Deynile district.
He lost his sight in April after an eye infection worsened and he could not afford to seek treatment at a health centre. The one-hectare farm in Awdhigle, Lower Shabelle, that they used to live off, growing coriander, lemons and watermelons, was wiped out by the years of drought.
Madey told Radio Ergo’s local reporter, who visited him in Said camp, that his family now relies on other IDP families sharing their scanty food with them. At night when the other families return from finding a living in Mogadishu city, they usually share some of what they bring with them.
“I can’t go on to the streets, I am a blind man. I can’t even see the thorns on the path, if I try to walk I will stumble. The chairwoman of the camp helps us and that’s how we live and we also share food from others,” he said.
The family came to Said camp in March after leaving Awdighle, hoping to find help in the capital. His wife is suffering from mental illness and can barely leave the camp and they do not know anyone in Mogadishu.
Madey is worried about his incapacity to earn a living for his family. His oldest son is just 12. Neighbours tell him to eat healthier food to try to recover his sight.
“I don’t have medicine, people keep telling me to buy carrots or get a goats’ head to cook but I don’t have money, we don’t have the money. People keep saying that I need to strive hard and find nutritious food but how can I buy it?” he said.
A similar sense of hopelessness haunts Daynabo Mohamud Yusuf, 50, who has been paralysed since childhood. She joined Danyar camp in Kahda district in February after migrating from her home in Goofgadud, Bay region, where her 32 goats all died due to drought.
Daynabo has no children and has faced cruel discrimination all her life. Dependent on her IDP camp neighbours, she sometimes goes without food for two days drinking only water.
“I stay at home and eat whatever people give me, I am barely alive, I don’t have anyone to help me get what I need. I can’t work or even go and beg in the streets,” she said.
Her niece, who used to help her take care of the livestock, stayed behind in the village when she travelled to Mogadishu seeking assistance.
“We IDPs living with disabilities are facing hardship, we live in difficult situation, our situation is not fit for any human being, we don’t get anything. It’s by God’s grace that we are alive,” said Daynabo.
The gatekeeper of Danyar, Abdi Dahir Osman, said the camp had not received any aid for the past few months. He noted that they monitor the situation of disabled people like Daynabo and help
them get food, although they cannot attend to all their needs and some of them die or get hospitalised.
“We reach out to their house and see how they have woken up; we are like a household, we give help to the helpless and we bury those who die,” he said.
