The gift of a simple one-room corrugated iron house has given a chance to displaced families in southern Somalia’s Dollow to organise themselves and earn a living.
Hawo Mukhtar Abud is among the 80 families housed in September 2022in Ladan IDP. She has set up a small stall selling basic items and is now making $2.5 to $3 a day to support her family. Previously, the worries around shelter had made life impossible and she was considering leaving the camp.
“Thank God we are now earning a living! I sell powdered milk, tomato paste, pasta and other items. We don’t get all three meals but at least we get two, and we pray that our business advances,” she said.
Hawo was displaced from Qansahdhere, Bay region, after the last of her 142 goats perished in May due to the drought. She joined the camp with her eight children and tried to survive on meagre earnings from laundry jobs.
“We were living in a shack and really struggling and we thank God now. We have got an iron-sheet house. We were living in a house made of cardboard and it was very small. We had all our utensils and belongings in there too and it was hard for all of us to fit inside,” she said.
Her son who works on a farm gave her $250 that she used to start off her small business.
Having a decent house has also helped Yaryo Tukow Hassan, formerly a pastoralist in Dinsor, Bay, where drought killed her 27 goats.
“I have been living in this new house for two months. I was living in a shanty house and the children were sleeping on the ground. It is better now, we can lock our house up and sleep together now. We feel safe now,” she said.
With no regular aid distributions, most of the families earn a living from small businesses and odd jobs.
Yareyo, who lost her husband takes care of her five children alone. She had saved $31 from laundry jobs and on 16 November, feeling more confident with better shelter, she set up a stall selling tomatoes using her savings.
“I was tired of washing clothes and that’s why I switched to selling tomatoes. I cook tomato soup and tea for the children. We cook in the morning and at night. Sometimes we get sorghum or rice, whatever we can get,” said Yareyo, who earns about $1.5 a day.
The houses were built by IOM with funding from UNHCR. Ladan camp hosts nearly 5,000 families displaced by the drought in Bay, Bakool and Gedo.
The head of public relations at Dollow district authority, Abdifatah Ismail, said the houses were handed over to the families between September and October. There is also access to water and free schools for the IDPs.
He acknowledged that many families in the camp face poor housing. There are plans to construct houses for 1,500 more families to help them to recover from the drought.
