(ERGO) – Nearly 50 young men and women living in internal displacement camps in Garasballay and Kahda districts of Mogadishu are earning a living as teachers in schools set up in the camps by a local NGO.
They were selected for employment after performing well in a recruitment drive for teachers to teach more than 1,000 students in schools in the IDP camps.
Ali Isaq Ahmed, 22, is now a teacher in Gurmad school, in Haq-dhowr camp in Kahda. He has become an important income earner for his family of seven siblings and two parents.
“This job has changed my life, I get an income and it has made our lives easier,” said Ali, who has been earning $90 a month since being appointed in September.
“My family were struggling, they used to make do with half a dollar to buy basics, but now we can spend three dollars and have a better income,” he said.
Ali is the eldest child in the family and worked various jobs before, including digging holes for waste disposal. He would walk around the city for eight hours a day with a shovel trying to find customers for very little pay.
Seven months after putting aside his shovel, those tough times are still etched in his mind.
“I was digging those pits for three months getting just half a dollar or a dollar a day. I would give my family whatever I got,” he said.
Ali is happy to be teaching English and science classes to primary school students.
He completed his own his middle and secondary school in Somali Region of Ethiopia, where his family were living as refugees, before returning to Somalia in 2021 due to conflict in Ethiopia.
The head teacher of Gurmad school, Dahir Adan Hassan, said there are many educated people in the camp, although extreme hardships have pushed them into desperate times.
He said the young teachers were selected from within the camps to encourage IDP communities and for the students to appreciate education, in this project run by Nomadic Assistance for Peace and Development (NAPAD).
“The teachers were selected because they were educated and active. They took an assessment to gauge their experience and level of education. This opportunity will enable them to inspire other younger generations,” he explained.
Another recruit under the programme, Mulki Ali Ibrahim, 21, now teaches Somali language to students in grades one to grade five.
“I now use my income to help my parent and siblings, I can get what I need because I am now working,” she said.
Her family depended on handouts of food or other aid in the camp and can now get all three meals.
Mulki has been saving part of her income and has opened a small kiosk for her brothers to make extra income selling items. She hopes one day to continue her own education to university level.
Mulki was also a refugee and studied in Hagardera camp in Kenya. She and her family were originally displaced from Dinsor in Bay region in 2011 and were repatriated back from Dadaab refugee camp complex to Somalia in 2016.
