(ERGO) – Together Women’s Group operating in Hagadera camp in northern Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex have been spearheading jobs training for Somali refugee women that has turned many women into successful household breadwinners.
The group has 3,660 women registered as members, including 30 women who just began six-month training courses in June on cooking, cloth dyeing, and making sweets.
Fatumo Matan Abdullahi, 43, was one of the first women to join the group and completed a six-month training in cloth dyeing in 2018.
She has been successful over the years and now earns roughly $540 a month from her trade and is no longer anxious about making ends meet for her five children.
Her older two daughters and son have been attending a private school in the camp called Cambridge where she pays $47 fees a month.
“I have been able to put my children in school. The old houses given to us by the aid organisations were destroyed, so I built a new house with a toilet. I take care of my parents, now I have set up my own business. I am very happy and I will tell anyone about God’s mercy,” she said.
The house she built has two bedrooms and a yard and toilet and cost $2,700 from her savings. Having spent most of her life in the camp she is the family breadwinner as her husband does not work due to his high blood pressure.
“Our life was just a struggle. I’d get half a kilo of sugar and a kilo of rice on credit. We cooked just twice a day but we now get three meals today. We didn’t have good clothes, I couldn’t afford them,” she said.
Before she started working they depended on food distributions in the camps, receiving 45 kg of rice, 45 kg of sorghum and 6.5 litres of cooking oil a month that used to run out after a couple of weeks.
Fatumo also supports by her relatives who fled Somalia in May and joined the refugee camp.
Another success story is that of Deqo Abdirahim Salad, 29, who started making sweets in March and has hired six other women for her business.
She also found the camp rations inadequate for her family so was prompted to go out to work. Now she is making $140 a month which supports her family. She takes care of her three-year-old daughter since her husband died.
“There’s a difference between people who have jobs and those who don’t. What you get today is yours because you worked for it, but if you don’t work you receive nothing,” she said.
She urges other women in the camp to work instead of staying at home.
“People should strive to work and improve themselves. A job in itself isn’t shameful, but if you sit at home you won’t get what you want or the life you want. I urge women not to give up! People should create their own jobs, no matter how much or how little it is, it’s a job,” she said.
The leader of Together Women’s Group, Amina Abdiqadir Ali, said she started the group with funds they raised locally five years ago to tackle women’s unemployment in the camp. At one point they attracted support from the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR and Lutheran World Federation.
“There are women here who have been faced with many challenges including rape. Some young mothers have been abandoned by their husbands. We have been targeting single mothers. We started with those vulnerable people who needed financial support,” she said.
Amina herself joined the camp in 1991 and after years of grappling with life as a refugee has earned respect among other refugees and earns a good income.
“I have made money. Today I deposited 6-7,000 [Kenya Shillings]. I live a good life because I eat lunch, breakfast, and dinner. My trade has helped me a lot,” she said.
Since 2018 the group has assisted thousands of women to create employment opportunities, especially divorced or widowed women who were struggling to raise their children.
