(ERGO) – Adan Ahmed Noor and his family of 10 have been living outside Sigale IDP camp in Mogadishu for two months after being displaced by flash floods that destroyed their house in the camp.
Impoverished Adan and his children are sheltering under a tarpaulin donated to them by a businessman. They cut it in two, using half as a groundsheet and the other half to cover themselves from sun or rain.
“Am I going to go out to earn a living or I do I stay here to protect the children? We are facing hardship, I have a lot of stress when it rains. There is nowhere we can set up a cooking fire, there is floodwater everywhere,” he complained.
He used to get $5 a day jobs on construction sites but now has to care for his children. They lost all their utensils in the flash floods in May and rely on some handouts from neighbours and food on credit from a local store. He is under pressure to pay back a $40 debt before being allowed any more credit.
“The rain washed away everything while we were asleep. I don’t have a single mosquito net for the children. I don’t have a mattress. They just sleep on this piece of plastic on the ground,” he said.
Adan joined Sigale camp in 2020 after being displaced from Jire in Hiran region, where his four-hectare farm was ruined by drought and his 40 goats all died.
They are among 500 families in Sigale whose flimsy shelters were damaged in the floods.
Awliya Adan, a mother of five, has been living in Sigale camp for 10 years since fleeing drought in Alhamdulillah, Lower Shabelle region. She moved out of her old brick house as floods destroyed part of it and left it on the verge of collapse.
She can no longer go out to find laundry work.
“I haven’t gone to wash clothes recently, so we’ve been faced with the hardships and unemployment. The flood water washed away all belongings,” she said.
Sigale IDP camp is located in a low-lying area prone to flash floods. Residents told Radio Ergo that they flee their homes two or three times a year to escape flooding.
Families living in the camp have been collecting money to build gabions to prevent the recurring flooding.
The chairman of Sigale camp, Abdiqadir Ali Weheliye, said they have raised $700 and have already started building sand barriers and digging a channel to divert the flow of water to prevent flooding.
“Some people donated one dollar while others contributed two. They are part of the efforts to offset the risks of flooding,” he said.
There is also a problem with garbage that washes down into the camp area posing health risks. Locals hope that the Banadir administration will respond to the poor sanitation.
