(ERGO) – Kaltun Abdullahi Ahmed and her five children survive on the seven litres of water that she manages to draw from the nearest well eight kilometres away from her camp and carry home on her back.
Burao local government delivers a 100-litre truck of water twice a week to Malosh IDP camp, where Kaltun lives among 800 other families. But with high demand and much competition, Kaltun has given up trying to get a share from the tanker. Many other families especially those headed by women often miss out and have to find water by other means.
“We roam around the water truck with jerry cans. The strong people get to the front and manage to get the water. The less powerful and those with children miss out on the water,” Kaltun explained.
The limited amount of water she can fetch from the well, although free of charge, means they do not have enough to cover all their cooking and cleaning needs. They are cooking just once a day.
It is also a major trek to the well and she and other IDP women trek together for safety and support.
“We walk in the company of four or five people. We fear the road! We fear tyrants and men! It takes us four hours especially when we walk with women who walk fast to and from,” she said.
Kaltun and her husband separated and she takes cares of her children alone. When their 150 goats died in the severe drought in 2017 in Sarar, 85 kilometres east of Burao, she hastened to move to the camp fearing they might not survive in the drought-hit countryside of Somaliland’s Togdher region.
At first in the camp, they received a monthly food ration from the World Food Programme. However, when the aid stopped she was unable to find a job and had to turn to relatives and neighbours for food.
“We are struggling with food. People used to get food aid but we haven’t received anything for a year and a half. We have not seen aid organisations and we don’t get aid,” she said.
The severe water shortage is also affecting Boos camp, with 400 families, and Kurlibah with 600 families. all on the outskirts of Burao, where a nearby water catchment dried up in the last few months.
Fadumo Yusuf Muse and her family of 10 live in Kurlibah camp, where one truck delivers 100 litres of water a week. Despite multiple attempts at getting water during the delivery, she has always failed.
Now she prefers to board tuk-tuk taxis with her jerry cans to fetch water. Some days when she cannot afford the fare, she stays at home with no water. This has affected their eating patterns.
“Of the three meals I cook just once for my children. That is how severe the water shortage is. It’s been worse in the past four months, because before that we had rainfall and we could collect the rain water,” she said.
She spends three dollars on transport going twice a week to get water. Her husband, the family’s bread winner, makes about $10 a week selling charcoal he makes from al-garoba trees, which is too little to cover their water and food needs.
“The water brought by the tanker isn’t enough for 100 families, the rest don’t get anything. The elderly and children miss out. The strong among the men and women take all the water,” she said.
Fadumo and her family were displaced form Bali-hawd, 90 kilometres from Burao, in 2017. They lost 100 goats and some camels to severe drought.
Both Fadumo and Kaltun wish that Burao local government would increase the amount of water they deliver by the trucks so that everyone can get a fair share to cover their basic needs.
Burao municipal council officer, Khalid Hassan Diriye, is tasked by the local authority with overseeing IDP affairs.
“They were supposed to come to us and tell us the water is not enough and request for more. I am their member of parliament. They were supposed to talk to me and ask us to increase the water. They would have got more. They have never said that we are facing lack of water,” he said, responding to Radio Ergo reporter’s questions about the water woes faced by the IDP families.
However, Khalid stated that the council would address the water issues. The water trucking service is provided by Alkhayri aid organisation.
