(ERGO) – Fire once again engulfed the busy Bakara Market, the largest market in Mogadishu, on 5 April, destroying around 200 small businesses in the blaze. Those who lost their property are now struggling to cover their children’s education, food and house rent.
Yusuf Abdi Mohamed, 65, owned a clothing store. He told Radio Ergo he couldn’t salvage anything and is on the brink of giving up. He spends his time at home with no income.
“My property has been burned down, I have nothing left. I’ve been hit hard and feel like giving up. I don’t know how to continue supporting all the people who depend on me,” he said despondently.
Yusuf was so shocked about his loss that he fell sick. Tests at Kalkal hospital based in Mogadishu showed he was suffering from high blood pressure.
This father of 10 children has already taken $275 worth of food loans to provide family meals. He estimates his shop and property were worth $70,000, including the $30,000 loan he took to invest in stock.
The fire broke out in the early morning in the last week of Ramadan as he was getting the shop that he had run for 29 years ready for the Eid celebrations, hoping to make huge sales.
“I still need to pay the debts because the people who loaned me the money don’t care about the fire outbreak, it doesn’t concern them. I don’t know how to repay them because I don’t have any other business.
I used to be porter but now I am almost 70 and I don’t have the strength,” he said.
Six of his children attend Sayudib primary and middle school, but he didn’t pay their fees in April and has no means of continuing to support their education. One of his sons has also been studying in a university in Bangladesh. He used to send him $300 for his tuition and upkeep but can no longer do that.
Also affected by the fire is Anfa Yusuf Ali, 24, who had worked as an employee for four years in one of the shops that burned down. She sold women’s clothes and earned $400 a month but is now out of work.
She was the breadwinner for her family including her mother and four younger siblings.
“You can feel the pain of losing a job that was your source of income. The family need to pay bills, children need school fees, I didn’t worry yesterday because I was working, but today I have lost my job,” she said.
Her mother used to sell tea and support them until Anfa got her job. They live in two-room house and have not been able to pay their rent.
Another businesswoman, Nasro Munow Mohamed, used to make $12 a day from her fresh fruit juice stall in the market. Four of her children had to drop out of school as she couldn’t raise the $50 for their fees.
She said she has to depend on her neighbours in Deynile to get meals, bringing her to her lowest point since she became the breadwinner after her husband died in 2018.
“I was the only person working for my family, and today this has happened to us. My relatives in remote areas also depend on me and ask me to send them some sugar or coffee because they don’t have jobs,” Nasro said.
She lost her blending machines and stock of fruit in the fire. She would like to start again but lacks capital.
“We normally buy the fruit on credit and repay when we have made sales, but we’ve lost the little money we had, the fire destroyed everything,” she said.
Fire outbreaks are common in Bakara market. The most common cause identified has been electrical faults exacerbated by poor access to control a fire when it starts.
Abdifatah Mohamed Isse, a construction engineer, told Radio Ergo the market lacks systems to prevent and control fire.
“In Somalia there have been frequent fires due to poor planning. You might find bare electrical wires and a fuel station in the same spot and there are no systems to handle fire outbreaks,” he said.
“The market needs to be built so that emergency services can reach the affected areas, roads have to be cleared for passage, electrical wiring needs to be improved, and business people should take care to protect their property.”
The Banadir authority has said it plans to improve emergency firefighting services.
