(ERGO) – Abdiaziz Omar Osman, 24, is running a successful water trucking service with the three-wheeler tanker vehicle he was given by Hargeisa authorities, delivering water to restaurants and households in the city.
Since starting his venture on 25 June has been earning $18 a day. It’s enough to support his wife and three children, as well as his parents and three siblings.
“We used to struggle to make a living and my young son didn’t get milk. Now I have a job, a person with a job and one without are not the same,” he said.
His tank carries 700 litres of water and he works seven days a week. It’s more profitable than his previous job slaughtering livestock and preparing meat that made only $10 a day.
Abdiaziz said he grew up in tough conditions and didn’t get an education, but he hopes to save up to pay for his children to be educated. He is happy to have saved $100 already with the water trucking services.
Hargeisa local authority also provided him with a three-room iron sheet house in Abdi-Bidar neighbourhood on the north-east side of Hargeisa. His family are among 100 families who have been relocated there from Daami Dam area, which was prone to constant flooding.
The head of the disaster management office, Ali Mohamed Nur, told Radio Ergo that they selected families living in difficult and dangerous situations to benefit from the housing and jobs programme. Those relocated to new houses were living in makeshift houses near Daami dam, where a child drowned last year.
He added that they are working on cleaning the dam and have already fenced it with barbed wire to prevent people from accessing it.
Altogether, Hargeisa local authorities equipped 30 men with vehicles to start goods or passenger services and gave grants of between $350-$450 to 56 women for business start-ups.
Sahra Hassan Abdi, a mother of seven, opened a small shop in her new house with a $400 investment. She now earns $200-250 a month. She raises her four children alone and can pay their $50 a month school fees.
“I am no longer worried like before about their education,” she said.
She had been running a roadside table selling fruit and vegetables, making just $3 a day. That allowed her to provide just one meal a day and she had to rely on relatives paying her children’s school fees.
Sahro said she is happy with her new house, which is located in a better and cleaner environment, although they still depend on water trucking services for their water needs.
“We had three-months supply of water that has already run out. Sometimes we get water from well-wishers, but there are many people in the house and the water lasts us for one or two days,” she said.
Farhan Mustage Ige, 18, was given a two-wheel motor bike and has been ferrying passengers to earn a living since July. He was previously unemployed and depended on his mother who sells bananas.
Now he is earning an average of $10 a day, which supports his mother and nine siblings with food.
“Now my mother can rest! She prayed for me and thank God for this opportunity. I give her whatever I get. Now I have just brought food,” he said.
Farhan says it’s the first opportunity he has ever been given and he knows he can earn more once he familiarises himself better with the city streets, especially when hired to deliver goods.
He is happy with their new house and hopes to further his own education using his savings.
