(ERGO) – Since fleeing conflict in their home area in Erigabo in December 2024, Hibaq Ahmed Mohamed and her seven children all squeeze at night into the tiny two-metre square room lent to them by a family they know in Badhan.
Hibaq, with two disabled children and an elderly disabled husband, manages to put together one small meal a day with food she receives from the host family.
But the hosts, a family of 10, are struggling financially themselves and she feels a burden on them.
“I eat with the families we live with and give some to the children when they cook,” Hibaq said. “If I get breakfast in the morning, there’s nothing else at noon. Sometimes I look for what I can find in other neighbourhoods.”
They are among hundreds of people, mostly elderly and women with children, who have fled the conflict in Erigabo, Sanag region, to find a space wherever they can in areas like Hingalol, Dhahar, and Cawsane.
For the last three months, they have been struggling to make ends meet.
Hibaq, who recently gave birth, cannot work or move around looking for support for her family. Her husband cannot perform manual labour which are the only jobs available in the area.
Their current situation is the most difficult they have ever faced. The room they are in is cramped and cold and she cannot afford blankets or mosquito nets for the children.
“We are displaced from the war-torn town of Erigabo. We were forced out by gunfire and fear. The hardship we face is indescribable. Our biggest problem is that we have no place to stay or sleep,” she told Radio Ergo.
Hibaq and her children walked for three days to Badhan because they were unable to afford transportation. She recalled the difficulty of escaping Erigabo in the early days of the conflict, with severe restrictions on movement.
“We were poor people with nothing. God made it possible for us to find people who helped us and took the young children for me and carried them to safety. I handed some of them over to people when things got tough for me, and I even gave some of my children to people I didn’t know and told them to bring them along here,” she said.
Before their displacement due to the conflict between Somaliland government forces and militias, Hibaq’s children had free education at Omar Bin Abdiasis Primary School. The family’s livelihood depended on her washing clothes for people, earning $5 a day.
Another fugitive from Erigabo is Iman Ibrahim Cashare, who supports a family of 10 and has been in Badhan for nearly three months. She worries about providing for her children, as she has received no financial support since her arrival.
“This city we just came to is a place where things are inflated, everything is expensive. We are people who have always been poor. We grew up in a city where we were raised poor, but when we came here, we haven’t been able to adapt to life,” she said.
Imaan feeds her family once a day with donated food, trying to ask people in town for help. She noted that access to water is a challenge, with water costing $5 per barrel, which they cannot afford.
The administration of Badhan acknowledges the dire living conditions of these families, but highlights that they have not been officially counted or registered, making it difficult to provide assistance.
The director of the Badhan local government department, Sucdi Ismail Ahmed, said: “Those displaced people from Erigabo are very poor and have experienced civil war. Their living conditions are not suitable for human survival, with multiple families living together in single houses.”
