(ERGO) – A new stretch of gravel road has turned a quiet neighbourhood in Badhan, Sanag region, into a thriving local market, giving low-income families a chance to trade and earn regular incomes.
The three-kilometre section of road through Galbeed neighbourhood – which is part of a larger 100 kilometre road project connecting El-Dahir and Badhan – has stimulated the opening up of roadside businesses.
One of these is Fadumo Mohamud Shire’s, who turned one room in her two-room house into a small shop making at least $8 profit a day.
“Our lives have improved greatly. I never imagined things would change like this. We have moved out of the hardship we were in. My business is doing well and I make a good profit every day. I sell food, run a small shop, have a refrigerator and sell clothes. This road has brought light to us after we were living in darkness,” she told Radio Ergo.
Fadumo, a widow raising six children, had days when she could not find enough food to cook. She opened the shop in early May after taking a $500 bank loan secured against her home and has already repaid the full loan.
She estimates the value of her business at $2,000 and hopes to expand it further. The income has allowed her to enroll three of her children in school for the first time, paying $30 a month in fees.
More than 200 new businesses have sprung up run by low-income families since the Galbeed road opened.
Kaltun Omar Hassan has set up a small stall selling household goods and tea outside a relative’s house. It has helped her support her family of 10 independently, instead of relying on help from others.
“Life was very different before this road,” she said. “The passing vehicles buy water and food from me, and that has brought a lot to our lives,” she said.
Kaltun, 40, and her children were displaced from rural areas around Badhan two years ago after her 140 goats were killed in the drought.
Having gained confidence in a new livelihood, she moved her children out of the room they were staying in with relatives into a two-room rented house, paying $30 a month. She is saving part of her earnings to buy a house.
In June, she enrolled four of her children in school, paying $40 a month, and hopes to send the others to school as her business grows.
“I see it as my responsibility to provide for their health, education and food, and thank God I can do that. I get everything I need for my family from this business. Both my children and I have benefited from it,” she said.
Kaltun’s café was one of the first shops opened on the road. She has paid off the $800 she borrowed from relatives to start it and plans to move the café to larger premises as demand increases.
The road was funded by the British Embassy in Somalia in partnership with the Somalia Stability Fund and Puntland’s Ministry of Transport and Roads.
Mohamed Muse Ali, appointed by Badhan local authority to oversee the programme, said the project was intended to improve transport links and strengthen economic infrastructure in growing communities.
