Many have arrived in Coomaad, near Mataban, with few belongings and little means of supporting themselves.

Nuriya Mohamed Bare, 51, reached Coomaad on 10 October after walking there with her eight children from Hees, which was seized by Al-Shabaab and later recaptured by the Somali National Army.

She said her family had been repeatedly displaced by conflict over the past year and two months and had lost almost everything.

“We fled Moqokori without taking anything. Then I went to Bulo Burde with my children, but we left there too. We moved to Beledweyne, then to Teedaan, and later fled again. We went to Hees, where people collected assistance for us, but we had to flee from there as well. We have fled all these places because of Al-Shabaab,” she said

In Moqokori, Nuriya supported the family through a small restaurant where she prepared meals with pasta, rice and bread. The business earned her more than $10 a day that was enough to meet their basic needs. She is separated from her husband, who doesn’t provide any upkeep for the children.

Having to be on the run has interrupted her children’s education and left the family without a stable income.

Life in Coomaad is hard as the family has no adequate shelter, nor access to adequate food and clean water.

“We do not get food or water regularly. Even when we receive food, we have no cooking utensils. We fled our home and left all our belongings behind, but at the moment hunger is a bigger problem for us than having no house,” Nuriya said.

They receive some assistance from local volunteers collecting food from residents, but the supplies are irregular and insufficient. They share a few donated mats with other displaced families and sleep under acacia trees, exposed to rain and cold weather.

“It is the rainy season, but we have no houses to protect us from the rain. We spend the nights outside under trees,” she said.

The war has not chased them from Coomaad – but people have little sense of permanence due to the constant cycle of attacks and counterattacks.

“If this place remains peaceful, we would like to stay. We need people to provide us with sleeping mats, food and clothes,” she said.

Another mother, Hodan Mohamud Ahmed, who arrived in Coomaad with her three children on 15 October, says she has no relatives in the area to support them.

“Sometimes soldiers bring us food and we share it. At other times, local residents give us something. That is how we survive. We don’t have a particular place where we can stay. We move from one place to another,” she said.

Damage to telecommunications infrastructure has disrupted phone services, making it difficult for Hodan to contact relatives in other towns to request their assistance.

She said hundreds of displaced people were sharing a few houses, forcing many to sleep outside during the rainy season.

“There are about 300 of us, but we have fewer than 10 houses. Between 10 and 20 people share one house. We sometimes enter other people’s houses to shelter from the rain, but at night we sleep outside,” she said.

Hodan initially left Kowthar in Middle Shabelle region and has since moved through more than four locations in search of safety. Her family depended on 26 goats, which they had to abandon. She does not know what happened to the animals.

Coomaad has limited access to basic services, including education and healthcare. Local businesses have suffered as insecurity has reduced movement and trade. Many livestock keepers have moved elsewhere to protect their animals from looting, further shrinking the local economy.

The deputy chairman of Coomaad administration, Abdi Abdullahi Mohamud, said large numbers of people had arrived in this rural locality from conflict-affected areas. The administration had not yet registered the new arrivals to establish their exact number.

He said local authorities and residents were providing limited food and water but lacked the resources to meet the growing needs. The area had not received assistance from government agencies or humanitarian organisations.

“Many people have been displaced to this area from places including Moqokori, Teedaan, Mahas and Hees. These people urgently need humanitarian assistance,” he said.

The security situation in Hiran has remained volatile, with Al-Shabaab making territorial gains and government forces continuing their operations against the group.

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Some have sought shelter with relatives, while others have nowhere to turn for food or protection from the rain.

Faisa Mohamed Hassan said the storms that began on 29 October brought down her shelter in Macalin Farah area on the outskirts of Hagadera camp, while floodwater swept away everything inside.

She fled with her seven children, the oldest aged 10, to her mother’s family.

“The water took all our food and the mattresses we slept on. I am afraid the floods will carry away my children. The water channel is close to us, and they nearly got swept away the previous night,” she said.

Faisa, whose husband died of illness three years ago, lived in a shelter made of wood collected from the bush and plastic sheets bought with money she earned from washing clothes. It had a main room, a veranda covered with two plastic sheets where the children slept, and a kitchen.

Their last 116 kg food ration received from the World Food Programme (WFP) in early September was also swept away.

Her relatives, who are also poor refugees affected by the rain, cannot offer much help. Faisa cannot afford to rebuild her shelter while providing for her children. Four of them have stopped attending school following their displacement. She used to pay 2,000 Kenyan shillings a month for their education.

She arrived in the refugee camps in 2008, aged 12, after fleeing insecurity in Mogadishu, and married in Dadaab.

The Hagadera camp chairman said about 100 families had lost their shelters, while hundreds of others had suffered damage but managed to salvage belongings. Many of the worst-affected households were recent arrivals and young couples who had settled in undesignated areas, including drainage channels, making them vulnerable to flooding.

Batulo Mohamed Abdi’s family of nine were not displaced, but floodwater soaked all their belongings. One of their two shelters collapsed completely and part of the other fell in, leaving them with inadequate shelter and food.

“All our clothes and mattresses got wet. Nothing has dried because the rain is still falling. The food we are eating now was given to us by neighbours,” she said.

Her family’s last WFP ration of 25kg of lentils, 90kg of sorghum and 18 litres of cooking oil ran out on 17 October.

Batulo had patched up holes in their shelter using discarded plastic sheets, but these had worn out. She is now using a plastic sheet collected from a rubbish dump tied to wooden poles to protect her children while sleeping.

The family has no toilet. Batulo said they had not received a latrine since arriving in the camp in 2023. Rainwater has mixed with human waste around their shelter, raising fears of disease.

“My seven-year-old child has had diarrhoea for two days. I disposed of the child’s waste outside, but I have no money to buy medicine,” she said.

Batulo has been unable to work for two months because of a kidney problem. She used to earn 3,500 Kenyan shillings a month washing clothes. Medication has not improved her conditions and she was advised to seek further tests in a major town, but has no money.

Her husband, who collects and sells firewood, has been without work for a month after nearby sources of wood ran out. The family fled drought and insecurity in Buale, southern Somalia’s Middle Juba region, in 2023. They had a four-hectare farm that had become unproductive because of poor rainfall.

Batulo said they had nowhere else to go and feared further rain as they lacked adequate clothing and shelter.

Recently arrived refugees have cards allowing them to access limited food aid but continue to face difficulties with accessing water, healthcare, shelter and education.

Hagadera camp chairman Khalif Dhubow Jelle said refugees had received no shelter support for about 10 years, leaving many in weak structures vulnerable to collapse.

“Some people built shelters inside drainage channels because they had nowhere else to settle. The water entered their homes and forced them to flee. There is a serious shortage of shelter in the camps, and we fear the situation will worsen if more rain comes,” he said.

The chairman said the destruction had affected refugees already struggling with reductions in humanitarian assistance, including cuts to food aid and reduced allocations for some of the most vulnerable households.

The destruction comes as the October–December short rainy season is forecast to bring above-average rainfall to parts of East Africa. The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), in its August 2026 seasonal outlook, gave northeastern Kenya a 90 per cent likelihood of enhanced rainfall, raising concerns that further flooding could worsen conditions for refugees living in poorly constructed shelters and flood-prone areas.

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Mohamed’s family is staying with another poor household in the Jadiid neighbourhood after losing their home and belongings when rain poured continuously for more than 24 hours. Their house was in a low-lying area and was overwhelmed by floodwater.

“I managed to save only the children. Even their clothes were swept away. They are now sick. One has malaria, while another has a cold and coughs day and night,” he said.

The floods swept away their food supplies, including flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil, which he had bought on $70 credit the previous week. His children sleep in a small shelter they’ve been offered, while Mohamed and his wife spend cold nights outside without blankets. Mosquitoes are a serious problem, frequently biting the children.

They take one of their children with them as they beg for food in the neighbourhood. Sometimes they receive some cooked food and other times uncooked supplies.

“We stand at people’s doorsteps asking for assistance, and that is how we manage to get one meal a day,” Mohamed told Radio Ergo.

His family is among 675 families affected by flooding caused by heavy rain earlier this month, according to the local administration. Residents were displaced from Gumeysidiid, Qumboole and Siigaale, losing homes, livestock, businesses and crops. Many are now sheltering in parts of Janale that escaped the floods.

Floodwater has contaminated local water sources and buried some wells, forcing the family to collect discoloured, muddy water from shallow pools. Mohamed said his children had started experiencing stomach problems.

He also lost his rented farm, where he had borrowed money to grow sesame, maize and tomatoes. He had expected to harvest the crops within a month.

“I rented four hectares of land for the farm. The combined cost of renting the land and cultivating it was $550,” he said. The farm is now submerged under stagnant water, leaving him with little hope of returning to cultivation. He is also worried about repaying the debt.

“The person I owe money to is demanding repayment, but I have nowhere to get the money. The debt is weighing heavily on me, and I feel close to losing my mind,” he said, describing the losses as the worst setback his family had experienced.

Five of his children have stopped attending school. Some local schools were damaged, and he fears sending them to their former school because they would have to cross water channels that could sweep them away. He cannot afford to enroll them elsewhere. Their previous teachers had understood his financial difficulties and accepted whatever payments he could manage.

The floods have placed additional pressure on residents already struggling to support their families. Abdirizak Mohamed Farah, from the Jadiid neighbourhood, is hosting an 11-member displaced family, whilst he can hardly provide for his own household of nine.

His family depended on farming, but their fields were also flooded, and he has no regular employment.

“I am extremely worried because I was already struggling to support my own family, yet relatives have now been displaced and come to stay with us. We do not have enough food or water,” he said. “Even before this, I could barely provide for my family because our circumstances were difficult. The water destroyed the farms we depended on, and there is no other work in this area.”

The two families share a single cramped room in a house with a leaking roof. Abdirizak can’t afford repairs due to prioritising basic food. His children stopped attending school after his work dried up in September and he couldn’t pay the combined monthly fees of $15 for three children in Koranic classes and a language school.

Well water now costs 20 cents per jerrycan. The family uses it only for drinking, relying on river water and stagnant pools for cooking and washing.

Abdirizak travels to farms farther away that escaped the floods, earning $3 to $4 a week. When he cannot find work, he asks former farming clients for assistance, sometimes receiving about 60 cents a day. His family eats once daily and shares whatever food they obtain with the displaced relatives.

The displaced household includes elderly people and children whose home collapsed during the overnight rains. Residents hadn’t been able to protect their houses and couldn’t afford sandbags to keep floodwater out.

More than 1,500 hectares of farmland in and around Janale have been affected, including vegetable fields that had recently been irrigated, according to the local authorities.

Village chairman Abdirahman Yusuf Al Cadaala told Radio Ergo that the administration had recorded 70 destroyed houses. He said they lacked the resources to assist families but were sharing their needs with humanitarian organisations to seek emergency support.

“People need urgent assistance because floodwater has entered their homes. They need food, water and shelter first, followed by repairs to their houses to protect them from further flooding,” he said.

He warned of health risks after the floods destroyed toilets, allowing sewage to mix with water sources used for drinking.

On 21 October, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) warned that nearly 874,000 people could be displaced in Somalia between October and December 2026. Projections by IOM and the Danish Refugee Council estimated that 874,319 people could be displaced during the period, with flooding accounting for 92 per cent of the projected displacement.

Many families in Janale had already struggled through years of poor rainfall and hoped to recover from their economic difficulties. The floods have instead left them facing further losses and an uncertain future.

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She is among many educated young people in Somaliland who have turned to manual and informal work after failing to secure jobs matching their qualifications. Some have given up looking for employment, while others work as domestic cleaners, restaurant attendants or street vendors. There are no figures on the number of graduates doing such work.

Nimo cleans and washes clothes in a five-room house, leaving occasionally to visit her family.

“I started looking for work while I was still at university. Even after completing my studies, I could not find a job. I had no choice but to clean houses despite holding a degree,” she said.

She eventually accepted the job because her family depends largely on her income as the eldest child and the only one to reach university. Her uncle, who lives in Hargeisa, paid her university fees of $200 per term and supported the family during her studies.

Her parents are pastoralists, whose herd was reduced by drought from 200 goats and 30 camels to just 10 animals, which her father still looks after in the rural area. After finding work, Nimo brought her mother and six siblings to Hargeisa to support them.

She is paying fees of $5 each for three of her siblings’ Koranic classes and hopes to earn enough to send them to formal school. She is determined to improve her family’s circumstances despite the disappointment of failing to find work related to her degree.

“Jobs are given through personal connections. Everyone favours people from their own clan,” she said. “Since we have studied, we are the country’s future, and opportunities should be created for us.”

Abdishakur Mohamed Muse, 29, has also taken manual work after failing to find employment with his law degree. He graduated from Golis University in Hargeisa in 2025 but has worked frying potatoes at a small business since May, earning $70 a month.

As a father of a one-year-old daughter, most of his salary goes towards rent, leaving little for other household needs.

“When I receive my salary, I pay $30 for rent for a room and veranda. The remaining $40 is not enough to cover our other living expenses,” he said.

Rising prices have made it harder to support his family. He is $400 in debt and depends on neighbours for food and water. His university fees of $230 per term were paid through contributions collected from relatives because his parents could not afford them.

“I am grateful to my neighbours for always helping us with food and water whenever we are in need. I hope the person I work for will increase my salary. I also hope the government will give us better jobs,” Abdishakur said.

For some young people, financial hardship has prevented them from progressing beyond middle school. Mustafe Omar Yasin, 26, had to stop his education in 2021 when his uncle, who was paying his fees, could no longer afford the $25 for him to join secondary education.

Nowadays he carries a portable weighing scale around Hargeisa, offering to measure people’s weight and height, making $100 to $150 a month. He had hoped education would improve his family’s circumstances. He sends most of his income to support his parents and seven siblings.

His family in Gubato, north of Hargeisa, keep 30 goats although prolonged drought has affected their livestock.

“What I earn is only enough to meet my basic needs and send something to my family. I can’t save anything,” he said. “I buy food in the city and send it to my family in the rural area.”

Mustafe said some of his friends mocked him for working as a street weighing-scale operator, while other people became angry when he approached them to offer his services.

“I stand by the roadside calling people to come and be weighed. Some spit at me, while others physically assault me. But I am struggling and in need, so I say nothing and don’t retaliate,” he said.

A study published in mid-2025 by researchers from Amoud University in Borama and the University of Manchester in the UK estimated youth unemployment in Somaliland at 96.08 per cent.

It attributed the high rate to limited job opportunities compared with the number of jobseekers, education that often fails to provide skills suited to the labour market, and limited private-sector investment.

The challenge is compounded by the growing number of graduates entering the job market. According to figures released in 2024 by the statistics and research department of Somaliland’s Ministry of Planning, more than 8,000 students graduate from universities each year.

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Their second displacement has brought little improvement, with the family struggling to find food, water and shelter in Oog camp on the outskirts of Dusamareb. They receive occasional donations of uncooked food from neighbouring families that isn’t enough to feed all of them.

“My children have not had breakfast today, and we don’t expect to have lunch. We are waiting for what God provides. This is the hardship we are facing,” Sharif said.

He had hoped to find casual work in Dusamareb but leaves home every morning looking for jobs and returns empty-handed. They depend on a neighbouring household for water, although that family is also struggling. He can’t afford the $3 monthly charge per household for piped water in the camp.

Their shelter has a badly worn covering and is too small, offering little protection from the cold at night or heat during the day. Sharif said he had lost hope of finding a better life through their second move this year.

“We first came from Ethiopia and settled in Galkayo. Now we are facing the same hardship in Dusamareb,” he said.

When they arrived, they knew nobody and initially sat under a tree until the camp chairman found them and brought them to Oog. “Nothing has changed since then. The people we depend on for support are facing the same difficulties as us.”

Three of his children were attending primary school in grades five and three, as well as Koranic classes, for which he paid a combined $35 a month. He can’t afford private school fees in Dusamareb, while Oog camp has no schools or healthcare facilities.

The family walked for three days to reach Dusamareb from Qorahey camp in Galkayo in early August. They had moved to Galkayo at the beginning of the year after drought wiped out their livestock in Qallafe zone in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State.

Sharif said repeated drought and disease killed their 50 goats and sheep. Conflict between Somali communities and other ethnic groups in Ethiopia also contributed to their decision to leave.

Asha Omar Ali, with a family of nine members, said they were experiencing even worse conditions than those they had left behind in Galkayo when they arrived in Shabelle camp on the outskirts of Dusamareb early in October.

Her family manages the odd meal in a day from food they beg from people who settled in the camp earlier. The support is unreliable because those families are also poor and unable to help regularly.

“We are hungry as I speak to you. We went to bed hungry last night,” she told Radio Ergo. “We are helpless people in distress. We have never experienced hardship like this before, and we have nowhere to return to.”

Asha, 50, said she had no one to support her family. Her children’s father is elderly and unable to contribute to their upkeep, while her oldest child is 12 and too young to work in a quarry, a common source of employment in the area.

She walks around town looking for domestic work, including washing clothes, but many households tell her they have washing machines and no longer need to pay people to do their laundry.

Her family’s shelter was destroyed by strong winds and flooding caused by heavy rain on 11 October. The structure was made from bits of cloth and wooden poles collected from trees. The mattresses and few cooking utensils they’d been given were swept away.

The family spent their lives in the rural area and hoped to remain there. However, drought, poor pasture and disease killed their 40 goats in Odaale in Qallafe zone. Water shortages also destroyed food and vegetable crops on their three-hectare farm towards the end of 2025. Asha said they lost the entire $400 invested in seeds, cultivation and irrigation.

The chairman of Oog camp, Hassan Mohamed Dheere, said more than 200 families had arrived in Oog and three neighbouring camps over the past two months, fleeing conflict and the effects of climate change.

The families were facing severe hardship, while the communities they had joined were struggling and unable to provide meaningful support.

“The families are enduring severe humanitarian conditions. We are appealing to aid agencies to urgently reach them with assistance to address their lack of water, food and shelter,” he said.

The chairman said they had received no response to requests submitted to the town authorities. The withdrawal of aid organisations and a lack of economic opportunities, which had also reduced casual labour jobs, were further worsening conditions for the displaced families.

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Many affected families have moved to Barwaaqo, Koris and Horyaal displacement camps in the city’s Daynile district after demolitions in August 2026 uprooted them and destroyed their livelihoods.

Khadija Abdullahi Hassan lost her home and the small business that supported her family of five children. For five years, she ran a stall selling chillies, groundnuts, biscuits, and sweets to residents of Tarabuush neighbourhood in Wadajir district. She made a daily profit of $8 to $9 that enabled her to reinvest in the business, rent a three-room house for $75 a month, and provide for her children.

Now she struggles to afford even one meal a day. Some of the established camp residents share small amounts of food with them, but the assistance can’t meet their needs.

“Our life is very difficult now. We have nothing to eat and nowhere to live,” Khadija told Radio Ergo. “I have three orphaned children and two children from my last marriage. I am also pregnant. I am struggling to look after all of them.”

Three of her children had to drop out of their Koranic classes that used to cost her $9 a month.

“I can’t afford to send them to school now. I have no money for their education,” she said. “Life in a displacement camp is extremely difficult – it is suffering with no way out.”

Halimo Ali Mohamed, 60, had supported her family of eight by making clay cooking stoves and selling flour, samosas, and other fried food in Hoolo-qalka neighbourhood in Dharkenley district. Her home was spared demolition, but she lost customers when other residents of the neighbourhood were displaced.

Her business collapsed as her customers fled so she could no longer afford the $100 monthly rent for her home. At the end of August, she moved her family to Horyaal camp to stay with relatives.

“We could not keep up with the rent, so we had to leave. Our landlord evicted us, and we brought our belongings with us. We have nowhere to sleep, and our clothes and other possessions are scattered outside,” she said.

The family depends on the little food that other camp residents, who are also struggling, can spare. Her daughter had to abandon her studies in Grade Four.

“I used to pay $5 a month for Koranic classes and another $5 for school, but I can no longer afford either,” she said

Halimo’s health puts her in a vulnerable position. She lost sight in her left eye after a measles infection. In July, she had surgery to remove a large tumour from her left shoulder and has not fully regained her strength.

Faduma Abukar Ali is another small trader whose business was affected when bulldozers cleared the neighbourhoods. She had invested $200 in selling vegetables but lost her customers following the demolitions.

Her house was not demolished, but her loss of income left her unable to pay the $30 rent. She moved to Barwaaqo camp in mid-August with her eight children. They are staying with another family, without adequate shelter and short of food.

“Tonight we have nothing for supper. Rain is expected, but we have nowhere to shelter. I have nowhere to take my children if it rains,” she said. “We are staying with neighbours, who are already overcrowded. I have no work and no means to support myself and my children.”

Five of her children have stopped attending Koranic classes as she can’t afford the $25 monthly fees. Faduma said she has sole responsibility for raising her children since separating from her husband three years ago.

The chairperson of Koris camp, Maryan Muse Magoye, who is also a member of the Daynile displacement camps committee, said 235 families had been recently registered in the three camps in the district since the demolitions.

“They told us they had been displaced from the city, with some saying their homes had been demolished and others saying financial difficulties had left them unable to afford rent,” she said.

Some new arrivals had been given temporary plots to build shelters, while others brought corrugated iron sheets with them. Those who had previously rented homes arrived without materials to construct shelters, she said.

Maryan said the committee was seeking food and clothing assistance for the newcomers. Koris camp’s population has swollen to 1,800 families. Their agreement with the land owners expires in two years and they are seeking extension.

Economist Dr Shaafi Sharif Mohamed said rents in Mogadishu neighbourhoods had escalated, forcing the poor into IDP camps on the city’s outskirts.

“In Garasbaley, Kahda, Daynile and towards Gubadley, houses that used to rent for $20 to $30 now cost between $100 and $150,” he said.

He added that displacement disrupted children’s education, particularly those who had attended free government schools but could no longer access them after their families moved away from the city.

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Having never been displaced before, they had to flee for their lives and ended up in Afgoye, in a miserable camp.

“The fighting started at nine o’clock at night and continued until six in the morning. We all survived, but a shell destroyed my house. When the sun rose, I begged a truck driver to take us with him. We arrived here the following night,” Maymun told Radio Ergo.

Her five children, the youngest aged two, often go hungry in Iidle camp on the outskirts of Afgoye, where they arrived in late September.

They are among 150 families recently displaced by the conflict in Baidoa, in southern Somalia’s South West state. They arrived with nothing and have received no humanitarian aid, relying on occasional donations from other displaced families and local residents with a little to spare.

“We are suffering, we have nothing to eat. Some nights we go to bed hungry, while on other nights neighbours bring us a small amount of food in a bowl,” Maymun said.

Her children wake several times at night crying from hunger, she said, and with no food to give them she offers them water and promises to find something in the morning. Sometimes she boils leaves in water for them to drink.

Maymun also cares for her elderly husband, who has diabetes and high blood pressure. She said she begs households with piped water for a jerrycan every day because she can’t afford the 10 US cents charged for water from a well.

The family sleeps on the ground in a makeshift shelter without a mattress or any spare clothes. Rainwater seeps inside, leaving them exposed to cold.

“We have nothing to sleep on. We sleep on the sand, and when it rains, floodwater comes into our shelter. The cold has reached our bones,” she said.

In Baidoa, Maymun supported her family doing cleaning jobs and occasional farm work, earning $4 to $5 a day. She hasn’t been able to find any work in Afgoye.

Four of her children had to drop out of Koranic classes as she can’t afford the fees that are $5 per child in Afgoye, compared to a combined $8 a month in Baidoa.

Some of those recently displaced from Baidoa walked to Afgoye, while others paid for transport with their remaining money, or begged rides from cargo trucks like Maymun did.

Residents already in the camp are struggling with their own needs, limiting their ability to help.

Batulo Abukar Muhudin, a camp resident, has been collecting food, water, clothes and other essentials from households, businesses and farms for the new families. Other women help her, and they distribute whatever they collect to the most vulnerable families.

“I explain their circumstances to people, who give whatever they can. I find raw food for some families and cooked food for others,” she said.

Some families have built shelters from old cloth and branches, but they need plastic sheeting to protect themselves from the rain. Batulo said many newcomers were elderly and children without relatives in the area, staying in either a hall provided by the local administration, makeshift shelters, or with other families.

Batulo, who was diagnosed with diabetes five years ago, supports her family of 12 making baskets that sell for $2.50 each and collecting plastic containers for resale. She earns just $3 to $4 a day. When she feels well, she often sacrifices buying her diabetes medication to use the money to help displaced families.

The chairperson of Iidle camp, Fahmo Ali Idow, said the camp had hosted 450 families before the wave of new arrivals The administration transferred 20 families to another camp because there was no room for them.

“Those without food, water or a way to earn money face great hardship. They can’t return home because of the fighting, and here they have no source of income or idea where to begin,” Fahmo told Radio Ergo.

She said the camp lacked adequate water, shelter, health and education services. The administration had informed regional authorities and humanitarian organisations about the situation, but no assistance had arrived.

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After a social media post highlighted his circumstances as a poor student who had completed secondary school but could not afford university fees, the administration of Somali National University contacted him and offered him a scholarship.

Feysal graduated from Somali National University with a degree in social work this year, finishing eighth among the top 10 students in his faculty.

His family still depends on peanuts for income, although he hopes to find a better job following his graduation.

“The money we make selling peanuts is not usually enough to meet all our family’s needs, but we manage and keep going,” he said. “Money from the business enabled us to rent a decent house for $70 a month with three rooms and a bathroom.”

As the eldest child, he took responsibility for supporting the family at the age of 13 when his father died. Over 12 years he built up a regular customer base, earning $10 to $12 a day.

“I used to buy peanuts worth $50 because they were expensive and I couldn’t afford to buy more. Sometimes I sold everything before leaving the market, and other days I had just a little stock left,” he said.

He is looking now for a better paid job but hasn’t yet had any replies to his applications. Meanwhile, he has shown his sister the ropes and introduced her to his customers, so she can make the sales rounds in the afternoons.

“I go out around midday and come into town to look for work. I try to ask for opportunities wherever I think there might be a chance,” he said.

Balancing work and education wasn’t easy. He divided his time between classes and walking through the city streets selling peanuts, and was often teased by schoolmates.

“I was young and felt ashamed when students pointed at me saying, ‘Look at that boy our classmate out selling peanuts!’ But the work was important to me. Sometimes I hid from them, and other times I just ignored their comments,” he said.

“When I went to university, those students were good to me. They didn’t insult or discriminate against me. They respected me.”

He credited his mother’s constant encouragement and support for helping him achieve his ambitions.

“My mother saw that the effort I had put into my education had paid off. She had also worked hard to support me, and I was able to bring the results of that effort,” he said.

“I put a lot of effort into my university studies to achieve good results. I worked hard on the classes and assignments, studying step by step, semester by semester, until I finished eighth among the top 10 students.”

He tells other poor kids from displaced families, including those selling peanuts on the streets, to pursue their education. He tells them they can continue working while studying and points out that public schools under the Ministry of Education offer free education.

“I still encourage people living in displacement camps to study. They can make good progress through education while continuing with their work. Some accept the advice, while others say they are already struggling to survive and can’t go to school at the moment,” he said.

The family left Daryel IDP camp in Daynile in 2022, when Feysal’s earnings became sufficient to pay rent for a house in the city. They originally came to Mogadishu after fleeing drought in 2009 in Baidoa, where they owned a three-hectare farm growing cereals, sorghum, beans and various vegetables.

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Ahmed Liban Ali opened a shop selling food and household goods on 7 May with the $500 loan he received from Salama Bank. He earns an average of $5–$7 a day that supports his household of 11, pays school fees, and allows for restocking the shop and repaying the loan.

“When I started, I had nothing. I invested in the shop, and our lives have changed significantly. Our difficult situation has improved,” he told Radio Ergo.

Ahmed, 47, used to get odd jobs for $3–$4 a day, and had to ask others for help when he had no income. He opened his shop in a busy neighbourhood where there were no similar businesses, attracting regular customers despite having no previous experience.

“We sometimes went without food or cooked only one meal a day. Now we cook three meals a day. I used to worry about how to feed my children and had to rely on debt and begging,” he said.

Ahmed moved his family out of Bulal displacement camp in September. He rented two rooms and a toilet in Waberi neighbourhood for $50 a month, ending nearly three years living in a small flimsy shelter.

For the first time, he has enrolled five of his children in primary school and Koranic classes paying $25 a month. He spends about $14 a month on water and electricity and estimates that his shop stock and savings are worth about $1,000.

Ahmed’s family fled rural Qansah-dhere district in early 2024 after drought killed their last 100 goats and 19 cattle.

He is among a group of 89 men who decided to seek loans together because they were unemployed and facing difficult circumstances as household heads without any income. As they were living in the same camp, they discussed their situation and jointly pursued the idea, encouraged by others who had taken a similar initiative.

Daud Nur Ali Daud and his family had lived in Bulal camp, outside Dinsor, since fleeing Oflow village in Bay region in 2023 after poor rainfall ruined their three-hectare farm and they lost 70 goats. He took a loan and rented a shop for $15 and invested $300 in vegetables and other goods. The business earns him at least $6 a day, providing a more reliable income for his household of eight.

“Now we can cook three meals a day, and I am making a profit. My life has improved significantly, whereas before I was struggling,” he said.

Daud used to earn $4 from casual construction jobs but often went a whole week without work. Between July and September, he repaid $90 of his loan, leaving $410 outstanding that he plans to pay off $30 a month.

He is pleased with his progress: “I enrolled three of my children in school, repaid a separate debt of $50 and rented a two-room house. We previously lived in a makeshift shelter that offered no protection from rain or heat.”

The men formed a committee to prepare the required documents and secure guarantors among local businessmen and community elders. They presented their loan proposal to Salaam Bank and accessed the loans on the same day.

Aweys Hassan Mayow, a businessman who owns a hardware shop in Dinsor, said the businesses were helping families meet their needs and repay their loans. He acted as a guarantor for Ahmed and several of his friends.

“Many of the displaced people we guaranteed have seen major changes in their lives and benefited from the businesses they started. Some still have a large part of their loans to repay, but their progress means they should be able to clear the debts soon,” he said.

The guarantors monitor the businesses and loan repayments and help the men resolve any difficulties. They have also encouraged the borrowers to establish a joint savings fund so they can support members who face financial problems.

Since September, the men have been contributing $1 each to the fund. Aweys said they hoped to use the savings to help members in need and eventually guarantee loans for more families after the current borrowers have repaid their debts.

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Fadumo Gelle Abdi said 29 of her goats had died after eating plastic. She decided to stop allowing her animals to roam and began feeding them in an enclosure instead.

Many locals are doing the same, although the costs are significant. Fadumo spends about $400 a month on sorghum, wheat and bran for her 67 sheep and goats. As the herd produces only four litres of milk a day, worth $10, she is accumulating debts.

“They have no meat or milk. We can’t take them out to graze because plastic has become their food,” she told Radio Ergo. “No one works to support me – I depend entirely on these goats to feed my family, but I’m struggling to keep them. I am surviving on debt.”

Fadumo, 60, raises eight grandchildren alone. She used to sell milk brought to town by pastoralists until supplies diminished due to drought. She invested in her own herd in town.

She has to pay $50 a month for the four in school. Her animals are their only source of income – but the upkeep cost of feeding them in the enclosure is more than they earn.

A livestock veterinarian, Dr Ibrahim Dahir Osman, conducted his own survey showing that 75% of Guriel’s residents keep livestock these days. As drought has forced pastoralists to move farther from towns in search of grazing, more and more urban residents have started keeping their own animals for ready access to milk and meat.

Most rely on natural grazing, where the biggest danger is eating bags and other plastic waste that causes blockage in their digestive system leading to malnutrition and death. Dr Ibrahim estimated that around 3,000 animals die this way every month.

“Someone keeping 10 animals in Guriel today may find that only one or two are safe from plastic waste,” he said.

The vet performs surgical procedures to remove ingested plastic from 150 to 200 goats every month. He charges $7–$10 per animal, depending on their owners’ means. He treats those who can’t afford the treatment free of charge.

He removed a total of 148 kg of plastic from seven goats belonging to Fadumo, and charged her $55.

“An owner feeds an animal hoping to get milk, but the feed costs money. The animal then eats plastic and becomes sick. Its stomach fills up, and instead of gaining meat, it becomes thinner,” he said.

Livestock owners often mistake the condition affecting their animals for other diseases.

Saed Abdi Mohamed has kept goats for 10 years in Guriel, since giving up on livestock brokering. He has a herd of 80, and recently lost 17 animals without realising what was causing their deaths.

“I took my animals to Dr Ibrahim and told him about the problem. He said they needed treatment, just as a person would need to see a doctor, because they had swallowed plastic,” Saed narrated.

“I never believed an animal could be operated on, with its stomach opened and waste removed, and then continue to be useful. But I have seen it happen!”

Saed’s household of 11 depends on the herd.

“Livestock are our main source of income in this region. We have no farms or other sources of livelihood. I urge the Galmudug government to tackle plastic waste. It is killing our animals, and if we lose them, we lose our way of life,” he said.

In 2024, the federal government announced a ban on the importation and use of plastic bags and other single-use plastic.

However, residents continue raising complaints about waste dumping in public places and the lack of action being taken by authorities.

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