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.

The post Plastic waste blights Guriel livestock and livelihoods appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

Business in livestock markets in Mogadishu has risen, as pastoralists like Abdullahi Muhyadin Ahmed from rural Adale have brought their fattened animals for sale.

He sold 50 goats for $4,200 in early August, using $1,200 to repay local traders who had supplied food and clothing for his family of nine during the drought. He saved part of the remaining money to prepare for future hardship.

“Thanks to God and the good rains, I have been able to repay my debts. If the drought had continued, I would not have cleared them and would have fallen further into debt,” he told Radio Ergo in Dayah livestock market in Gubadley, Banadir region, where he returned later to collect an outstanding payment from buyers.

Abdullahi said selling livestock had been difficult during the drought, with prices varying according to the animal’s condition. Some goats sold for $100 to $130, while others fetched only $60 or $70. Some buyers wanted animals on credit, while others refused to buy under those terms.

He began borrowing money in 2023 after his livestock stopped producing enough milk or attracting buyers. Repeated droughts forced him to depend on credit to feed his family. He faced constant pressure from creditors, and some shopkeepers eventually stopped extending credit.

The situation became particularly difficult early this year. Relatives helped with small, irregular contributions, but the family could afford to cook only five days a week.

The recent rains have improved his family’s circumstances. Abdullahi said the 100 goats he had left were now reproducing well, while pasture and water had become easier to find.

“We now eat well at all three mealtimes. We have plenty of milk, fermented milk and ghee,” he said.

Abdullahi, 50, was previously among the wealthiest livestock owners in his area, but poor rains between 2023 and 2025 caused him to lose 350 goats and 27 head of cattle because of a lack of pasture and water.

Concerned that climate change could affect future rainfall, he said he was determined to save money to protect his family against another drought.

Pastoralists in his area are collecting contributions to help families impoverished by the drought, including those displaced to Adale, Warsheikh and Mogadishu, to recover. They have given 10 goats each to 30 families so far to help them rebuild their herds and livelihoods.

“Displaced families are encouraged by the improved conditions, and some have begun returning home. Those who remained are also recovering economically,” Abdullahi said.

Madina Muhyadin Ahmed, a pastoralist living in rural Warsheikh, said her family of three was also recovering from food shortages and the pressure of debt. Rain over the past four months had improved pasture and water supplies, allowing her goats to regain weight and attract buyers.

She said selling 20 goats for more than $1,300 had eased the financial pressure on her family.

“We used $800 to repay debts for food bought on credit from local shops between 2025 and mid-2026. We spent the remaining money on food and clothing for my family,” she said.

She has 80 goats left, which are recovering and reproducing. With enough pasture and water now available, her family has also recovered from the food shortages they experienced during the drought.

Since mid-year, her children have no longer faced the same food insecurity. She sells two or three goats at the market every three weeks to meet household expenses.

However, Madina said the discontinuation of the Somali shilling earlier this year had created difficulties for pastoralists reliant on cash. Her elderly parents and relatives struggled to use digital money services on mobile phones.

“People do not know how to use money on their phones, especially the elderly. They cannot easily withdraw it. Cash was better for us,” she said.

Much of the livestock sold in Dayah market in Gubadley comes from Middle Shabelle, where rainfall has been plentiful.

Kulmiye Mohamud Hassan, a broker at the market, told Radio Ergo that he kept records of pastoralists whose animals he had helped sell at good prices. He recorded recent sales by 150 different families. Some of them had told him the income was helping them repay debts and recover from food shortages.

Kulmiye added that the rise in livestock sales had provided brokers with more regular work and income to support their families too.

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The mostly pastoralist families living in Hul-caduur, near El Dher, were already struggling after more than a year of poor rainfall. The sand has further diminished their livelihoods, and has also buried the local health centre and the village’s only school

Abukar Mohamud Iidow, with a family of 10, said relatives in El Dher had sent them 20kg of flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil that they had rationed since the middle of September, and was nearly finished. They had received no other assistance and could not obtain food on credit.

“We cook only once every 24 hours. The sand has covered our village and displaced us. Our livestock have lost their value, and damaged roads have made food deliveries too expensive for us,” he said.

The sand buried Abukar’s three-room corrugated iron house while he was repairing it, along with the pen where his family stored water for domestic use and their livestock.

“No one died when the sand buried our home, but I suffered financial losses. I had spent $300, provided by relatives, on an underground water storage facility for my family and livestock,” he said.

He and his family, with their youngest child of one, are squatting in a makeshift shelter of leaves and rags among trees outside the village. They fear they will have to move again if heavy rain starts.

Abukar has 20 goats left, but they are too weak to sell and produce no milk. He said 55 died of his goats during the prolonged dry period due to lack of pasture.

His wife walks for more than an hour and a half each day to collect water from boreholes not yet covered by sand.

Three of his children went to the village’s only primary and intermediate school, which was closed after being damaged by sand and strong winds. One child was studying for free, while he paid $10 a month for each of the other two. The nearest alternative school is in El Dher, about 40km away, but he can’t afford to send them there.

He owes $800 for food, clothing and house-building materials.

“People I owe money to keep asking me to repay them. Sometimes they complain to my relatives. I tell them I will pay when I have something, but the debt sometimes keeps me awake at night,” he said.

Another resident, Abdullahi Mohamed Kulmiye, who supports a household of 13, said the sand had destroyed his small shop selling household goods and food. It was his family’s only source of income, earning him a daily profit of $8 to $10.

He rebuilt his five-room corrugated iron house twice and tried to protect the toilet and water storage tank from being buried by the sand, but eventually ran out of money and moved his family to the village outskirts.

“We tried everything to fight the sand, but when my money ran out, I gave up and brought my family here,” he said.

The family survived for two months on 35kg of flour, rice, oil, sugar and beans stored in the shop. The supplies ran out in mid-September, and they have since relied on food bought on credit from shops in El Dher.

Abdullahi has been unable to find casual work anywhere around, and two of his children are now out of school.

“I can’t afford to send my children to another school. The sand buried the school they attended, forcing us to leave our village. This is a heavy burden for me,” he said.

The sand has blocked two access roads so that vehicles use more fuel to make detours of about 25km. Transporting a sack of food from Galkayo or Mogadishu now costs traders $5, compared with $2.50 previously, pushing up prices in local shops.

Abdullahi, 50, said he had lived in Hul-caduur all his life and never experienced anything similar. He has no savings to help his family recover.

The village secretary, Yusuf Abdulle Hassan, said the sand was spreading rapidly across the southern part of Hul-caduur and surrounding areas, threatening to make the settlement uninhabitable. It has destroyed homes and essential services, as well as livestock, small businesses and farms.

“The sand dune hills around the village were already loose, and recurring poor rainfall has turned them into sand that spreads rapidly,” he said.

Yusuf said the most urgent problems were homelessness, lack of education and the destruction of the maternal and child health centre and market.

“Our community cannot afford to rebuild what has been destroyed. Our sources of income have disappeared, and we have nowhere else to work. We need help to control the sand and rebuild our facilities,” he said.

Yusuf said 130 families had been displaced and 213 pupils had lost access to education. He added that requests for assistance from the Galmudug government and humanitarian agencies had received no response.

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The displaced families, from villages including Sigale, Malable, Ow-gunji and Bula-alondi, face food and water shortages and a lack of shelter on the outskirts of the agricultural town Janale.

Aweys Abdi Isaaq, one of the displaced farmers, said his family of 12 had been living in difficult conditions since arriving on 2 September. They depend on occasional food given by local farmers that isn’t enough to feed them.

“We have neither food nor money to buy it. We survive on whatever people can give us, including maize, vegetables and bananas,” he said. “Sometimes we eat only at night, and during the day we have nothing. We don’t even have utensils for cooking.”

Aweys said all his children were struggling with hunger, including his youngest, aged four. He has been unable to find casual work on nearby farms to support his family.

The family drinks untreated river water because they can’t afford clean water, which costs $2 per drum. They collect water in containers borrowed from neighbours, carrying it from the river about two kilometres away. Aweys said three of his children had suffered from fever since arriving, with no access to medical care.

“Water is a major problem. We can’t afford piped water or water delivered by donkey carts. The children are sick, and we can’t buy medicine. Hunger has also left them malnourished,” he said.

The family lives in a cramped shelter made from branches and old clothes. The women and children sleep inside, while the men sleep outside. When it rains, they seek refuge in a mosque.

Aweys said the family had enjoyed a better life in Malable, where they farmed three hectares of land. They fled before harvesting their maize crop due to fighting around them.

He had invested $450 in his farm and borrowed money to meet household needs, expecting to repay the debts from the harvest. He is now unable to return to the farm, while creditors continue to expect their money back.

“I cannot sleep at night because I worry whenever the phone rings, fearing it is someone demanding repayment. We left the maize standing in the fields, and some crops have reportedly been eaten by cattle at night. We have nothing now, and our lives have deteriorated,” he said.

Five of his children have dropped out of their Koranic and private primary schools. He couldn’t afford the $10 fee charged for each child.

Amina Hassan Ali, who fled Malable on 8 September, is living with her three children and elderly parents in the home of a family she did not previously know. Her husband, the family’s sole breadwinner, was killed in shelling in Malable in August while guarding their farm.

Amina said the family had been taken in after being found sitting in an isolated area on the day they arrived. They share one room and depend on their hosts for food and water.

“In the morning we are lucky if we get a cup of coffee,” she said. “The children cry when there is no food. Their father used to work and bring home what we needed. Now our situation is very difficult.”

Amina is pregnant and unable to undertake manual labour. With her mother aged 78, her father 90, and her oldest child just seven, there is no one in the household able to earn an income.

They left behind 13 sacks of maize harvested from a one-hectare farm they had rented for $20 for the growing season. They had agreed to pay the landowner with part of the harvest, but fighting forced them to flee before they could do so.

“We spent a night in the bush and left the following morning, but we struggled to find a safe route,” she said. “My children and elderly parents could barely keep up. We live in constant fear because the fighting continues. I don’t know the town well, and there is no work. We can only rely on God.”

Amina has a $50 debt for food and water her husband obtained before his death. The family had expected to repay it from their maize harvest. The creditor continues to ask for the money and she has no means of paying.

She said food shortages, inadequate water and poor shelter had added to the distress of caring for her young children and elderly parents.

Janale district commissioner, Abdirahman Yusuf Ali Al-Adala, told Radio Ergo that a local committee had registered 1,700 families displaced by conflict from at least 25 villages.

Some had arrived with illnesses, including anaemia and malaria. The committee had provided limited food, household items, medicine and cash collected from local businesses.

“The needs are far greater than what we can provide, and we have not received assistance from elsewhere,” he said.

The commissioner said the families had arrived during the rainy season. Some were being accommodated by residents sharing their homes and available resources, while others remained without shelter because of the large numbers.

He added the authorities had raised the situation with the administration and humanitarian organisations and were awaiting a response. Many of the displaced are farmers who could resume earning a living if they received financial support and investment.

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Around 500 families were moved to Qasali camp in June by Hargeisa municipal authorities. Many were moved from a camp near the city, Nasa-hablood, whilst others are newly displaced families who lost their livestock in the drought.

The site is near a waste disposal ground where rubbish and waste from slaughtered animals are dumped. Residents say they are suffering from illnesses as a result of the waste and other challenges.

Amina Awl Hirsi, 60, said she and her seven grandchildren had suffered from diarrhoea, skin disease, coughs and fever for the past two months. There is no health facility in the camp, and she can’t afford to seek medical treatment.

“The stench makes it impossible to sleep. Flies and even snakes come from the dump, leaving us frightened. We have suffered from diarrhoea and skin irritation, and the illness has left me weak,” she said.

Amina lives in a hut beside the dump with her grandchildren, whom she has been caring for since her son’s death. She has no regular income as the relocation site is far from the city where she used to get laundry jobs. Her illness has left her too weak to work.

They get very little food and rely on neighbours for help.

“This morning, a neighbour brought me a little bread. We have nothing for tonight. What will the children live on? I have no one to help me except God,” she said.

Amina said they received 40 litres of water every Thursday from Somaliland’s resettlement ministry but it usually ran out before the next delivery. The seven children are all out of school because she can’t afford transport to schools in Hargeisa.

Their shelter, made of old fabric and branches, offers little protection from rain or sun and is often blown down by strong winds. The family had lived for 17 years in Nasa-hablood camp, closer to schools, health centres, markets and job opportunities.

Ifrah Haybe Warsame, another Qasali resident, said her children suffered from stomach pain and fever. Animals attracted to the waste sometimes attacked them in the camp.

The hundreds of families share just three latrines, and flies swarm on food and household utensils.

Ifrah has diabetes but can’t regularly afford her medication. She sometimes receives $1 or $2 from relatives to buy her tablets and food for her children. When she receives no assistance, her blood sugar level drops and she is too weak to prepare meals.

She cares for her young children alone and walks to Hargeisa to look for cleaning work when her health allows, often finding no jobs.

“People are dying of hunger here. Some children can barely stand because they are malnourished,” she said. “We are all sick and too weak because we cannot get a balanced diet.”

She said her family got three 20-litre containers of water a week from a tanker supplied by the Ministry of Resettlement. As their shelter is on a hill that the tanker can’t go up, she has to carry the water on her back.

Six of her children had to stop attending their free school in Hargeisa when they were relocated to Qasali, as it is so far away.

Ifrah’s family became displaced in Hargeisa in 2009 after drought and disease killed their 80 goats and sheep in rural Salahley and left them without a livelihood.

A doctor at a local hospital in Hargeisa said that the Qasali site conditions were unsanitary and that the waste contributed to the spread of diseases.

The Hargeisa municipal authorities relocated the households when the owners of Nasa-hablood camp demanded their land back. Each household was allocated a 19 metres square plot, but residents can’t afford to build homes or access basic services.

Municipal officials told Radio Ergo that Maandeeq, the company that manages livestock slaughtering and related waste, was expected to address the complaints in Qasali camp. However, Maandeeq officials said the municipal authorities had designated the site but declined to comment on the families’ concerns.

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The heavy rain, flash floods, and strong winds on 7 September killed people and livestock, destroyed hundreds of homes, and damaged the livelihoods of poor families now finding it difficult to recover.

Abdimudalib Ahmed Mohamed, 18, is supporting his eight younger siblings after their mother was killed when their home collapsed in the storm. The family now has no source of income and is surviving on limited assistance from neighbours.

“Our family depended on what our mother brought home and we would not eat unless she provided for us,” he said. “Losing her left us without support. Poverty is the biggest obstacle to our recovery. We now survive on what people around us can give us, but they can’t provide much.”

The family is living in a makeshift shelter after their two-room home collapsed. They can’t afford to rebuild the house. They used to live off $7 to $10 a day from a small business selling charcoal and raw meat that the teenager ran with his mother. His 85-year-old father is unable to work.

“We have no strength or means to support ourselves except for what God may provide. The children are also suffering from stomach problems, which are affecting many children and older people in the town. There are no health services here, and we can’t afford to travel elsewhere for treatment,” he told Radio Ergo.

Abdimudalib left middle school in 2023 because his family could no longer pay for his education. His younger siblings now face the same problem, as Omar bin Abdulaziz Primary and Middle School in El-Gal was destroyed by the storm.

The school was the only one in the area and had 300 pupils. The local administration said rebuilding had not begun. Even if the school is rebuilt, Abdimudalib’s family couldn’t afford the $100 monthly fees for four children who were enrolled.

The storm also affected pastoralists and families who depend on resin harvesting for their livelihoods. Mahmoud Mohamed Abdikarim, who lives in the rural area near El-Gal, said the storm killed 20 of his goats, destroyed their home, and damaged the frankincense trees that provide his family with an important source of income.

“This disaster has affected us very badly. The water swept away everything,” he said. He lost many trees in the storm, which had earned him nearly $1,000 a year in frankincense sales.

He borrowed money from shopkeepers to buy plastic sheeting to protect his family from the rain and has been looking for materials to use as bedding: “Everything is expensive in this village, with prices almost twice those in Bosaso. It is a remote village, and a vehicle travelling from Bosaso takes two nights to reach here.”

The father of seven added that the storm destroyed a house he owned and rented out for $25 a month. Providing for his family has now become difficult, leaving them short of food:

“Only God can get us out of this situation. We depended on livestock and the resin trade, but our livestock have been affected by the storm and the drought. We need any help available, both in the rural areas and in the town.”

Mahmoud said the rain lasted for six hours and came unexpectedly during the dry season. He added that they had not received warnings about El Niño, which is forecast to bring heavy rains accompanied by strong winds to Somalia from October until the end of the year.

The El-Gal deputy district commissioner, Shire Abdullahi Said, said three people and about 300 livestock were killed, and 150 homes collapsed. An assessment by the local administration found that 350 families in El-Gal and surrounding rural areas had lost livestock, farms and small businesses that provided their livelihoods.

“This area had already been affected by drought for a long time and was suffering from a lack of rain,” Shire said, adding that the drought had reduced the local production of resin.

“The drought affected the frankincense and resin-producing trees that people used to harvest, so what we relied on has become scarce. People are now facing similar hardships and there is little difference between their circumstances,” he said.

“In some places, people are still drawing water from the ground because the rain we received did not reach them. These are problems that we do not have the capacity to address.”

Shire said the storm disaster came at a difficult time, as pastoralists had not recovered from long drought that weakened their livestock and left them vulnerable.

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The families came from Kora-goys, Jir and Shikhaley in Galgadud, and parts of Ethiopia’s Somali Region across the border.

Among them is Fadumo Abdullahi Ali, 53, whose family of 11 came to Mubarak camp in Abudwak in July. They are staying with relatives who are also struggling and can’t support her large family. They cook whatever they can get, or begging for cooked food in nearby neighbourhoods.

“We have no source of support. Sometimes we get something from people, but I have young children and we only manage one meal a day,” she said. “We keep whatever we find in the morning and use it to settle the children at lunchtime.

You can imagine our situation losing all the livestock we depended on and becoming a guest in someone else’s home.”

Fadumo and her family walked from Bullaley, on the Somalia-Ethiopia border about 70 kilometres northeast of Abudwak. They put their children in a vehicle belonging to people they knew travelling to Abudwak, while the adults walked for two nights and a day to the camp.

Water shortages, lack of pasture and disease killed their 200 goats and 30 camels gradually over three years, with the last animals dying in June.

There are not enough basic, even water, to go round in the crowded camp.

“The little water brought to us is finished within minutes, especially when you have children. Sometimes when you need water to wash yourself before praying, it runs out before everyone has had enough,” Fadumo said. “Then you have to walk several kilometres to fetch more, carrying it back while you are already thirsty.”

Her family is living in a tattered makeshift shelter provided by relatives, where they are exposed to the sun and cold, and fear thieves at night. She is particularly worried about the safety of her children, most of whom are girls, as the shelter is so flimsy.

Six of her children have stopped attending Koranic school. The camp lacks basic services including education and she can’t afford fee-paying schools in town.

The family has a $330 debt at shops in their village, where Fadumo had bought food and clothes for her children. She is unable to repay it, while the children’s elderly father can’t contribute to any income earning.

Another in the camp, Mohamed Adan Jama, 62, a father of eight, spent his life herding livestock and is experiencing the hardest period they have ever faced.

They arrived in Mubarak camp in mid-August and haven’t received any help. Mohamed visits relatives in Abudwak to ask for small amounts of food for his family to cook. They ask people three kilometres from the camp if they can help them with 20 litres of water, which his wife carries back – if she gets any.

“We don’t have adequate shelter, enough water or enough food. We have no toilets, no education and no healthcare,” Mohamed said. “Every morning, we scatter in different directions looking for work or something to eat, and sometimes we don’t return until late at night.”

Mohamed would take on any work – quarrying or security jobs – but he hasn’t found anything and lacks skills for work in town.

Four of his children were in Koranic school in their home area, where he used to pay their teacher with a goat every four months. He can’t afford the $10 school fees in Abudwak.

His family came from Boro-cad in Qorahey zone in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region. Poor rains killed most of their 300 goats and 25 camels, leaving them with only 18 weak goats.

“The land was hit by drought and became barren, and we could no longer find what we needed to survive,” he told Radio Ergo.

“Some people can afford to buy feed and hay for their livestock. Animals, like people, need enough food to survive. When they don’t get enough to eat, they become weak and eventually die. We believe that lack of food was the main reason we lost our livestock.”

Mubarak camp chairman, Mahmoud Adan Warsame, said so far 340 families had arrived since July. The camp administration had no resources to help them.

“They have no water, no proper shelter, no clothing, no tents, and no utensils. We are now in the rainy season, and if it rains tonight, diseases could spread because of poor sanitation. I strongly appeal for an urgent response,” he told Radio Ergo.

Mahmoud said new families continued to arrive after being forced from their homes by poor rains. The situation has been reported to Galmudug authorities and humanitarian organisations, but they’ve had no response.

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Kamaal Mohamed Hussein, who worked as a metalworker for 10 years, closed his workshop in the camps in March due to a loss of customers. His family now struggles to afford regular meals.

“When good work stops, hunger is bound to come,” he said. “Women and children depend on their father for their needs. I go out looking for work, sometimes finding something and sometimes returning empty-handed. We can no longer afford our three daily meals or milk for the children.”

Kamaal’s family of seven receive refugee food aid consisting of 70 kilograms of sorghum and lentils and 17 litres of cooking oil every two months. He collects firewood, earning a maximum of $60 a month. It barely keeps the household going.

“I now use a donkey and cart. Sometimes I am away for two nights collecting firewood, which I sell for up to $20 per trip,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t sell anything for five days, but I go back out because I can’t sit idle. I make three or four trips a month. What I earn is not enough for my family, but this is the only work I have.”

Kamaal, 45, said he was facing the worst period of his life since arriving in Hagardera camp in Dadaab in 2008, after fleeing insecurity in Mogadishu. He said he remained in the camps for the free education, rent-free shelter, and safety.

“I may return to Somalia, but for now my children are in school, so I cannot leave,” he said. “I appeal to the Somali community not to take their money elsewhere and to stop buying imported goods. They should buy from Somali metalworkers.

“I encourage my fellow metalworkers to remain in the market and not abandon the trade. The skills we inherited from our fathers, which are part of our culture and tradition, should not disappear.”

The chairman of the metalworkers association in the refugee camps, Yonis Abukar, said no more than 20 metalworkers remained in Dadaab after around 200 had been forced out of business. Those remaining had seen their monthly earnings fall dramatically from the average of $180-$250 they used to make.

Madahir Salad Samow, 58, who continues in his workshop, said he was now making less than $40 a month:

“The work is now very difficult, whereas it was good before. These days, I earn something on some days and nothing on others. Sometimes I feel like giving it up, but I have no other job, so I just endure it.”

His family of 14 receive refugee aid, which has been reduced by half and was unavailable for about a year. In September, they received 100 kilograms of sorghum and lentils and 17 litres of cooking oil.

Madahir said the trade had supported him and his family for 38 years.

“We are living in very difficult circumstances. Even tonight, I have only half a dollar in my pocket. I spend the whole day working and sometimes leave empty-handed. The days when I earn nothing are the most common.”

He owes $400 in workshop rent and money borrowed to buy food. He described this as his lowest period since arriving in Dadaab in 2010, after repeated droughts ruined his one-hectare farm in Sakow, southern Somalia’s Middle Juba region.

“I have no farm and no shop. I have no other income and no one in America, Europe or elsewhere in Somalia supporting me. I depend entirely on my own labour. If I fall sick or miss work, my children go hungry,” he told Radio Ergo.

The metalworkers are self-taught, having passed skills down from generation to generation. Their association leader Yonis Abukar described their outlook as bleak.

“The market has disappeared for us. We can’t even afford to buy the metal we need because we don’t have the money. If you can’t buy the metal, what can you do? The metalworkers, have been left without support,” he said.

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Fosiya Abdi Adan’s family of 10 lost their two-room corrugated iron house in Dhego-sayn neighbourhood of Hargeisa in July in a fire. Fosiya said the family could not afford to rebuild and has been moving between relatives’ homes for shelter.

“I am a low-income person and had been away doing house cleaning work. I returned home at around 2:30pm and found that a fire had started in a small storeroom attached to the veranda, where we kept the TV and other household items. Five young children were asleep, so I woke them and got them out. Everything we owned was destroyed in the fire,” she said.

The family lost the food they had stored at home, along with their clothes. Fosiya’s husband, a schoolteacher, is unemployed, leaving the family unable to afford rent and other basic expenses.

“Today, I have nowhere to turn for food except my mother. I depend on her, and she knows our situation. She is the person I turn to when we have nothing,” she said.

Fosiya’s mother-in-law built the house as the family could no longer afford rising rents in Hargeisa and had endured repeated evictions for failing to pay rent.

“When my husband was working, we could at least provide the children with clothes and other basic needs, but the fire took everything,” she lamented. “I can’t afford to buy them clothes now. The hardest part is seeing my young children without enough clothing. We can only hope that, if my husband finds work, we will gradually replace what we lost.”

Three of Fosiya’s children, aged nine, 13 and 16, have dropped out of school as the family could not pay the $18 monthly fees. They were in grades three, four and five.

Apart from occasional help from relatives, they have no income to meet basic let alone to rebuild the house.

The Somaliland Fire and Rescue Department says most fires are caused by electrical faults.

Abdiqani Suleiman Mohamed, a disaster management specialist at the Cadaalight institution, said some of the main causes of fires include household dividers and poorly maintained or low-quality electrical wiring.

“Sometimes people buy electrical equipment without checking whether the wiring can safely handle the power it requires,” Abdiqani said.

Overcrowded homes and buildings made from materials that do not provide adequate fire protection also caused fires to spread quickly.

“Crowded settlements can contribute to fires, as can buildings made from materials that do not provide enough protection against fire,” he said.

“Many things in our daily lives now depend on electricity, from mobile phones to chargers. As electricity becomes more important, people also need to improve their understanding of the risks.”

He urged the public to take precautions when using electrical equipment, saying community cooperation could help prevent fires and reduce the losses they cause.

Hamda Hashi Guled and her family of 13 are suffered a house fire in September that destroyed their two rooms in Hargeisa’s Ugaaso neighbourhood, along with their bedding, utensils, beds, clothes and other belongings.

“I lost a great deal of property. My bed alone cost $1,500. My children went to school that morning wearing their uniforms, and we also lost many of their books,” she said.

Hamda had been at a Koranic school with a young child when the fire broke out and found that nothing had been spared when she returned. Other family members were away visiting relatives.

The family is now struggling with the loss of its home and the cost of daily living. Hamda’s husband, who worked in house construction, is unemployed. She is also caring for her elderly mother, and has to ask relatives to help pay for her medication.

Hamda appealed for assistance to rebuild the family’s home, saying they could no longer cope with their living conditions.

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Hamdi Muhudin Ali, 51, with her 10 children abandoned by their father and her elderly relative, often go hungry since they’ve been in Sooglow camp since August. Her children trudge into town to beg, bringing home a couple of dollars to buy food and firewood.

“The help we receive from people is not enough for more than one meal. We have nowhere else to get anything from, and no one in our family has a job.,” she said.

Hamdi has sought any work available in town, including washing clothes, but found none. Her eldest child is 12, and none is old enough for casual work like quarrying.

She and her family reached Afgoye from Basra by donkey cart after seeking help from people they knew. The journey took them seven days and nights. Her family, who were pastoralists, lost 50 goats and cattle after water shortages, lack of pasture and unfamiliar diseases left them unable to sustain their livestock.

A privately owned borehole five kilometres from Sooglow camp provides free water to displaced people, but she has to carry a jerrycan on her back every day. She can’t afford the $0.25 charged for a 20-litre container at boreholes closer to the camp. The family uses the water only for drinking and cooking and can’t afford to bathe or wash clothes.

Shelter is also poor in the camp. “During the day, we stay under the shade of trees, and at night we sleep in shelters made from sticks and old sacks that people have helped us with,” Hamdi said.

“We can’t sleep because of the cold at night or the heat during the day. We left our homes and everything we had because we had nowhere to take them. We also have no toilet and use open areas.”

Six of Hamdi’s children were attending Koranic school in Basra for a combined $6 a month, but she can’t afford the $18 fee per child at schools in Afgoye. She has a $180 debt for food and clothes and can’t repay the shopkeepers who keep asking her for their money back.

Also in the camp is Ajabo Mohamed Taakooy, 39, who spent her entire life in the countryside and had never been displaced before. Her family fled after water shortages affected their three-hectare farm in Alifow.

She only knows farming and hasn’t been able to find jobs around Sooglow. Her family of 11 depends on cooked food from people already settled in the camp.

“We eat once or twice a day when our neighbours help us with food. Their assistance is not enough because a person gives us only what they can spare from their own family, but it is what keeps us going,” she told Radio Ergo.

Ajabo’s husband hasn’t managed to find any casual work in the town. Her children are struggling to adapt to the camp conditions and lack of basic services after living independently on the farm.

“We used to cook or sell whatever we harvested from our farm. If you didn’t get anything from your own farm, you could even take something from a neighbour’s farm to cook for your children, but the lack of rain affected all the farms,” she said.

They last planted five months ago but lost tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, coriander, sorghum and maize to water shortages, after investing $380 on seeds and cultivation.

The sorghum and maize she had been feeding her children ran out at the end of July, forcing them to abandon the farm and seek refuge in the camp.

The chairwoman of Sooglow camp, Hodan Ahmed Ali, said 300 families had arrived there since August, mostly women, children and the elderly. The camp administration had provided what assistance it could, but they couldn’t meet the scale of the needs.

“These are vulnerable people who do not have basic services,” she said. “They have no water, regular food, adequate shelter, education or healthcare.” She added that the camp was very small and was already overcrowded.

“We are appealing to humanitarian organisations to assist these people,” she said. Although the seasonal rains had begun in parts of the region, these displaced families had neither livestock to support them nor the money to return to cultivate their farms.

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