The schools in internal displacement camps in Bookay area north of Baidoa were providing education to around 1,500 children. The jobless teachers can no longer afford food, water, rent, or education for their own children after losing their income.

Hassan Mohamed Ibrahim, a father of eight, said unemployment had devastated his family. Gobaadegsoy primary school, which was supported by SOS Children’s Villages Somalia, closed in February. He earned $100 a month as a mathematics teacher.

“The hardest thing facing us is unemployment. For four months I have been idle because the school is closed. Our living conditions are extremely difficult now. Before was much better than today. We survive only on debt and begging,” Hassan told Radio Ergo.

Local shops have refused to give him credit to buy food until he settles his debts. He owes $400 for food and water bills.

“We are facing serious problems with water. The pipes were cut off after we failed to pay for some time. We now ask neighbours for whatever they can spare. Sometimes they refuse and we stay thirsty,” he said.

The nearest private well sells 20 litres of water for 15 US cents that he often can’t afford. His electricity has been disconnected from the family home and the landlord is demanding $120 for three months of unpaid rent before the end of May.

Hassan said relatives helped settle earlier rent arrears after he escaped eviction in March, but now the threat has returned.

The impact has extended to his own children’s education. Three of them stopped attending primary school and Koranic schools in March when he couldn’t pay the $5 monthly fees per child.

“One of the worst things for us is the children’s education. Even the school where we taught is closed and the students remain at home without lessons. Teachers are suffering badly because they have nothing to support their families,” Hassan said.

Abdimajid Ali Salad, another teacher, said the closure of War-miraale primary and middle school left his family of seven without any reliable income. He earned $200 a month teaching science at the school under a project supported by Save the Children that ended in February.

“The biggest problem for me is feeding my children. Since becoming unemployed, my family has been living in severe hardship. Food, rent, education – everything stopped when the contract ended,” Abdimajid said.

His salary covered rent, food, and school expenses for his children. Without income now, a local fresh produce shop where he accumulated a debt of $150 for food purchases has closed his account and demanded payment before extending further credit.

Abdimajid and his family were forced to leave their single room home at the end of April after he failed to pay $60 in rent arrears for two months. The landlord had given him several warnings.

“We were evicted because the landlord knew I no longer had a salary. Right now we are staying with relatives after leaving the house. Our situation is extremely difficult,” he said.

Two of his children dropped out of school in March after he failed to pay their combined monthly fees of $20. Abdimajid worries they may not return to class anytime soon.

The education coordinator for displaced communities in Boonkay, Hassan Macalin Mohamed, said the eight schools had served some of the poorest families in Baidoa, who could not otherwise afford education for their children.

“At least 1,500 children were attending these schools and now they are all out of education sitting at home,” he said. “These are poor displaced families who can’t even afford half a dollar for school fees. We hope the schools can reopen because the children have no alternative.”

Hassan said the schools’ infrastructure had deteriorated during the months of closure. He appealed to Somalia’s education authorities and humanitarian agencies to urgently restore support for the schools.

The post Teachers jobless as Baidoa IDP schools close due to funding cuts appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

(ERGO) – Houses built by aid groups to permanently settle displaced people in an area outside Galkayo, central Somalia, are being sold by desperately indebted families who are unable to make a living in the housing settlement.

Samatar Abdi Jama, 61, recently sold his two-room house in Wadajir to pay off debts that had left his family facing a food crisis.

He sold the house – built by the aid group Danish Refugee Council (DRC) with funding from the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR in 2021 – for $2,500. He said he used $2,000 to pay off debts and $500 for his family’s basic living expenses over three months.

Without work, he had been taking credit from local shopkeepers who finally said they wouldn’t give any more loans until he paid off what he owed.

“When the food shops denied us credit because we already owed them, what could we do? Could we stay in a place where we had no livelihood and the children were going hungry?” Samatar said.

He moved his family back into an internal displacement camp near the city of Galkayo, as Wadajir some distance away offered few to no opportunities.

“These are the problems I moved away to escape from. I had nothing there [in Wadajir]. Here, I can go to the city and get something that God provides for me. At least my children can get one meal a day.”

Although he has not been able to find proper work in Najah IDP camp where they now live, as he is too old to get consistent work in construction, his wife is making about two dollars a day doing laundry jobs.

He and his family of 11 children are now living in an open-sided shack that offers no protection from the cold or heat.

The downgrade to such appalling and precarious living conditions is depressing and not what he wished for, but he says he didn’t have any option.

“It’s such a difference – when I had the house, I was not in such trouble and hardship as I am now. The house was mine; it was a good shelter. My children had one room and I had another. Now we are in trouble – a thief could come in…a snake could bite you. It’s scary. This is not even our land. They can tell us to leave at any time and go somewhere else,” he said.

Another home owner in Wadajir, Ahmed Salad Yasin, sold his house for $2,800 to pay off a $2,500 debt.

He had been jailed for a month for failing to pay the debt. He has since returned to live in Bulo-doro IDP camp with his family of 10.

Ahmed said he was forced to take desperate measures when his daily wage as a stone quarry worker dropped from $8 to $4. That amount only covered the bus fare to and from work.

He told Radio Ergo that he struggled with the decision, but had to sell the house to pay off his debt fearing another jail sentence.

“The main reason for selling my house was the large debt I had accumulated. When the people I owed got tired of waiting, they took me to the police station. I was jailed. I was given a month to

pay, and when the month came and I couldn’t pay, I was forced to sell my house. I sold it for a cheap price. I sold it for $2,800, and the debt I had was $2,500,” Ahmed said.

The remaining $300 helped his family get by for two months, but since then they have had to rely on whatever help they can get from other families in the camp.

“We are living in a very difficult situation that no human can endure. When I was in my house, it was still a struggle. But now, in addition to the struggle, I am without a home. I was struggling before, but I was inside a house. I am now in a worse situation than I was before. I don’t know what to do…I don’t know where to get help or who to appeal to,” he said.

Similarly, the family of Hassan Ali Hussein, consisting of 11 people, have returned to Najah IDP camp after selling their home for $2,100 to pay off a debt of $1,800.

Life in the camp is terrible, but he had no option.

“I sold my house because of my circumstances. Now I am back in a bad situation – I have nothing. It’s the same situation. There is no difference, because I am in debt on all four sides, and my children are in the house with no food. It’s one problem layered on top of another,” Hassan said.

He usually took a monthly supply of food on credit worth about $100 from a local shop. This debt accumulated to $1,800, after his casual labour job with engineers ended at the beginning of last year.

The families Radio Ergo spoke to indicated that without a stable income, they were unable to manage debts and basic expenses, forcing them to sell their houses in Wadajir.

Community sources said more than 40 displaced families so far had sold the houses they were given by aid groups and many of them had returned to live in IDP camps.

The buyers of these houses are local residents, who have the means and interest to acquire permanent housing. The sale prices are between $2,000 and $3,000.

The post Debt-strapped displaced families in Galkayo sell houses given by aid groups appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

She was among around 170 families evicted from Oomane camp in Baidoa in March, when the local landowners announced they had sold the land and everyone living there had to leave immediately.

The eviction caused Imbiyo to lose the small shop she had built up selling shoes and women’s clothing for a living. It brought back the stress of their first displacement in 2023 from Toos-weyne, 30 kilometres from Baidoa, where they had to abandon their four-hectare farm due to conflict and drought.

“We have no work and no income now. I had enough to send my children to school and Koranic studies before but now we struggle to get breakfast, lunch, or supper,” she said.

“Kind people give us a piece of bread, others give us something else…Our life is very bad. I need help, I would hawk things around the camp if I could get help to start a business again.”

Imbiyo, 48, told Radio Ergo that on the night after their forced eviction from the camp, thieves went in and stole all the goods and supplies that she had not been able to pack up and remove.

“The next day, I went back and found nothing. I still don’t know who took them, but I was not the only one who lost everything.”

She had started the shop with $150 donated by NGO, Acted in June 2024. She had built three makeshift houses in the camp, one of which she used as a shop. Raising her children alone since her husband left, she had been supporting the education of the eldest seven children, who were expelled from primary and secondary schools in April as she couldn’t pay the $40 monthly fees.

“My business covered our daily lives well,” she said. “I was part of a merry-go-round savings group and was saving money. Thieves took it all from me! I didn’t think anyone would steal from us, so I covered it with sacks and left it all, thinking I would come back and collect it safely. I couldn’t take it the previous day because it was raining. Now I’m suffering and don’t know what to do with our lives.”

They are staying with relatives in a two-room hut, crowding in at night or when it rains and staying outside under trees during the day.

Jeylaani Warsame Adan, 54, also lost his home and business in the eviction from Oomame camps and has taken his family of five children to Towfiq camp, where he hasn’t yet managed to build a shelter.

Towfiq camp is also insecure, however, as the families living there don’t have a contract with the landowners. Jeylaani had been earning $4-5 a day from his small shop selling food and vegetables. He has no income now and is struggling to feed his family even once a day.

“Our life used to be good,” Jeylaani said. “I had a place to work but the shop is gone now and I have nowhere to set up a business. We were told to leave without warning in mid-March. Our furniture is

just stacked outside. I have no solution for the children, as I have nothing in my hands. We are in need now.”

The Jeylaani family were farmers displaced by drought in 2024 from Goof-gaduud Shabeelow in Bay region. They had been receiving $120 monthly cash aid from Acted, but the aid stopped in January. He had to pull three of his children out of education as he can’t pay the fees.

“They were going to school and I was paying $4 a month for classes and $8 for Koranic lessons. Now they sit around in the neighbourhood playing. I can’t afford it anymore – I have no future.”

He added: “We used to be able to buy enough water but now we can only afford 20 litres a day, costing 1,000 Somali shillings. We use it only for drinking and cooking.”

Mother of nine, Hawo Warsame Adan, also lost her home and business in the eviction from Oomame camp and feels that their current suffering is going unnoticed by those who could help.

Like Imbiyo, her shop selling foodstuffs and shoes was looted overnight as she left with what she could carry to squat in Towfiq camp. They are relying on whatever cooked or dry food the neighbours can spare them.

“We live a very poor life,” Hawo said. “If we get food during the day, we don’t have it at night. Sometimes we get nothing at all. I sometimes put the children to bed hungry with only tea.

We live in poverty and hardship. We want to be seen! We want the community to understand the serious problems we are facing,” she told Radio Ergo.

Hawo, 46, was also displaced in 2023 from Toos-weyne, Bay region, when drought made it impossible to cultivate her three-hectare farm.

She started her business in Oomame camp in February with savings and borrowed money that she can’t repay.

“I owe two and a half million Somali shillings I borrowed from a shop owner. I have no plans how to pay that debt as I can’t afford it now but they ask me for it all the time. God will make it right. He sees that I have children, three of them were expelled from school. They are sitting at home, and I can’t do anything for them,” Hawo said.

Forced evictions of displaced families from informal settlements from privately owned land occur frequently, leaving families even more vulnerable than before.Mother of nine, Imbiyo Hussein Dahir, says her life has been set back to the time she fled the family farm in the rural area, by their sudden eviction from their internal displacement camp in Baidoa.

She was among around 170 families evicted from Oomane camp in Baidoa in March, when the local landowners announced they had sold the land and everyone living there had to leave immediately.

The eviction caused Imbiyo to lose the small shop she had built up selling shoes and women’s clothing for a living. It brought back the stress of their first displacement in 2023 from Toos-weyne, 30 kilometres from Baidoa, where they had to abandon their four-hectare farm due to conflict and drought.

“We have no work and no income now. I had enough to send my children to school and Koranic studies before but now we struggle to get breakfast, lunch, or supper,” she said.

“Kind people give us a piece of bread, others give us something else…Our life is very bad. I need help, I would hawk things around the camp if I could get help to start a business again.”

Imbiyo, 48, told Radio Ergo that on the night after their forced eviction from the camp, thieves went in and stole all the goods and supplies that she had not been able to pack up and remove.

“The next day, I went back and found nothing. I still don’t know who took them, but I was not the only one who lost everything.”

She had started the shop with $150 donated by NGO, Acted in June 2024. She had built three makeshift houses in the camp, one of which she used as a shop. Raising her children alone since her husband left, she had been supporting the education of the eldest seven children, who were expelled from primary and secondary schools in April as she couldn’t pay the $40 monthly fees.

“My business covered our daily lives well,” she said. “I was part of a merry-go-round savings group and was saving money. Thieves took it all from me! I didn’t think anyone would steal from us, so I covered it with sacks and left it all, thinking I would come back and collect it safely. I couldn’t take it the previous day because it was raining. Now I’m suffering and don’t know what to do with our lives.”

They are staying with relatives in a two-room hut, crowding in at night or when it rains and staying outside under trees during the day.

Jeylaani Warsame Adan, 54, also lost his home and business in the eviction from Oomame camps and has taken his family of five children to Towfiq camp, where he hasn’t yet managed to build a shelter.

Towfiq camp is also insecure, however, as the families living there don’t have a contract with the landowners. Jeylaani had been earning $4-5 a day from his small shop selling food and vegetables. He has no income now and is struggling to feed his family even once a day.

“Our life used to be good,” Jeylaani said. “I had a place to work but the shop is gone now and I have nowhere to set up a business. We were told to leave without warning in mid-March. Our furniture is

just stacked outside. I have no solution for the children, as I have nothing in my hands. We are in need now.”

The Jeylaani family were farmers displaced by drought in 2024 from Goof-gaduud Shabeelow in Bay region. They had been receiving $120 monthly cash aid from Acted, but the aid stopped in January. He had to pull three of his children out of education as he can’t pay the fees.

“They were going to school and I was paying $4 a month for classes and $8 for Koranic lessons. Now they sit around in the neighbourhood playing. I can’t afford it anymore – I have no future.”

He added: “We used to be able to buy enough water but now we can only afford 20 litres a day, costing 1,000 Somali shillings. We use it only for drinking and cooking.”

Mother of nine, Hawo Warsame Adan, also lost her home and business in the eviction from Oomame camp and feels that their current suffering is going unnoticed by those who could help.

Like Imbiyo, her shop selling foodstuffs and shoes was looted overnight as she left with what she could carry to squat in Towfiq camp. They are relying on whatever cooked or dry food the neighbours can spare them.

“We live a very poor life,” Hawo said. “If we get food during the day, we don’t have it at night. Sometimes we get nothing at all. I sometimes put the children to bed hungry with only tea.

We live in poverty and hardship. We want to be seen! We want the community to understand the serious problems we are facing,” she told Radio Ergo.

Hawo, 46, was also displaced in 2023 from Toos-weyne, Bay region, when drought made it impossible to cultivate her three-hectare farm.

She started her business in Oomame camp in February with savings and borrowed money that she can’t repay.

“I owe two and a half million Somali shillings I borrowed from a shop owner. I have no plans how to pay that debt as I can’t afford it now but they ask me for it all the time. God will make it right. He sees that I have children, three of them were expelled from school. They are sitting at home, and I can’t do anything for them,” Hawo said.

Forced evictions of displaced families from informal settlements from privately owned land occur frequently, leaving families even more vulnerable than before.

The post Eviction from Baidoa camp forces families into unseen hardship appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

Around 300 students were enrolled at Al Mustaqim school in Deynile district, which was also forced to close when the eviction took place from Al-Adala IDP camp.

Habibo’s children are now at home, as she cannot afford to send them to a fee-paying school where tuition costs are around $10 per month.

“It’s a huge burden on me. Previously, I was happy that my children were getting an education. They even taught me at home, and I learnt how to write my name and get things done. But now, I am very worried about their future,” she said.

Evicted to the outskirts of Garasbaley in the city, where no camp has formed and there are no services, the roughly 400 families who had been living in Al-Adala camp are struggling to ensure basic needs for their children.

Habibo works as a porter, carrying goods from local shops to homes, earning at most $2 a day that enables her to make one meal a day for her children. They live in a one-room hut they put up on open ground.

“My job does not allow me to provide education for my children. I was relieved when they were in school and now I am very worried about their future. The school building was demolished when the entire camp where we lived was destroyed,” she said.

Habibo and her family were first displaced from Qoryooley district in Lower Shabelle region in 2024 by conflict. They had a one-hectare farm growing maize, beans, and watermelon that they had to abandon when they fled to the camps in Mogadishu.

Al Mustaqim primary school was established in Al-Adala camp by international NGO, Save the Children in August 2024 and was run by two local organisations, Daryeel Guud Bulsho, and Mustaqim 28.

The school had four classrooms built of iron sheets and a staff of six teachers whose salaries were paid by these organisations.

Fadumo Isse Adan, a mother of four, who is also among those evicted from Al-Adala camp to Garasbaley, said having her children out of school is making them sad.

“The worst of this issue is that there is no education here. Children don’t even have a school, and there is nowhere to study. If you are looking for a job in the city, you can’t afford the transport. You have to walk to Weedow or Tabeelah,” she said.

Fadumo’s husband earns a maximum of $2 a day operating a handcart in Bakara market in Mogadishu but it isn’t enough to cover both food and the children’s education.

“These circumstances have caused my family constant worry and a sense of loss. If I were to look for porter jobs, I wouldn’t manage to afford the cost of transport, which hinders us from finding solutions to the financial difficulties we are facing,” Fadumo said.

“The father of the family goes to Bakara to haul goods; when he finds work, he brings something home. If he doesn’t, he just returns empty-handed. He walks there, and what’s worse is that there are checkpoints along the way at night. I cook only once at night, and financially what he brings is not enough for us.”

Fatumo’s family was displaced from Buur-eyle area in Bay region seven years ago due to drought. They lost 50 goats, which were her family’s livelihood, forcing them to join the displacement camps in Mogadishu.

Also evicted from Al-Adala camp is Sahra Daud Mohamed, a disabled mother of eight. Four of her children were attending Al Mustaqim school. They are idle now in the desolate area in Garasbaley where they had to settle.

“I live here with no water, no food, and I can’t build a shed or a kitchen for myself. I have nothing in my hands. I could send my child to a free school, but I can’t afford a fee-paying one. As the mother, I’m sick and disabled, and there is no one else to look after me,” Sahra said.

She worries about her children’s lack of education that will inhibit them from developing their lives. She is unable to work due to her disability and they survive on food given by neighbours, which allows them to cook one meal a day.

“We struggle with water because I can’t afford to buy it. I ask those who buy water to share a little with us, but it’s not enough for my family. Still, I’ve had to be content with what little we get,” she said.

“I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I have no experience with this kind of life, and there’s no plan ahead. Before this, I worked sorting charcoal and used to earn $6 a day, which was enough for our daily needs.”

The post Children deprived of education after Mogadishu IDP camp evictions appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

“We were only cooking once a day, but now we cook three times. We can make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the children. Their lives have improved greatly,” Ibrahim told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.

Before starting this small business in May, his family were struggling for meals. But he now makes $4-5 profit a day, which has freed his family from the uncertainty over food.

“I used to worry every day about how I would feed my children or where I would get food for my wife. But now, those worries are gone. Since I started this business, everything has become much easier, and our life is better,” he said.

Ibrahim’s journey to Baidoa began in 2021 when he and his family fled severe drought in Aliyow-Mumin village in Bay region. Their three-hectare farm in the village was ruined by prolonged drought and they could no longer feed themselves.

They moved to Daryel IDP camp in search of a better life, but the conditions in the camp proved difficult. They depended heavily on begging, with his wife often asking their neighbours for handouts to feed her children. They survived on what little food she brought back, and when she couldn’t find any, they went to bed hungry.

Ibrahim said some of his friends advised him to take up small business activities, so he borrowed $100 from a relative and invested it in buying his first supply of fresh vegetables.

Two months on, he paid back the loan and started to see profits that exceeded his expectations. In August, Ibrahim enrolled three of his children in school for the first time. He pays $25 a month for their education, marking a new chapter for his children.

With the success of his vegetable business, Ibrahim hopes to move his family out of the camp by the end of the year. He believes moving to the city will be better for them now that he has a stable source of income.

Many other displaced men and women have started small businesses to support their families. Although the profits are small, the change in their lives has been significant.

Nur Daud Ali began selling goods from a small table in June and the business now supports his family of nine. He previously worked in construction, but the work was inconsistent and he struggled making $3-4 on the couple of days a week when he was called for a job.

“Now I can work whenever I want. If I don’t feel like working, I can rest, unlike before when people would ask why I wasn’t working. My children now have regular meals, and people in the city know me. If I need anything, I can ask for a loan and they will help me,” Nur said.

He raised $150 with the help of relatives to start off his business in the camp. He divides his earnings between providing for his family, reinvesting in his stall, and paying for his children’s education.

Nur is proud to have six of his children attending school regularly, which was impossible when he worked as a casual labourer in construction.

Both Ibrahim and Nur view their businesses as a path to changing their families’ futures. They both aspire to eventually move out of the displacement camps and into more stable housing within the city.

A regular customer of these two small business owners, Mayow Osman Abdulle, expressed satisfaction with their services, particularly their affordable prices and willingness to deliver orders.

He sees their efforts as not only a solution to their own problems but also as a contribution to the broader economic needs of the community.

For many displaced individuals living in camps, entrepreneurship has become a new path forward. Instead of waiting for aid, they have taken control of their circumstances and are creating better futures for themselves and their families.

The post Small businesses change the lives of IDPs in Baidoa appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

Ambiyo Mohamed Yarow and her four children joined Dinsor camp on the outskirts of Luq just four months earlier last December 2022, after losing their 93 goats to the long drought in their home area in Burdubo.

They hastily made another temporary shelter using tree branches and bits of cardboard and cloth but these too were ruined again by the rain and wind.

“We were living in makeshift houses [in the camp] that were swept away by the floods. Just the day before yesterday, our new shelters were battered down by strong winds,” she told Radio Ergo.

“Now we don’t have a house at all. We were in a hut that was in a bad condition and was swept away the day before yesterday.”

Ambiyo’s husband left her a year ago when they lost their livestock and he could no longer support them. Since then, she has been struggling to provide a living for her children and was not able to earn anything during the month of Ramadan.

“I normally wash clothes and return home during the night, so sometimes the children are neglected at home…we really have neglected our children. I didn’t always get a job and often came home without any income. I’d earn 30,000 (Somali shillings) for a job that barely covers the cost of sugar, you also need tea leaves and everything else, so you have to beg from other people,” she stated.

Another single mother, Khadijo Madey Ibrahim, and her seven children have moved to higher ground in Luq and are also sleeping in the open. They joined Masir camp near Luq in December after losing their herd of 180 goats to drought in Qansahdhere, Bay region.

In this month’s floods, they lost all their belongings including household utensils and bedding. She is borrowing utensils from other displaced families to cook whenever they get food from their neighbours.

“No plates, no pans, there is nothing left. The floods took away the utensils I use to cook for my children. I have nothing left. We are just sleeping on the ground,” she said.

With little food and poor nutrition for her children, Khadijo is worried they might not have the immunity to survive the rainfall and cold weather.

She used to earn a living for her family selling animal feed but that business dried up as the drought took a severe toll on the livestock that consumed the feed she sold.

The coordinator of Qurdubey camp in Dollow, Sulayman Maalin Ali, told Radio Ergo that they had conducted an assessment and found that hundreds of families are homeless as a result of the floods that destroyed and swept away their makeshift homes. Many other families are sharing their houses with those who lost their property.

He added that the families in this camp depend heavily on relief aid from the humanitarian organisations although they have not received any assistance since the floods hit.

“The rain had a great impact. The plastic shelters collapsed and were swept away by the river floods. People couldn’t even flee towards Dollow as access was cut off by the water. These people are facing hard times and lack of shelter. They also face health risks,” he said.

The post Floods strike already drought-displaced families in Gedo leaving them homeless appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

Halimo Mohamed, a widow in Isnay-Biyaso IDP camp, told Radio Ergo that she and her children have never slept on full stomachs in the two years they have lived there.

“I give them food in the morning and sometimes we get another meal at night, but not always, and that is our situation,” she said.

As well as her eight children, she also takes care of three of her grandchildren. Without a job or any other means, Halimo depends on her relatives in Mogadishu and Saudi Arabia sending her $70 a month.

Halimo’s husband died in July 2018. She continued running their two-hectare farm in Halgan village, 18 kilometres from Jowhar, until floods two years later destroyed her crops. She decided to move to the town hoping to find a better life. On joining the camp, she took on laundry jobs earning $3.5 on a good day, but when she fell ill and suffered chest pains she had to stop.

They live in a flimsy hut that she built and are unable to return to Halgan village because there is nothing there for them.

Most of her neighbours in Isnay-Biyaso camp fled either floods, drought, or conflict, or a combination of recurrent disasters, and live in similar conditions now.

Mohamed Hassan Nur says he has been struggling to find a job so that he can put food on the table. He goes out every morning and comes back with nothing. He did not expect life in the camp to be so deprived.

“Our lives have been hard, we don’t have anything, there is not even food. Everyone likes to get coffee and food in the morning, but we don’t have that, we leave the house without drinking coffee, such is the life now,” he complained.

He occasionally gets called up to water crops on a nearby farm but the small earnings he makes barely cover meals for his family.

Mohamud, also a farmer and a father of three children the youngest being seven years, said the situation in the camp is the worst they have experienced. He and his family escaped from Jarirow village, 70 kilometres from Jowhar, during conflict in 2020.

“Many people had to flee into displacement. People are still fighting and there is no peace in our village,” said Mohamud, who would still like to return to his farm when it becomes possible.

Hirshabelle state administration distributed some rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil, and powdered milk in 2021. The food did not last long and there have been no other aid deliveries.

The leader of Isnay-Biyaso camp, Osman Ise Hussein, said the families there face a dire situation and there are no jobs in the area. He is worried about their situation as Ramadan begins.

“They don’t even have food to break their fast,” he said. “There has not been any humanitarian aid delivered to this camp.”

The post Forgotten displaced families in Middle Shabelle say they can’t get enough food appeared first on Radio Ergo - Somali Humanitarian News and Information.

She was among 300 families recently displaced by clan conflict in Lower Shabelle region to Qulqul camp, Deynile district, now occupying land rented for them for five years by a group of local businessmen for $3,000.

“They rented this land for us when they saw how we were suffering with our host IDP families. The commissioner played a vital role and asked the donors for the assistance on our behalf,” Hawo said.

Hawo was displaced from Balladul-Amiin village in Wanlaweyn, Lower Shabelle, in February. She used to provide for her family from the maize, sorghum and sesame she grew on her small farm.  In Qulqul, however, they had been forced to share a shelter with another family already living in the camp.

She is grateful for the plot but still has challenges getting food, water, utensils and even access to a toilet. She washes clothes for clients making two to three dollars a day that allows her to cook just one meal for her children.

Abdiyo Hussein Ali also built her own shelter on the land she was allocated, after losing her livestock and farm in conflict in Lower Shabelle in March and being forced to flee to Mogadishu to seek a better life.

“We are satisfied with this free land we were given. It is better to live hungry in your house than being a burden on another family,” she said.

Abdiyo and her family lived on the produce of their farm and livestock. But now her family survives on one cooked meal they receive from the camp management.

“We lived a simple life in the rural area. We never thought of life in the city, but here we are now, circumstances have forced us to adapt,” she said.

Mohamed Siido Ibrahim was appointed by the businessmen to distribute plots on the site they have rented to the most vulnerable families.

“We pray God to reward those who leased this land to the IDPs. They promised the residents won’t be evicted for the next five years. But this camp lacks toilets and we don’t know what to do about it. These people are living in hardship,” he said.

Some families are unable to buy the simple items needed to erect a shelter. Fadumo Adan Ali said she is happy to get a plot but cannot move onto it yet as she cannot build a hut.

“Our biggest challenge now is shelter. Ten sticks go for one dollar here and we don’t have that money,” she said.

Fadumo and her family of 12 fled to Mogadishu on 4 May. She feeds the family by begging in the streets, as she is new to the city and has not found work.

She said she is waiting for assistance promised by the camp management to those families unable to build a shelter.

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“My plan is to continue earning from my handiwork, instead of begging! I have the skills to make us a living,” said Fadumo, who lives in Wahsan Suge camp in Garas Balley, on the outskirts of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

She is among a group of 40 IDP women trained to make brooms, Somali milk containers, traditional mats, and baskets, which they sell locally. She makes five or six dollars a day from the sale of her small handmade items, like brooms and fans.

The women work from a centre set up by the chair of Wahsan Suge camp, using $500 from a Somali women diaspora group. The camp hosts 300 families mostly displaced by climate crises and recurring clan conflicts in Lower Shabelle region.

Fadumo also makes a limited number of larger items such as mats and baskets that she sells at the end of each month to non-governmental organisations, educational centres, and diaspora Somalis, making an additional $100-$150 a month from those sales. The woven mats and grain-sifting baskets sell at between $30-$35 per piece.

Her family, which was displaced in 2019 from their farm in Barawe by drought, used to scrape by on around two dollars earned by Fadumo’s odd laundry jobs and her husband’s work as a goods porter. In those days they could only afford one meal a day.

Since establishing herself in this weaving and handicraft work, Fadumo has been paying $60 a month for three of her children aged nine to 14 to attend school and Koranic classes.

“I don’t rest because I am the sole breadwinner of my family. I have to work to sustain them and their father,” she said. Her husband has stopped his labour job and stays at home.

Awliyo Mohamed Muse has been teaching weaving techniques free of charge at the centre since 2019. She learnt the skills from her mother and has her own shop in the camp. She has seen how the centre has transformed the lives of many women.

“The women earn well from their craft,” she said, noting that they use recycled plastic and other materials they collect from the market and around the camp to make their products.

Halimo Mumin Gure, a mother of four, told Radio Ergo that she makes $10 a day from handicrafts, working seven days a week, enabling her to support her children, as well as her siblings and their children.

“Sometimes I partner and produce products with other women. We share the money we make equally,” she said.

Halimo pays $40 school fees for four of her children and has connected water and electricity to her house.

Before she started this business, she used to cook one meal for her family but now she cooks three meals a day.

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The family lives in Farjanno camp, on privately owned land, where the landlord runs the toilets. If eight older family members use the toilet once in a day, it costs Rukia about one dollar. Going more than once would be at a price. The small children use empty cans that they toss into the sea, to save money.

“We pay the public toilet fee with money that my husband is borrowing from relatives,” Rukia told Radio Ergo.

Since her husband lost his casual job collecting construction stones in February, they have racked up a growing debt of $30 for using the toilets.

Rukia sold vegetables in front of her house until prices rose sharply in April, due to shortages of fresh produce in the dry season. She bought three kilograms of coffee with the four dollars she had saved and is now selling small packs of coffee, which is widely used in the city during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, earning her less than a dollar a day.

She is feeding her family twice a day.

“We are living in hardship and we don’t know where to seek help!” she said.

Each of the 800 families living in Farjanno has to pay monthly rent of five dollars to the landowner, a resident of Bosaso. The contract prohibits the camp occupants from building their own toilets. The landowner runs the 20 pay toilets he built as part of his business.

The attraction of Farjanno is that it is close to the city, where people seek work. Commuting to the city for jobs from one of the other IDP camps with free services such as toilets incurs costly daily bus fares.

Rukia settled in Farjanno camp in 2002, after fleeing conflict in Mogadishu. She has spent hundreds of dollars over that time on accessing the toilets.

This year, however, the drought, decrease in wage jobs, impact of Coronavirus, and rejection of the Somali shilling have combined to devastating effect on poor families like hers.

Rukia has the added burden of caring for her mentally ill sister and four children. In February, she had to pull her children out of Koranic school as she could not raise the $21 in fees.

The chair of Farjanno camp, Arda Abdullahi Muse, lived there as an IDP for nearly 30 years. She told Radio Ergo they were forced to accept the landlord’s conditions, as they were unable to find other land to settle on near the city.

“The residents are facing a lot of problems in this camp. Imagine a life where you aren’t free to build your own toilet at your home, it is tough!” she said.

She called on the Bosaso local government and aid agencies to help them resettle in a camp with proper facilities.

Ali Ahmed Mohamud, the director of Bosaso social affairs department, told Ergo that the government is aware of the challenges facing the IDPs in Farjanno but is unable to find government land to accommodate hundreds of families within the city.

However, land is being developed in Gerible, on the eastern side of Bosaso, with the support of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, and would be completed by the end of 2021.

“Under UNHCR’s Durable Solutions project, the government has already developed 200 of the targeted 380 houses. Once we complete the development, the government will resettle the families,” he said.

The government is currently conducting awareness campaigns in Farjanno camp to avoid an outbreak of diseases.

“We have distributed hand sanitisers and soap for cleaning. We also have vehicles fitted with speakers making rounds in the camp every morning to create awareness,” Ali said.

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