Mohamed Ali Farah, a shop owner in Adado in Galgadud region, told Radio Ergo that he has credit accounts with more than 90 pastoralist families, who have all increasingly been relying on his store for food on credit.

Most have not made any repayments for the past 20 months.

“Credit was always part of our business, and people used to repay. But after several failed rainy seasons, nothing has been returned. Our capital has been tied up, and our business has started to decline. To survive, we had to stop giving credit,” Mohamed said.

He calculates being owed more than $5,000 in total that he is unlikely to recover, as many of his customers have lost their livestock and livelihoods to drought and have been totally impoverished.

His difficult decision to stop extending credit was necessary to prevent his business from collapse – and many other shopkeepers in the area have had to do the same.

However, Halima Farah Barre, who lives in the rural area of Hog-dugaag, has been unable to feed her family of 10 since the shop she relied on closed her credit account in early March.

“Our situation is very difficult,” she said. “We depend on whatever small help we can get from relatives. Sometimes we cook a little, sometimes nothing at all. Before we were getting food on credit, but now every shop has closed its account to us. The drought took our goats, and we have nothing left to sell,” Halima said.

Her family lost 80 goats over the past year due to drought and disease, leaving them with 20 animals that are too weak to provide any income.

Halima estimates that she owes around $3,000 accumulated over several years that she has no means to repay.

“I no longer even keep the credit record, but the debt remains,” she said. “People keep calling me, asking for their money. Sometimes I switch off my phone because I can’t answer them. If the rains come and the animals recover, maybe I can repay, but right now I have nothing.”

Water shortages have added to their hardship. There are no functional water sources in her area, and a barrel of water costs around $5. They rely on small contributions from relatives in Adado or occasional help from neighbours, often managing only a couple of jerrycans a day.

“We have a water reservoir, but it is dry. We used to buy water from trucks, but now we cannot afford it. Sometimes we beg for a few containers, but it is not enough for a family this size,” she said.

Four of her children, who were attending a free primary school in Hog-dugaag, are without education as the school closed earlier this year when families migrated and the teachers left.

Across rural parts of Galgadud region, including Hog-dugaag, Qansahley, Mirdisyale, Biyo-gadud, Qurdubanle, and Hinjilab, pastoralist families are facing similar challenges as credit has been cut off and drought continues to erode their remaining resources.

Gure Ahmed Mohamed, a father of eight in Biyo-gadud, said his family had been unable to cook regularly since early March after accumulating nearly $2,000 in debt at a local shop. The shopkeeper refused to extend further credit until they paid off the balance.

“In the past, we took food on credit, but now there is no credit and no assistance. My family needs everything a household requires, but I have no way to provide it. I spend my time thinking about how to get food for the night, but there is nowhere to turn,” Gure said.

He has 18 weak goats left from his herd of 60. He continues to lose goats due to lack of water and pasture.

With no nearby health facility, Gure recently had to pay for his sister to reach hospital in Adado after being in prolonged labour. It cost $60 for transport and $150 for medical care.

“There are no medicines here, not even basic ones,” he said. “People suffer without treatment. It is a large area with many people, but no services.”

His four school-age children are also out of school due to the lack of education facilities in the area.

The situation reflects the broader impact of the recurring drought that has wiped out livestock, reduced incomes, and strained traditional coping mechanisms such as credit systems and community support.

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The attacks, which began in late March, destroyed homes, farms, and small businesses that residents depended on in Bulo-Khalif. Some families fled to nearby districts including Barawe and Afgooye, while others remain trapped in the village, facing worsening hardship without any support.

Among those affected is Aden Gedi Mohamed, whose family of seven has been impoverished overnight.

The airstrikes destroyed his two-room house, a vehicle he used to earn $300 to $400 a month, his water storage facilities, his four-hectare farm where he cultivated maize and vegetables – and his cash savings.

The family can no longer afford even their basic needs.

“We used to cook twice a day. Now even getting one meal is difficult. If we manage once, we are grateful,” he said.

“The bombing burned our house, our food, and my vehicle. Even the little money I had was lost. We survived by sleeping outside that night. No one was injured, but we lost everything.”

With no resources left, his family depends on occasional support from neighbours, although this assistance is unreliable as most people in the area are also struggling due to insecurity and economic strain.

Despite fears of further airstrikes, Aden says he has no option but to stay in the village.

“I don’t feel safe staying here, but I have no money to leave and no place to go where life would be better,” he said.

Getting enough water is a daily challenge, with the family having to ask neighbours to spare them 20 litres a day.

The crisis has disrupted education for Aden’s four children. They were attending a Koranic school, whose teacher fled the village because of the conflict.

Bulo-Khalif remains a contested area between Somali government forces and Al-Shabaab, with residents caught in the middle of ongoing conflict. Locals say they don’t know who carried out the airstrikes, as they receive no information from official sources.

Livelihoods in the area had already been weakened by drought, which reduced crop yields and livestock productivity, leaving families already vulnerable when the strikes occurred.

Some residents fled to safety in displacement camps. Among them is Mohamed Hajji Ahmed, who arrived with his family in Gegsow displacement camp on the outskirts of Barawe in late March.

His nine children are facing severe hardship in the camp, where basic services such as water, healthcare, and education are lacking.

“We only escaped with our lives. Here, we have no relatives and no support. The children sleep hungry most nights,” he said.

Mohamed and his wife survive by begging for cooked food, which is never enough. Access to water is one of their biggest challenges.

“We cannot afford to buy water. Sometimes we fetch from wells, but even that depends on help from others. A small jerry can costs $0.25, and we don’t have that,” he added.

Mohamed had already lost 40 goats during the drought and was unable to cultivate his eight-hectare farm due to lack of rain. He had taken loans from local traders to support his family and now owes around $200.

“I borrowed money to feed my children in the last two months before we left. Now I am displaced and cannot pay it back. That debt is a heavy burden on me,” he said.

He also lost his house in the airstrikes and says he does not know when it would be safe to return.

The chairman of Gegsow camp, Ibrahim Osman, said that more than 50 families had arrived in recent weeks, many having walked distances of 110 to 120 kilometres. Many of the new arrivals were in poor condition and included vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

“They fled heavy bombardment they had never experienced before. Some walked long distances because they had no transport. Their situation is very bad,” the camp chairman told Radio Ergo.

The new arrivals have joined over 450 families already living in the camp, most of whom were displaced by insecurity across Lower Shabelle.

Ibrahim said neither local authorities nor aid agencies had provided assistance to the newly displaced families, leaving camp leaders with limited capacity to respond.

“If they do not receive help soon, their situation will deteriorate,” he warned.

There are no official figures available on the total number of families displaced from Bulo-Khalif since March.

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The families were driven out of rural areas around Buulo-Haaji near Kismayo, where prolonged drought wiped out their animals, dried up water sources, and destroyed the livelihoods they depended on.

Among them is Farhia Daud Omar, a mother of 10, who recently gave birth. Her family came to Kulbiyow hoping to find humanitarian assistance, but instead encountered a distressing situation with lack of food and basic necessities such as shelter.

Whilst they try to survive on one meal a day from members of the host community, they now face the added stress of the seasonal rain that began shortly after their arrival.

“Rain fell on us while we were staying in a low lying area. The water washed away the little food we had. I couldn’t find a place to shelter the children, so we had to move again to an open area,” Farhia told Radio Ergo.

The local community in Kulbiyow has tried to help by sharing small amounts of food and water. Without shelter, the displaced families cannot store what they receive.

Farhia’s newborn baby, less than a month old, was delivered during the family’s 25 day journey. When she went into labour, she was left behind in an isolated area with another woman, while her husband continued ahead with the rest of the children.

Three days later, health workers from Kulbiyow reached her after being informed of her situation. She said they provided treatment, including rehydration and medication, and transported her and the baby to the village.

“At that time, I was very sick. My body was swollen and I had anemia. They treated me, and I recovered,” she said.

Farhia is worried now about how to feed her children and protect them from mosquitoes, cold nights, and extreme heat during the day.

“We sleep on mats on the ground. There are no mattresses or anything else. That is how we live,” she said.

This family has lost nearly all their livestock -35 cattle and 25 goats -leaving them with only three animals that are no longer productive. With their main source of livelihood gone, all they can do is ask for external support.

The families who fled Buulo-Haaji first settled about three kilometres from Kulbiyow, but they were forced to move again after rains flooded the area. They are now living about two kilometres away on higher ground.

Hassan Salad Nur, another displaced pastoralist, said his family of 17 was facing similar struggles. He has 10 children to feed.

“For two nights, we had nowhere to shelter from the rain. It fell directly on us. We only had torn plastic sheets, and even some of the animals we brought died in the rain. I lost six goats,” Hassan said.

Hassan’s family fled Santaro village near Buulo-Haaji after drought dried up water sources and wiped out their herd of 40 cattle and 30 goats. He said the loss of their animals left them in a state of uncertainty, forcing them to depend on others.

They received small quantities of food and oil, but much of it was damaged by rain as they had nowhere to store it. Adapting to life in Kulbiyow has been difficult, especially without social connections.

“There is no shop where I can get food on credit because I don’t know people here. Those who know me are aware that I lost my livestock, so they cannot help much,” Hassan told Radio Ergo.

He described the widespread impact of drought across their home area, saying that locations like Santaro, Abaloley, and Baqdaad had all been affected, leaving people and animals without water or pasture.

“Last year at this time, our life was better. Now we are in a situation that I don’t know how to manage,” he added.

Local community members say they have tried to assist the newly displaced families despite facing their own challenges.

Mohamed Abdullahi Omar, a community elder in Kulbiyow, said residents and local leaders organised contributions to support those who arrived.

“We collected livestock and money from the community to help them. Traders also contributed, and we worked together to provide what we could. It was self-help,” he said.

He stressed that the support provided was not enough to meet the growing needs, especially as more families continued to arrive without any supplies. The host community itself, he said, had been affected by the same drought conditions, limiting their ability to sustain assistance.

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Newly arrived families in the camp say they have lost their sources of income and been priced out of urban life.

Sahra Ali Abokor moved to the camp after failing to keep up with $30 monthly rent, along with the cost of food and her children’s education. Their makeshift shelter made of old cloth and tree branches represents a significant downgrade in their living conditions.

“We are in a very bad situation. There is suffering and hardship. We have no proper shelter, no sanitation, and health problems are increasing. At night we use containers as toilets and empty them in the morning. This place is not fit for living,” she told Radio Ergo.

Sahra is raising eight children on her own after her husband died. Until late last year, she worked as a cleaner for a family in Hargeisa, earning $100 a month that covered their basic needs. But after losing her job in November, she was no longer able to support her household.

She has searched for casual work but has not found any. Former employers told her they could no longer afford to hire help, while other opportunities are now scarce.

Her family depends on cooked meals occasionally shared by neighbours and small amounts of money, as little as a dollar, sent by relatives. They rely on borrowing a single jerrycan of water per day from nearby households.

“Sometimes we don’t cook at all. We don’t have enough water. Life here is very hard, and we have nothing to depend on. We have nowhere else to go in Hargeisa, so we came here,” she added.

The land they have pitched their shelter on is privately owned, and the threat of eviction is another pressure. Living with high blood pressure, Sahra cannot afford regular medication and relies on relatives to buy it on credit.

Her eldest son has mental health issues and is being held at a treatment centre due to an unpaid bill of $250.

“They are asking me every day to pay the money. I don’t have it. If I try to take him out, they won’t allow it until I clear the debt. He is asking me to take him home, but where can I take him?” she said.

Four of her children have dropped out of Koranic school after she failed to pay two months of fees totalling $16.

Other families in the camp share similar experiences. Shamis Adan Daud, a mother of six, said her family has faced hunger, water shortage, and lack of shelter since moving to the camp in January.

“There is nothing I can rely on. We have no income, no assets, and no support. Sometimes we leave the camp and go to nearby neighbourhoods hoping someone will help us. Otherwise, we have nothing,” she said.

Shamis was evicted from her rented home on 31 December after failing to pay her $50 rent for six months. She used to rely on cleaning jobs, but those opportunities disappeared in recent months, forcing her into displacement.

Furthermore, the livestock owned by her family in the rural areas were lost to drought and disease, removing their safety net.

She also cares for a daughter with a mental health condition, but cannot afford treatment.

“I used to take her to a doctor in Hargeisa and she improved with treatment. Now I cannot afford it. She sometimes becomes aggressive, and I cannot manage the situation. I need help,” she said.

Four of her children are out of school, as there are no educational facilities in the camp and she cannot afford transport or school fees in the city.

For years, Shamis supported her family through a small business in Wahen market, which was destroyed in a fire in 2022. Since that disaster, she has been unable to rebuild her livelihood.

Female camp leader, Yurub Abdullahi Jama, confirmed that the newly displaced families were facing extremely difficult conditions. She said they received 42 families since December who had been evicted from rental houses as they couldn’t meet their obligations.

“These people had no choice but to come here. They are facing severe hardship, and there are no services available. There are elderly people, people with disabilities, and others who cannot work. The needs are overwhelming,” she said.

Yurub added that the camp lacked schools and health facilities.

The nearest hospital is about seven kilometres away in Hargeisa. Transport costs are beyond most families’ means, leaving many suffering without access to treatment.

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Gudey Abdullahi Malin, a mother of eight, told Radio Ergo that she fled her home in Baidoa with her children after violence erupted in her area in late March.

She is now living in Buula Gedisoy village, about 20 kilometres away, where conditions are tough and the local community has little to share with others.

“We have nowhere proper to sleep. At night we stay out in the open, and during the day we sit under trees. We don’t have shelter to protect us from the heat or cold. What we need most now is food and water for the children,” she said.

Gudey said her children had gone for a long period without any food, and had begun vomiting after eating again. Some of the children have become sick from drinking unclean water.

A jerrycan of water costs around 5,000 Somali shillings, which she cannot afford, so she has been begging small amounts of water from others, although the water is not always clean.

“Sometimes the children get only one meal a day from people here. Other nights we sleep hungry. They are not used to this environment, and many are sick,” she added.

Gudey and her husband had been making a modest living collecting and selling firewood, earning $5 – 6 a day that income enabled them to meet their family’s basic needs.

She said the conflict had caused them to experience displacement for the first time in over two decades, describing the current situation as overwhelming.

Two of her children were in school and had their studies disrupted by the sudden move.

The situation is similar for Abdullahi Abdi Mohamed, a father of eight, who fled Baidoa to the same village, where he says conditions are poor.

“We depend on what people here can share with us. Sometimes they give us a small meal at night, but other times we have nothing. Today I gave my children dry food that was borrowed from someone. There is nothing stable in our lives right now,” he said.

Abdullahi described the journey to safety as extremely difficult. Unable to afford transport, his family walked for a full day and night. The cost of hiring a vehicle had risen to about $100 due to the sudden spike in demand as conflict reigned.

He had been relying on casual construction work in Baidoa, earning around $5 a day. In the rural village where they are now, there are no such opportunities. The prolonged drought has left local residents’ incomes depleted and unable to provide much support.

“We came here because of the fighting, but life here is even harder. There is drought, no work, and no services. We are staying in makeshift shelters that don’t protect us from the weather,” he said.

Local community members say many of the displaced families were already living in poverty before the conflict, surviving on daily labour in Baidoa. Their displacement has cut off those income sources, pushing them into deeper vulnerability.

Mohamed Abukar Ali, a youth activist involved in relief efforts, said many families were now scattered across villages around Baidoa and other towns such as Dinsoor, where there were severe shortages of food and water.

“These families were already struggling, and now they have lost even the little they had. The areas they have moved to lack basic services, making their situation extremely difficult,” he said.

Mohamed added that local initiatives were being made in response to the crisis, including water trucking supported by community members, businessmen, and diaspora groups. Around 40 truckloads of water had been delivered to affected areas.

“People came together to help as much as they could, but the needs are far greater than what local efforts can cover. More support is urgently needed,” he said.

The UN’s refugee and displacement agency UNHCR reported that about 50,000 people had been displaced by the recent fighting in South West region. Many are now facing a combination of conflict-related displacement and prolonged drought, which has eroded livelihoods and left them with limited access to essential resources.

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Local authorities say the increase in water prices is linked to the growing number of displaced people arriving from drought-hit regions, placing pressure on already limited water resources.

In Maqsud camp, Khadro Mohamed Hassan, a mother of five, says the rising cost of water means it’s impossible for her to meet her family’s basic needs.

“The biggest problem we have is lack of water. Some days we can’t even afford to buy any. The children bring dirt from outside into the house, and there is no water to clean. Sometimes we go around asking people for one jerrycan, but even that is not guaranteed,” she said.

The price of a jerrycan of water has tripled in recent months from 2,000 to 6,000 Somali shillings.

Khadro does not have a steady source of income. She makes three or four dollars for occasional work washing clothes. She carries some of her children’s clothes with her when she goes to do laundry jobs, using her employers’ water to wash them and bring them back home.

Her family were forced to leave their rural home in Ukunji in Lower Shabelle region after losing their 60 goats to drought. Since arriving in Kahda, water scarcity has contributed to health problems in her household, including diarrhoea affecting two of her children.

“Some days I return home without any water because I cannot afford it,” she said. “If you don’t have even half a dollar, you cannot get water unless you borrow.”

Single mother of six, Sahro Mahmoud, also living in Maqsud camp, says the rising cost of water has made survival even harder.

“If you don’t have one dollar a day, you cannot get water. Water is now a business. If you ask for it without money, no one will give it to you,” Sahro told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.

Sahro and her children have been living in the camp for three months since fleeing drought in Jalalaqsi district in Hiran, where she lost 100 goats.

The situation in the camp has reached a point where families can no longer support each other, as everyone is struggling. The lack of water has also affected hygiene and health among displaced families.

“Children are getting sick with diarrhoea and vomiting,” Sahro said. “You don’t know whether to use the little water for drinking, washing clothes, or cleaning. You can spend the whole day looking for water and still come back empty-handed.”

The director of humanitarian affairs in Kahda district, Yusuf Abdi Osman, said the surge in water prices had placed an unbearable burden on already vulnerable families. He explained that the influx of displaced people fleeing drought had sharply increased demand for water, while supplies were limited.

“If this situation continues, we fear a humanitarian disaster. Water is essential for both health and survival. Families cannot afford the current prices, and we do not have the capacity to resolve this alone,” he said.

The district administration has called on aid agencies and other partners to support efforts to address the water shortage, including investing in sustainable water sources or subsidising costs for displaced families.

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He earns between $10 and $15 a day transporting goods and passengers between scattered rural settlements. The income enables him to provide food, water, and other essentials for his family – a significant improvement from the past months when they sometimes went for days without meals.

“There were times we stayed in the house for a whole week with nothing, struggling together as a family,” he told Radio Ergo. “Now, with this motorbike, I can provide for my children. Life before and now are completely different.”

Hassan lost around 80 goats over two years of failed rains, which forced him to abandon pastoralism as a reliable livelihood. He was encouraged to start the motorbike business by neighbours doing the same.

He got a loan from relatives in Dhusamareb to buy the $800 motorbike that he rides daily to villages including Las-hadow, Bohol, Gal-hamur, Faragoy, Garsale, and Higlale, where he has built a regular customer base.

He has managed to repay his loan and is now saving for the future, setting aside about $50 a month. He has saved $400, aiming to invest in a larger vehicle.

He has also enrolled three of his children in school for the first time, paying around $20 per month in fees. This was beyond his means before.

It’s estimated by locals that more than 100 men from displaced and low-income families in and around Dhusamareb town are making incomes as motorbike couriers.

Abdimahad Mahmoud Hassan switched from low paying construction work in Dhusamareb a few months ago, and is now making about $10 a day doing work that is less physically demanding and more profitable.

“When I was a labourer, I carried loads on my back. Now the motorbike carries the load for me. There is a big difference between waiting for someone to help you and earning your own income,” he said.

His improved earnings have allowed him to move his family of seven out of a displacement camp on the outskirts of town into a rented two-room house in Dhusamareb, where he pays $30 rent a month.

He has also been able to provide regular meals for his children and gradually repay debts accumulated during the drought, including $1,000 borrowed for food and livestock needs.

“People supported me when I had nothing, and now I am paying back little by little,” he said.

Abdimahad still owes less than $200 for the motorbike loan he took and continues to juggle household expenses with debt repayments.

He also supports five related families who remain in rural areas after losing their livestock, sharing part of his earnings to help them cope.

For many pastoralists in the region, motorbikes have become an essential service as traditional means of transport decline.

Mahmoud Hashi Ulusow, a resident of Bali-hogol village, about 20 kilometres east of Dhusamareb, is among the regular customers relying on motorbikes. He previously used camels to transport goods, but they have become too weak due to the drought to carry loads.

“The motorbike is faster and cheaper, and it reaches us easily. Our animals can no longer do this work,” he said.

The growing demand for transport services in rural areas has created a new economic opportunity for displaced families willing to adapt. However, challenges remain as riders still need to access loans to buy the bikes and maintain steady household support whilst meeting repayments.

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More than 5,700 families have arrived in and around Bardera town since December, driven from their rural homes by four consecutive failed rainy seasons that wiped out livestock and other sources of income. Many are now living in overcrowded camps with little or no access to basic services, relying on irregular support from host communities.

Among them is Zaynab Jamad Ali, arrived in Bardera with her seven children and husband.

“We are living in a very difficult situation. In the mornings we cook whatever we beg from people. We have nothing of our own to depend on. Life is extremely hard,” she said.

They occasionally receive small amounts of food from neighbouring families in Iftiin camp, but it is not enough to feed the household. She has been unable to find casual work in town, citing the lack of opportunities and the high number of women competing for the same jobs.

Her husband is elderly and visually impaired, leaving her as the sole provider for the family. With young children who can’t work, the burden of survival has fallen entirely on her shoulders.

Without proper shelter, they are living under trees covered with pieces of cloth, offering little protection.

“We are homeless and that is our biggest problem now. We are staying under trees with old rags. We cannot afford plastic sheets to build a shelter, and no one has given us anything,” she said.

Two of Zaynab’s children have dropped out of Koranic school since their displacement. She used to pay around $10 a month for their classes but she can’t afford it now.

She also has debts of around 10 million Somali shillings ($400), owed to shops and water sources in her home area. The constant demands for repayment are a source of stress, as she has no means to pay.

Like many others in the camps, her family were pastoralists who lost their livestock to drought. Since 2024, they have lost around 70 animals including goats and cattle. She left 10 animals that survived the drought with relatives still in the rural village – although she does not expect them to survive due to ongoing water and pasture shortages.

Hussein Hassan Mooge, a 66-year-old father of 10, said his family is also struggling to meet their basic needs in Jirih camp, where they settled in December.

“The biggest problem is hunger,” he said. “If people had enough food, they could manage the rest. But when you are hungry, you cannot even rest.”

Hussein spends his days walking into town in search of assistance from relatives or local traders. On some days, he manages to bring back enough to cook one meal, but often the family goes without food.

Access to water is another major challenge. They rely on water fetched from the Jubba River by his wife, as they can’t afford to buy water from nearby private reservoirs, where a 20-litre container costs about $0.3.

The sprawling camps lacks health and education services. Two of Hussein’s children have recently suffered from fever and persistent coughs, but he cannot afford medical care: “We have no money to take them to a health facility. We just stay and hope they get better.”

Like Zaynab, Hussein has no alternative source of income. He has spent his life as a pastoralist and lacks the skills to find work in town. Despite repeated attempts, he has been unable to secure even basic labour jobs.

His family is also burdened by debts of around $300, accumulated from food, water, and other expenses. Four of his children have dropped out of Koranic school after he failed to pay $7 per child in monthly fees for six months.

The drought has taken a heavy toll on his livestock. He lost 287 animals, including camels, goats, and cattle, leaving him with just 11 goats that are too weak to provide milk or income.

The situation facing these families reflects a broader crisis affecting pastoralist communities across southern Somalia, where prolonged drought and climate shocks have forced thousands to abandon their traditional way of life.

Mohamed Hussein Boyow, an awareness officer with Jubbaland state’s agency for displaced people, said the scale of need in Bardera is overwhelming.

“The condition of the newly displaced families is extremely serious,” he told Radio Ergo. “They lack shelter, food, water, and access to health services. Some cannot even cook one meal a day.”

He said local authorities and communities had tried to mobilise assistance, but the support available was far from sufficient given the growing number of arrivals.

According to his office, 5,733 families displaced by drought from parts of Bay and Gedo regions have been registered in Bardera since December.

With limited aid, no stable income, and increasing pressure on already vulnerable host communities, many of these families face an uncertain future.

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The assistance was organised by a group of young people in secondary schools and universities in Qardo. They mobilised resources from local communities, collecting small contributions from residents across the town and sharing them with the displaced families.

Ahmed Mohamed Nur, his wife and four children have been struggling to find enough to eat, after losing all their animals to drought in rural Sanag.

They were pleased to receive the donations of 25 kilograms each of flour, rice, and sugar, four litres of cooking oil, and a carton of dates in February. He said the supplies would last them around two months.

“We received the food and it reached us well. We had nothing before this, and our livestock were decimated. Now we have something to rely on,” Ahmed told Radio Ergo.

The families also received water delivered by tankers and poured into a plastic lined pit for sharing among the displaced households.

Ahmed and his family arrived in Tib’arro in January after losing around 90 camels and goats in the remote village of Baragaha-qol. The animals died due to a combination of pasture shortage, water scarcity, and disease, leaving the family without any source of income.

“All the livestock died. The drought wiped them out. For six months I couldn’t sell a single animal. That left me with debts of about $1,000 for food we had taken on credit,” he said.

Ahmed remains concerned about the lack of essential services in the area, including healthcare and education. He has tried to find casual labour in Qardo but has not succeeded so far.

He is particularly concerned about his three school-age children, who had no access to education in their rural home but could have their first chance if he could find a new source of income near town.

Zainab Mohamed Abdullahi and her family of eight were given 75 kilograms of food, five litres of oil, and a carton of dates. She said the support lifted a heavy burden of uncertainty.

“The food reached us and every family received their share. Our situation is better now, but before it was very difficult. We used to worry about who would give us food on credit. Now we have something given to us, and we are not thinking about that constantly,” she said.

Zainab and her children have been depending on a host family in Tib’arro since arriving there in December. But the hosts cannot spare much food themselves.

Her husband, who is elderly and suffers from chronic illness, remained behind in Dhahar in Sanag under the care of relatives, while she brought the children to seek help. The last goat in their herd of 136 goats perished on 15 December, following two years of failed rainy seasons and outbreaks of livestock disease.

Zainab hasn’t been able to find any odd jobs to earn income. However, for now, her children seem in better condition.

“When we arrived, the children were malnourished, but now they are better after eating the food and drinking the water we received,” she said. They live in a hut made with plastic sheets provided during the aid distribution.

She remains anxious about the future once the supplies run out. She has debts of around $600 owed to shops in her home area, which she is unable to repay.

One of organisers of the assistance, Mohamed Khayre Ahmed, said they raised more than $4,000 in cash, along with donated food supplies and plastic sheeting for shelters.

“When we saw the condition of these people and the hardship especially among mothers, we decided to act. We went around markets and neighbourhoods collecting whatever people could give – even small amounts like $0.30 or $0.50,” he said.

They100 families they reached had not received any other support. Mohamed said they continued helping newly arriving families displaced by drought who are settling in Qardo and surrounding villages, although the needs remain high.

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The families fled conflict and drought that destroyed their livestock and crops, but say they have yet to receive any formal support. They arrived at a time when registration offices were not operational, leaving them stranded without access to aid.

Among them is Fadumo Abdirahman Ali, who is struggling to provide even one meal a day for her children. She told Radio Ergo that her family had survived only on small amounts of food shared by other refugees in the camp.

“We have received no assistance and no welcome. Since we arrived, we have nothing,” she said. “Last night was the last time we cooked. Even for suhoor (dawn food) we had nothing. Today we have nothing to break the fast with.”

Fadumo’s children go to bed hungry and cry through the night, worsening her distress.

“The hunger shows on their faces. They cry and ask for food – rice, milk, anything – but I have nothing to give them. The suffering here is worse than what we fled.”

Her family is living in an open area outside the camp, where she has built a small shelter from sticks and torn cloth. The structure offers little protection from the intense heat, which can reach up to 40 degrees Celsius during the current dry season.

Fadumo is a widow caring for nine children, six of whom are orphans. She has no tools, utensils, or resources to improve their living conditions.

“We settled here on our own. No one helped us. Others build with what they have, but I have nothing. Even finding materials is difficult because the children are too young to help” she said.

Fadumo fled Neebsay village in Sakow district in southern Somalia’s Middle Juba region in January, after three consecutive seasons of poor rainfall wiped out the crops on the three-hectare farm that provided their source of food and income.

Adan Iidow Hassan is facing similar challenges in Ifo-2 camp, lacking food, clean water, and decent shelter. They depend on small amounts of food his wife collects from others in the camp.

“During this fasting month, we break our fast with very little. The children are hungry and weak. Yesterday and today we cooked only what my wife managed to collect – a few kilos of rice and sugar given by kind people.”

Adan supports a household of 16 people, including his son’s family. They share two small shacks that do not provide enough space or protection.

Access to water is also limited. They collect about 80 litres every other day from a nearby well, which is not sufficient for their needs.

He said the harsh conditions have affected his children’s health, with many suffering from coughs, fever, and other illnesses.

“There is no medicine and no nearby health services,” he said. “We cannot afford transport to take them to a clinic. The children are sick and we have nothing to help them.”

Adan fled Jawaarey village in Bardhere district in Gedo region in January after drought destroyed crops on his four-hectare farm. They came to Dadaab hoping to find assistance to help them recover.

Camp leaders say the number of new arrivals in Dadaab has increased significantly in recent months, but support systems have not kept pace.

Khayro Ali Sooyaan, chairman of Ifo-2 camp, told Radio Ergo that many families had been forced to settle in open areas under trees due to lack of reception services.

“They arrived at a time when there were no operations in the camp,” she said. “We had no choice but to let them settle wherever they could. Many are living under trees with nothing.”

She described seeing children crying from hunger while parents try to comfort them with whatever little they can find.

“Some mothers boil water just to calm their children, pretending that food is coming,” she said. “It is a very painful situation.”

According to camp authorities, hundreds of families displaced by drought and conflict in southern Somalia have arrived since late 2025, many of them unable to access formal aid due to delays in registration and limited resources.

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