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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Jama Mohamud Ahmed, a teacher, said he could no longer meet the basic needs of his nine-member family after losing his job.

Jama taught English at Waberi primary and middle school in Garowe and earned $200 a month that covered food, water, rent and his children’s education.

“We only cook once a day. We rely on relatives, friends and neighbours when we need help,” he said. “Not being able to provide enough food for my children is a heavy burden. If the situation continues like this, it will become even harder.”

His family struggles to access water, relying on a jerrycan or less from better-off people who can afford the $0.40 charged by private water vendors.

At the end of August, the family was evicted from their stone-built room when he failed to pay the $80 monthly rent, electricity and piped water. They moved from Koowda Agoosto to an open area on the outskirts of Garowe and built a makeshift shelter from cloth and sticks.

Jama said his children, the youngest aged three, were struggling with the heat and cold, as the shelter is flimsy.

“The number of students at the school where I taught has fallen sharply. Many parents have withdrawn their children and moved them to other schools, while others could no longer afford the school fees,” he explained.

He has searched for casual jobs in Garowe over the past two months but hasn’t found work. Many are competing for the few jobs on offer.

Three of his children, in grades four and six, have stopped attending school as he failed to pay their combined $25 fees. They were sent home.

Jama, who has taught for nearly 10 years, said he regrets not having saved money and is uncertain about finding another teaching job.

The affected teachers worked in private schools and schools run by the Puntland government and aid organisations in Garowe’s displacement camps.

Hamdi Ali Ahmed, who taught science for 15 years at a primary and middle school in Shabelle camp, said she had been unable to provide enough food for her eight children since losing her job and monthly salary of $110 in July.

“Unemployment has affected me severely. I cook for my children only on days when I have something to provide; when I have nothing, they go hungry,” Hamdi said.

She is a single parent and has no other source of income. She is relying now on credit from a neighbourhood shop. This month, the shopkeeper reduced their supplies to 10 kilograms each of rice and sugar. She owes $150 that she has to repay next month or they will lose further credit.

They also beg small amounts of water from neighbours as Hamdi can’t afford the $0.20 charged for a jerrycan by private borehole operators.

The school where she worked was run by the Puntland education ministry. It was demolished, and everyone living in Shabelle camp was evicted. In the open area where they moved to, she has begun putting up a shelter but can’t afford to complete it. They have to share a neighbour’s toilet.

Four of her children, in grades six and seven, have been out of school since she lost her job and they had to move out to the new site that has no services.

“We are displaced and can’t afford to build a school ourselves. We are asking for a school to be built so that we can return to work,” she appealed.

The chairman of the Nugal Teachers’ Association, Abdinasir Yusuf Halliye, said a survey conducted in June found that 400 teachers in public and private schools in Garowe and surrounding villages had lost their jobs since the beginning of the year due to financial difficulties and school closures.

Some schools cut staff after parents could no longer afford school fees, leaving them unable to pay teachers’ salaries. Other schools have reduced staff, with some assigning one teacher to teach two or three subjects because they cannot afford to hire more staff.

“We have reported information about the teachers and the challenges they face to all relevant authorities, but we have yet to see any action,” Abdinasir said.

“Support from international organisations has ended, and schools no longer receive the assistance they previously relied on. We urge the Puntland government to pay closer attention to the challenges facing education and to provide any support available to teachers.”

The chairman said 30 primary and middle schools had closed since the beginning of the year because of financial hardship in communities, mainly due to drought and recurring conflict.

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Ahmed Dable has trained 105 participants over the past few months, and all of them are now earning a living to support their families.

“Most of them came from rural areas,” Dable said. “Those we have seen learn and succeed in this work are mainly from rural communities. Some people born or raised in towns also join, but this is difficult work. Many give up when they see how demanding it is. Those who benefit most and fully succeed in the programme are mainly people from rural areas.”

One of Dable’s trainees, Qasim Mohamed Abdi, has been working regularly as a mechanic for a month, earning at least $10 a day repairing vehicles at competitive prices.

“My life is better now,” Qasim said. “Without work or a skill, a person can face many challenges in life and in meeting daily needs.”

Qasim said the job, his first, had given him confidence and improved his family of eight’s circumstances. He stays in regular contact with his trainer for advice when he faces difficulties and hopes to further develop his skills.

The training ended a long period of unemployment for him. He was encouraged to join the training by friends and was attracted by not having to pay.

“When I had no money, I needed help. I could not afford to pay for training,” he said. “I needed someone to support me. My first step was to learn so I could work, support myself and serve the needs of my community.”

Qasim’s family moved from rural areas to Adado in 2025 after poor rains caused a shortage of pasture and water, killing 50 goats that had been their only source of income. They struggled to survive in the town and had to seek help from better-off relatives, and sometimes went hungry.

He has since moved them out of a displacement camp to a $30 a month rented two-room house in town, relieving them of the water shortages and poor shelter they endured in the camp for a year.

Abdullahi Mohamed Ibrahim, another of Dable’s trainees, has been working as a mechanic for nearly two months earning at least $250 a month that supports his parents and seven siblings.

“This job has given me the better life and progress I had hoped for,” Abdullahi said. “Compared with my previous life, I am now a skilled and knowledgeable person whom others depend on.”

Abdullahi was among the first trainees at Dable’s centre. He had spent three years looking for work, walking around the town asking for work, but lacked any skills. He said many young people who moved to the town around the same time were also unemployed, with some turning to drugs amid the difficult conditions they faced.

Mahad also began training young people in solar technology earlier this month, teaching them how to install and troubleshoot solar systems. The trainees have not yet started working in the field, but the

skill is increasingly important as the use of solar energy grows in Somalia. The centre provides two days of practical training each week to give hands-on experience and a better understanding of the work.

Abdullahi, now Mahad’s assistant trainer, believes passionately in the importance of learning skills.

“If you learn one, you can support yourself and your family. I always encourage people not to sit idle or give up, but to work hard. I have big goals. I have achieved some and still have others to reach.”

Abdullahi said six months of employment had significantly improved his family’s living conditions. Two months ago, he enrolled four of his siblings in school after they had previously been unable to attend because of their family’s financial circumstances.

He plans to open his own garage and has started saving for the $2,000 he needs to get started by setting aside at least $30 each month.

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Hers was among 70 small businesses run mostly by displaced people were closed down by a road expansion project led by the Hargeisa municipal authorities.

Roda said they were not given an alternative site and she can’t afford to rent another place. She hangs around at her shop site, where construction vehicles are now active.

“We have been badly affected. The excavator destroyed the place where we used to trade. Our shops collapsed, and our goods are still buried under the rubble. We have received no assistance and have lost what we had,” she said.

“One person told me he would bring a water tanker, but that was the last time I saw him. Now we collect water in jerrycans from different places, and we are struggling.”

Roda’s 26-year-old son has been held by traffickers in Libya for six months, and his condition is worsening. She described receiving calls from the group holding him as they torture him whilst demanding a ransom for his release.

Her relatives are too poor to help. Her husband is another source of concern for the family, adding to the hardships.

“My husband suffered a stroke according to a doctor who examined him and is now bedridden. What do you expect when there is not even 1,000 shillings for his needs? Only God can help us,” she said.

Roda’s shop income had been enough to meet the family’s daily needs, but their living conditions have deteriorated since it closed. Her family has lived in displacement in Hargeisa for more than 20 years. This is their most difficult period. She had hoped to use the business to move her family out of the camp but has now lost that hope.

Other families affected by the road expansion are facing similar financial difficulties. Yusur Muhumed Buni, 94, said her family of nine depended on a small tea shop that had to close.

No one else in the family earns an income. They relied on the $5 she earned each day to meet basic needs, particularly food.

“We earned 50,000 Somaliland shillings a day from the small tea shop, which was enough for us. Now we are just sitting here empty-handed, with nothing to rely on,” she said.

Yusur cares for a son who has had a mental health condition for three years and requires additional care. She used to pay for his medicines and other necessities from the business but can no longer afford them. His condition and the responsibility of supporting the family have added to her burden.

Her second son, who worked in construction, also contributed to their income but is now unemployed because building in the city has declined and he can no longer find people to hire him.

The families affected by the road expansion include those who lost their trading spaces when the road was expanded and others left with much smaller spaces that are inadequate.

The municipal authorities have declined to provide information on the impact of the road project or whether they have alternative plans for those affected.

The secretary to the chairman of the State House IDP camp, Abdirizak Abdullahi Ismael, said the project has had a significant economic impact., as traders lost access to free spaces to run their businesses.

“The work has stopped, and people have lost the little income they depended on. The road expansion has caused severe financial hardship,” he said.

Many families in State House camp are now struggling to meet basic needs, including food, school fees and water, he added, and needed a solution to help them stand on their feet again.

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Long queues form daily at a drilled well outside the town, with some people returning without water because of the high demand.

Nurta Hassan Ibrahim, a mother of 10, spends the first half of each day collecting about 15 litres of water for her family. Three times a week she doesn’t get any water as the well capacity can’t satisfy everyone’s needs

“I carry the container on my back. When I get there, I beg people for help while waiting in the queue,” she said. “When it is my turn, I collect as much water as I can and walk back. It takes an hour and a half to reach the water. People with donkey carts and motorbikes get ahead of me, so I have to wait for them to fill their containers. I sit on my own container while they collect their water.”

The search for water has affected Nurta’s income. She cleaned homes, offices and hospitals in the mornings – but now can only work in the afternoons after returning from the well. Some of her former employers have stopped giving her work because she arrives late.

Neighbours sometimes provide food on credit or as charity, while others call her for occasional laundry work.

“If someone asks me to clean their house, I do the work. If I am paid with a kilo of rice or a dollar, I use it to buy milk for my children. If I earn nothing, we go without food,” she said.

Nurta said her children are going hungry and the porridge flour given to her earlier this month by a health facility where she worked as a cleaner is running out.

Three of her children stopped attending school in July as she could no longer pay their fees. She had used part of her $6 daily earnings from cleaning to pay for their education.

Nurta says the well water is not clean, so she has to boil it before use.

The water shortage has affected communities across Burhakaba. Three wells serving about 20,000 families in the town and 40 surrounding settlements have dried up, according to a survey by the aid group, SOS Children’s Villages.

The organisation’s health and nutrition coordinator, Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, said the shortage had contributed to an increase in infectious diseases as residents were forced to use untreated water.

“On average, we used to treat 35 to 40 people a month. From May through July, the number rose to more than 100. Diarrhoea cases increased significantly, partly because of contaminated water,” he said.

Mohamed said thousands of families had moved towards Baidoa because of the water shortage since the beginning of the year. Those who remain in Burhakaba and nearby areas continue to face difficult living conditions.

Women, including widows and divorced women, make up most of those carrying water on their backs. They often form groups to share the burden of collecting water.

Duniya Hassan Abdi, 45, carries a 20-litre plastic container tied to her back with a rope made from pieces of cloth. She calculated having walked nearly 500 kilometres over the past three months, based on her daily eight kilometre return journeys to the well.

“I leave after the morning prayer. Once you bring one container, you can’t immediately return to the well. You have to wait in line. The water is bitter and is only used by people who have no other choice,” she said.

Duniya, a mother of eight, including a two-year-old, lost her job at a restaurant because she now spends much of the day fetching water. She visits neighbourhoods and restaurants at night looking for cleaning work and sometimes receives food instead of payment.

Her children eat once every 24 hours, often without sauce. She is behind on rent payments for their two-room house.

“Today, we cooked beans at noon. The house we live in is rented, and I am four months behind on the rent,” she said. “I have been told to leave. The rent is $10 a month. We are facing very difficult circumstances.”

Duniya said she had developed back pain since starting the long journeys to collect water. She rarely sleeps at night and has not visited a health facility for an assessment.

The experiences of Nurta and Duniya highlight the wider difficulties facing low-income and displaced families in Burhakaba, where water shortages and loss of income are contributing to hunger and insecure living conditions.

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Rising fuel prices made regular irrigation increasingly expensive for farmers in Jarran village, Afgoye district. After installing solar systems, replacing fuel-powered pumps, they say they have greatly increased their returns.

Mohamed Nur Isaq, who owns a four-hectare farm, told Radio Ergo that his production had more than doubled since he bought a solar system in January. He used to spend $100 to $150 each time he irrigated his farm. Financial difficulties sometimes forced him to delay watering his crops.

He now irrigates at least twice a month, compared with once every two months previously. His latest harvest of onions, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, coriander, maize and beans in June earned him about $3,000 in profit – more than double the amount he made when he used a fuel-powered pump.

“The main benefit is that I have reduced fuel costs, which has allowed me to irrigate regularly,” he said. “When I could not afford fuel, I had to delay irrigation, which affected the crops, especially when they needed water,” he said.

Mohamed invested $4,600 in the solar system and has repaid $1,000 of the loan he took to buy it. He has saved about $1,700 from his farm profits, more than he ever managed during his previous years as a farmer. He attributed this to higher production and reduced fuel costs. Fuel sells at about $1 per litre.

Mohamed said neighbouring farmers who had already adopted solar power encouraged him to make the investment.

“I decided to make this investment because I saw that it would reduce my costs in the long term,” he said. “I used savings from my farm income and also received a loan to cover the remaining installation costs.”

Most residents of Jarran are farmers who depend on water from the Shabelle River. They sell their produce in markets in Banadir and Lower Shabelle regions.

The money Mohamed saves on fuel allows him to buy seeds, fertilizer, crop treatments and pesticides.

“I have been a farmer for nearly 18 years. Farming is my only source of income to support my family. I try to save part of my profits for emergencies or to improve my farm,” he said.

He plans to buy a larger solar system costing several thousand dollars because his current system has limited capacity.

Mohamed Abdi Hassan, who has farmed for 15 years, is another farmer in Jarran using solar power. He bought his system in March. His five-hectare farm is planted with maize, beans, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and other vegetables, which he expects to harvest in September.

He said he has spent nothing on irrigation since installing the system, whereas before each round of irrigation cost him between $300 and $500 in fuel. He bought the solar equipment for $4,500, including a $500 loan that he repaid in May.

“What encouraged me most was the high cost of fuel and the difficulty of finding money to buy it,” he explained. “I looked for a lasting solution that would allow me to manage the farm properly. When I started using solar power, irrigation became easier and the costs were reduced.”

He now irrigates regularly and his latest harvest, collected in June, earned him $3,000. He has saved half of it.

Mohamed, a father of six, supports his family through farming and spends about $350 a month on education and household expenses. The fuel savings have allowed him to invest more in his five-hectare farm by buying quality seeds, fertiliser, crop treatments and other inputs to increase production.

Some farmers jointly buy solar equipment, while others purchase their own systems, depending on their financial capacity.

The chairman of the farmers’ association in Jarran, Abdullahi Ali Mire, told Radio Ergo that the use of solar power was increasing as farmers recognised its benefits for irrigation and cost reduction. He noted that 90 farmers currently use solar systems – still a small proportion of farmers in the area.

“Agricultural production has improved. Farmers now have regular irrigation, which has helped crops grow better and increased their profits,” Abdullahi said.

He chairman encouraged more farmers to switch to solar power as an effective and sustainable energy source:

“Investment, training and support are needed to expand its use,” he said, stressing the importance of agriculture to Somalia’s economy and people’s livelihoods, whilst calling for greater support to help farmers increase production using clean energy.

Lower Shabelle is one of Somalia’s major agricultural regions, with abundant sunlight that can support solar-powered irrigation. However, farmers also need security and stability, as moving or replacing solar equipment can be difficult if it is damaged.

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