An elderly disabled father named Mohamed Ahmed Hassan was grateful to receive a tent and some household items from a nearby NGO so that he, his wife, and their eight children would have a better place to stay in case of impending rain than the tree they had been sleeping under.
After losing 68 goats to the drought, this 73-year-old father was forced to leave the rural areas of Bardera in southern Somalia’s Gedo region in May. He travelled four days on foot with his family to the Iftin IDP camp in Bardera town while using crutches.
“Due to the drought and thirst, we were forced to leave. We lacked any form of transportation. Our farms went for a long time without receiving any rain, and we lost our livestock. Now that we have houses, we are happy,” he said.
Mohamed goes out to beg for food, explaining to anyone he encounters that he is unable to accept any of the available jobs because they are typically too demanding and physically demanding. He is able to gather enough food for his family to eat once every day.
“God has been good, one person gives us some sugar, another sends us a dollar, and that’s how we get by,” he said in an interview with Radio Ergo.
Another father of 15 children, 60-year-old Abdi Bare Farah, had been residing in a modest home for nearly a year with his wife and family. They barely all fit inside the tiny hut they had constructed. Even though they were not given any food, he was happy to receive a tent and some household items.
We now have a decent place to live, some utensils, even spoons, and all we need is food, he observed.
After suffering the loss of 300 goats and 20 cows due to drought in November 2021, Abdi was forced to leave Fahfahdhun in Gedo. The economic opportunities in the Iftin camp in Bardera are limited, and the IDP families there are heavily reliant on aid handouts.
“I’ve spent the majority of my life in rural areas. I arrived here due to challenging circumstances. We now rely on people for assistance, and life is difficult for us, the only thing I know is livestock husbandry, the man said.
The local NGO Horn of Africa Peace Network (HAPEN), which chose 1,313 of the families in need of shelter the most in six camps in Bardera, provided the tents and kitchenware. According to Yusuf Adan Omar of HAPPEN, among the criteria they focused on were people who were disabled, the elderly, people from marginalised groups, and families with numerous children.