Friday 27 Sep, 2024 {HMC} Halima Hassan Ali and her husband are struggling to provide even a single meal a day for their three children, among the hundreds of families displaced by ongoing conflicts in parts of Lower and Middle Shabelle regions.
Halima, 39, and her family arrived at Gurbaan camp in Mogadishu’s Kahda district on 20 August, seeking refuge from the violence. However, they now have no food or proper shelter.
“We have nothing! For the last two days, our neighbours have been helping us get meals,” said Halima. “We didn’t carry anything with us. We don’t even have clothes to wear. If the rains come, it just pours down on us and we also have to sit out in the sun.”
Her husband had to look for menial jobs like digging waste-pits to provide a living for the family, although it’s hard for him to find work as many men are seeking the same and the pay is poor. These days there are more companies using trucks to collect garbage in city neighborhoods.
“When he comes home, sometimes he brings us one dollar. It’s not enough. If we get food at night, we skip breakfast the next morning. Then we eat a quarter of rice or a small amount of dried maize for dinner. Hunger grips us, along with every other hardship,” Halima told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.
Halima and her family fled from the Yaaq Bari-weyne area in Lower Shabelle, escaping fighting between armed groups. Like many others, they fled the conflicts in a hurry and had to leave their belongings in a desperate bid to save their lives.
She mentioned that other families who fled with them helped cover their transport costs.
Halima’s family left behind their five-hectare farm where they grew maize, beans, and sesame. They were preparing to harvest in mid-September.
In a similar situation, Ibrahim Osman Ali, a 52-year-old father of four, recently arrived at Harawe camp in Kahda district on 19 August.
“You can’t live in the midst of gunfire. We were scared for our children and fled. We don’t have food, and we are new in the city. We have no water, no latrines. I woke up this morning and we haven’t had food. We have nothing,” he exclaimed.
Ibrahim described walking from their village to Afgooye, where they asked drivers heading to Mogadishu for a ride.
Due to the violence, he wasn’t able to cultivate his two-hectare farm this year. Instead, he used to support his family by pushing a handcart earning about $5 a day in Wanlaweyn.
Qadro Abdi Ali, a 36-year-old widow, arrived in Bursalid camp in Garasbaley district with her three children at the beginning of August and has yet to receive any aid.
As the sole provider for her children, Qadro is now forced to look for unfamiliar jobs in the city to make ends meet.
“We’ve tried, but there’s no place to work. We go around washing clothes but end up wandering with few jobs. We have no source of income. I’m feeling a lot of anxiety. Back home, I used to farm, and we ate from our harvest. We didn’t lack anything. It’s the conflict that pushed us to flee, she told Radio Ergo.
Like many others, Qadro’s family relied on their farm for a living before being displaced. Their lives were upended by the conflict, and now they face a daily battle to secure even one meal. She fled from Jamee’o village, near Hawadley in Middle Shabelle, due to fighting between government forces and Al-Shabaab.
Displaced people continue to arrive daily in the IDP camps in Mogadishu, visibly exhausted and struggling with their circumstances.
According to Mohamed Osman Mumin, who is responsible for registering new arrivals in the camps, over 3,340 families have arrived in camps in Garasbaley and Kahda districts since July.
“Some of these people have been here for about 20 days, others for just three days. They have no shelter, no food. We bought them sticks to build shelters. We asked people to donate old clothing. In the first few days, we went around collecting rice and other supplies from local stores and residents. For the first two days, cooked food was prepared for them,” he said.
As conflict continues to drive displacement, many families are left to rely on the kindness of neighbours and the limited resources available in the camps. Their daily lives have become a constant struggle for survival, with no immediate end in sight to the violence or their hardship.
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