Families fleeing conflict in Gedo struggle with basic needs in small towns on Ethiopian border

(ERGO) – Hundreds of families fleeing ongoing conflict in Luq district in Somalia’s Jubaland state are living in poor conditions in small towns close to the border with Ethiopia.

Abdihakim Warsame Kiro and his family of 11 arrived in April in Qooney, where he can’t find work and there is no aid or assistance.

He said their two-room house, kitchen and latrine in Luq were burned down in the conflict by armed militias one night. They weren’t able to salvage anything so arrived at the camp in Qooney empty-handed.

“There are no jobs here. We came here to the countryside and we don’t have food or anything. There are many people like us. The kind people we live among contribute small portions from their homes and some kilograms of rice are collected for us,” he told Radio Ergo.

He’s been forced to ask others to give him whatever they can to help. Locals give them small amounts of plain unseasoned cooked food that his young children find hard to eat.

The shelter they put up was blown down in strong winds in the area recently and they are sleeping outside in the cold.

“We don’t have a home we don’t have bedding and we don’t have livestock. Our situation is very complicated,” he said.

Back home in Luq, Abdikadir used to earn $150 monthly working on a farm. The income was enough for two meals a day, water, and the $16 Koranic school fees for four of his children. The children have no school to attend in Qooney.

Tankers drawing water from the river sell a barrel for $4.50 to $5 which he cannot afford, so he asks neighbouring families to help them out with water. He tried collecting firewood from the bush to sell but he can’t find a market so gave up.

Other families, like Nimo Osman Ahmed’s family of seven, fled from Luq to Boholgaras, also on the Ethiopian border. They have been living in Tulo-Banan camp since April.

She has been seeking cleaning jobs in the town but they are hard to find, and if she gets one it can only earn enough money to buy one kilogram of rice or flour.

“Some days we go hungry, some days we get something – it’s whatever God provides for us. We are broken – we are not people familiar with the countryside.

There was a lot of shelling [at home] that forced us to run with our children to a safer place. We don’t have food, and we need food water and healthcare,” she told Radio Ergo.

Nimo’s husband has been looking for casual labour jobs but hasn’t found any as they are new in the area.

A jerrycan of water costs $0.60 in the town. Relatives bought them a barrel last month that lasted two weeks. Now they have to rely on water spared by neighbouring families. Nimo walks around the neighbourhoods with a jerrycan on her back begging people to add a few drops for them.

“Water tankers draw water from the river and a jerrycan of water here is sold for 90 birr – we can’t afford to buy it. Previously when we were in our home town we used to work, but now we have left our area,” she said.

Nimo, 38, said two of her children had been suffering from a cough and high fever but she has no money to take them to a doctor.

Strong winds in the area also destroyed the hut they had built from plastic sheets and cloth provided by locals and sticks she and her husband gathered. They sleep out under trees in the valley, where she fears her children might be bitten by snakes.

“We have a lot of hardship and suffering. The hagaa season has begun and when the winds hit the flimsy shelter we built it just collapsed. We went under trees hoping to find some warmth and protection from the wind. We came for safety but we are suffering a lot – we have no food or water and healthcare.”

This is the family’s first time to experience displacement from Luq, where they have lived all their lives.

Tulo-Banan camp in Boholgaras hosts 300 families, while Qooney camp in Qooney has received 150 families from Luq.

The chairman of Qooney camp, Abdi Abdullahi Mohamed, said they had formed a committee to collect food and small items from the local community. They cook whatever is collected and distribute among the displaced families.

“Our biggest problems are that people have no medicine and no shelter. Water was brought by tankers from the river 26 kilometres away. Fuel prices have risen and the tankers can no longer afford to operate here. There are no farms because the farms have been affected by drought. There is no drinking water,” the camp leader said.

Many already living in Qooney area lost their farms and livestock due to inadequate rainfall. They too have moved to camps like Qooney camp, where numbers are growing.

He stated that they had sent out an appeal for help to organisations and the government but they had not yet received any response.