(ERGO) – Several hundred displaced pastoralists have been left homeless and struggling to find food after heavy rain and wind storms struck the camp where they were living in Somaliland’s Ainabo district.
Fadumo Mohamed Hassan’s family of five are among the 200 families sleeping outside since their homes were destroyed in Yamayska camp outside Oog on 2 June.
More than 100 others affected found shelter with relative in Oog, but Fadumo and her children are sheltering under a tree, using plastic sheets and cardboard they gathered to rig up a canopy. At night, they are exposed to cold and mosquitoes.
The storm destroyed their traditional Somali house in the camp, along with all their clothes and cooking utensils.
“It was a very strong wind that took all the houses,” Fadumo told Radio Ergo.
“Our biggest problems are lack of shelter, food, blankets – and mosquitoes as big as flies, making our lives miserable. People with small children ran to the town where their relatives live. Others are sitting here in small huts they put together.”
In the camp, Fadumo relied on occasional aid from organisations and collecting firewood from the bush around the camp to sell. She also took supplies on credit when her earnings were low.
“When we needed supplies, we got small things from shops in town. When we got money, we paid them back. Islamic Relief gave us food for three months several times, but now we don’t have any left. Since then, we’ve had nothing,” she said.
Shopkeepers are demanding repayment of old debts before giving new credit. Fadumo’s bronchitis has flared up, preventing her from working. The father of her children is not present, leaving her as the sole provider.
She struggles to find water and food, making her children just one meal every 24 hours, supported by relatives in Oog. She fetches water on foot from a hand-dug well three kilometres away.
Fadumo and her family lost all their 150 goats and 20 camels in earlier harsh drought in El-afweyn, Sanag region. The Somaliland authorities resettled them in Yamayska camp, eight kilometres from Oog, in 2017.
“That’s where the government brought us. Until yesterday, women were going back to the camp to retrieve what they could like utensils and other belongings. We kept going back and forth until yesterday,” she said.
Another mother affected by the storm, Yurub Hassan Mohamed, is camped out next to a single acacia tree on open land between Yamayska and Oog. She was originally displaced from Garadag in Sanag region after drought killed their 100 goats.
She did not specify how many children she is caring for, but said they were affected by the same hardship.
They rely on cooked food given by other residents and sometimes go without eating for more than two days. She mourned the better life they had in Yamayska camp.
“Organisations used to come to us there. One of them built five latrines for us, another built four. That’s all we got though. Then the wind hit us,” she said.
Yurub said two young boys and an elderly woman were badly injured during the storm in the camp.
She is part of a group of women and men who are building 50 makeshift huts together for those displaced again by the storm so they can feel more secure.
“We started some yesterday, some today. Work will continue tomorrow. You can’t live on bare land so we are gathering materials to build. This place has wild animals and we fear them. Somaliland forces are on every side of us. Women are afraid of thieves coming at night,” Yurub told Radio Ergo.
Meanwhile, Adan Yusuf Dheef, a father of 11, relies on help from relatives in Oog for after losing his home and belongings.
“We lack shelter, food and clothing, so life is hard. We have 100 per cent nothing. We rely on relatives who give us what they can,” he said.
Adan, who worked as a livestock broker, abandoned the business after market activity dried up. He expressed despair at having no plan to escape this hardship. He lost 200 goats during the drought in 2016-17 in the rural areas of Oog.
Those affected are awaiting assistance. Yurub said they would stay in the location where they were now until the government or aid organisations offered something better.