(ERGO) – Hundreds of families from marginalised communities living in Puntland are facing dire conditions in displacement camps they joined at the start of this year. Unable to afford the high cost of urban life, and subjected to discrimination in town centres, many have sought refuge in informal settlements on the outskirts of towns like Garowe.
A recent survey conducted by local organisation, Somali Minority Women and Children Development (SMWD) that supports marginalised groups found that financial hardship had left these families unable to buy the basic needs like food, water, shelter, healthcare, and education.
Amino Hirsi Guled, a mother of six who has been living in the Washington internal displacement (IDP) camp since 26 January 2025, said they often go without food for days.
“My family and I have no money at all. I swear we didn’t eat anything last night or the day before. Now we’re cooking a small amount of food I took on credit from a shop, and Allah is my witness. I have no other food. My neighbours here are just like me,” Asha told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.
Her children, the youngest of whom is five years old, sleep hungry when there’s nothing to eat. She explained how their life fell apart after her husband lost his job making shoes in Garowe late last year.
“When he was working, he used to earn between $7 and $10 a day, enough for us to survive. But customers disappeared, rent became impossible, and people switched to buying imported shoes instead. He had to stop working.”
Amino said things got worse when shopkeepers refused to give her credit because of the stigma surrounding displaced families.
“Once you are looked down upon, that’s it. If you ask for credit at the shop, they’ll say we won’t pay back and tell us to leave. If you ask for meat and ask for credit, they’ll say, ‘Do you have money?’ When you say no, they refuse and send you away. There is a lot of discrimination.”
Access to clean water is another daily struggle.
“We drink bitter water I carry on my back from a well two kilometres away. I can’t afford clean water, which sells for 60 cents per jerrycan. The children wince when I give them this water, it’s not fit for drinking.”
When they arrived in the camp, Amino built a hut from scraps of cloth, branches, and torn iron sheets. It has been worn down by wind and sun, and during this rainy season it leaks badly.
“This house is made of rags and sticks. Last week, rain poured down from above and floodwater came up from below. Tonight, it’s raining again, and it’s getting worse.”
Amino said they have received no assistance since arriving in the camp.
Before coming to Puntland, the family lived in Shabelle zone in Ethiopia’s Somali Region, where drought and disease killed their sheep, their source of livelihood income, forcing them to leave. She hoped for a better life in the camp but hasn’t found it.
The survey published by SMWD on 25 April confirmed what many families like Amino’s experience: marginalised people in IDP camps face extreme poverty, lack of services, and widespread neglect.
The head of SMWD, Farhiyo Yusuf Hirsi, told Radio Ergo that more marginalised families were arriving in the camps each week, as they were pushed out of towns by discrimination and economic exclusion.
“Our study found that these people lack all basic necessities of life,” Farhiyo said. “Unemployment is so severe they cannot afford rent or food. Their traditional skilled trades have vanished, and they were never wealthy to begin with. They’ve found no support here — no shelter, no water, no healthcare, and no schools.”
She added that most of them were not officially registered, meaning they don’t qualify for any aid available for internally displaced people.
“Their numbers are increasing every day. More are joining them, fleeing lives full of hardship and prejudice. And yet, they remain invisible to aid agencies and local authorities,” Farhiyo added.
The survey proposed 17 recommendations to address the 28 identified challenges that these families face, including demands for targeted aid, job quotas, and legal protections.
“These people are not treated equally. They are excluded from administrative positions, which means their voices are unheard. We must create laws that protect them and ensure they receive humanitarian aid like everyone else,” Farhiyo of SMWD stated.
An elderly woman raising 10 orphaned children, Sahra Ali Abdi, described similar their hardships in Jilib Shan camp outside Garowe.
They are facing food shortages, lack of water, and have poor shelter. They also suffer constant discrimination from those around them.
“I used to work hard to support these children, but after throat surgery at the end of February, I couldn’t do any physical labour anymore. That’s when everything got worse,” Sahro said.
Now, she begs for raw or cooked food from neighbours who may have something to share. Sometimes she finds help but other times the children go to bed on empty stomachs.
“We live with hunger. We have no means of survival. Sometimes we don’t cook for 24 hours. Some families give us lunch occasionally, but that’s all. We fled our home hoping for relief, but I got sick and had surgery so I have nothing left.”
In June 2024, two of Sahra’s sons were captured by rival clan members and killed during long standing grievances and tensions among Somali clans in Mudug region. This left her having to raise the children, whom she took to the IDP camp in Garowe.
Water trucks sell one barrel of water in the camp for $3.5. If neighbours collect money to buy her a barrel, she makes it last a month and a half.
There are no schools in the camp and no health care facilities either.
“My children haven’t gone to school, not before and not now,” she said. “How can they, when we can’t even find food? Everywhere you turn, it’s ‘give me money’ and I don’t have any!”
The family lives in a single, overcrowded hut. At night, the younger children sleep inside, while the older ones stay outside. When it rains, they all crowd inside, standing up as the roof leaks. She always fears eviction.
“At the end of April, landowners came and told us to leave immediately. I don’t know where we’ll go if they force us out.”
For women like Sahra and Amino, survival depends on borrowed food, often dirty water, and the hope that their voices will be heard.
SMWD has called for urgent action, including official recognition, emergency aid, and legal protections so that such displaced families can get the support they desperately need instead of being forgotten in the margins of a broken system.