Friday February 24, 2023
(ERGO) – Maryan Isaq Abdirahman and her three children escaped the conflict in Lasanod, Somaliland, on 13 February and are living now in Jilab camp, three kilometres outside Garowe in Puntland, with relatives who barely have enough resources for themselves.
“I live with a woman who is also poor. Today she cooked some flat bread for us. She goes out to the city and comes back at night after selling ice on the street,” said Maryan.
“We eat flat bread in the morning and stay hungry for the rest of the day. I have some milk for my baby only to last tonight. I will be lucky if I get some powdered milk left for the baby by tomorrow morning.”
Maryan has attached pieces of cloth onto an acacia tree to shelter her children, including her three-month-old baby son. She was lucky to have carried blankets for the baby, but she is concerned he is not getting enough nutrition for his growth.
Displaced depending on displaced
The family they are staying with were displaced by drought and conflict in South West state and have been living in the camp for nine years. They have little they can share with others.
Maryan used to earn six dollars a day providing house-keeping services and lived in a two-room house made of wood and iron sheets. However, when the conflict erupted, she could only grab the children and their clothes before fleeing.
“We scrambled onto trucks and moved out with the other families. We asked them to take us, they didn’t even ask us to pay,” she said.
The Puntland Disaster Relief Committee reports that 200-300 families a day are arriving in Nugal region from the conflict zone.
Thousands of families who fled Lasanod since the beginning of February are sleeping rough under trees or in mosques or IDP camps, without access to adequate food.
Children sleeping in a mosque
Asha Adan Ali fled to Garowe with her 12 children on 9 February and has not managed to contact her husband back in Lasanod. She does not know if he is alive or not.
She was given a small room by local well-wishers, who share some food and cooking utensils with them. However, as they could not all fit in the room, four of her children are sleeping in a nearby mosque.
“We are four families living in a house owned by the locals. We depend on the locals for everything, to give us food, clothing, and shelter.
We didn’t think what it would be like when we fled!” she said.
Asha was running a small shop in Lasanod selling vegetables and other food that earned her a comfortable $12 a day in profit. She could pay the children’s school fees, and they lived in a five-room house.
Now she cannot even pay the $300 she owes the truck owner who transported them out to safety.
“We fled the area while the food was still locked up in the shop. We don’t have any information about the situation there – maybe it has all been looted!” she wondered.
Relief agencies overwhelmed
The head of Puntland Disaster Relief Committee, Awil Mohamed Hersi, said they have managed to resettle 500 displaced families and support them with food.
He admitted that the Puntland administration is overwhelmed by the influx and acknowledged the help local people are giving to the displaced families.
“The people are in large numbers and it’s hard to attend to all of them. Thanks to the people who have shared their homes with the displaced, whoever arrives is getting a house and some food,” he said.
An IDP monitoring committee set up to collect statistics to inform aid needs reported that more than 24,000 families fleeing Lasanod moved to Puntland in the first two weeks of February weeks.