BELEDWEYNE (SoOHA) – Bedridden and poor, 55–year–old Ahmed Farah Gedi embodies the hardships faced by disabled people and their families living in IDP camps in Somalia. In this part of our series, Radio Ergo visits Kulmiye camp in Beledwyene, Hiran region. Ahmed Farah Gedi, 55, is one of the people living with disabilities in Kulmiye camp, Beledweyne. He was previously a proud …

KISMAYO (SoOHA) – University staff and students in Kismayo have treated hundreds of low income people at a free medical camp in three villages that lack access to health services.   A team from Plasma University in Kismayo conducted free diagnosis and treatment for 540 people in the villages of Bulabartire, Istanbul, Khamkham and Yontoy.  Shukri Abdullahi Abdi and her three children were among those treated …

GAROWE (SoOHA) – Rough terrain and impassable roads are reducing profits for small scaleSomali coffee farmers in Puntland.  The farmers in the Al–Madow mountain range, stretching west from Bossaso to the northwest of Erigavo, are forced to use donkeys to transport their coffee beans to an accessible transit point, where they pay commercial lorries for onward transport to the northern port city of Bossaso.  Mukhtar Abdullahi Isse, who lives in Dadan village, has two plots measuring 2.5 hectares …

HARGEISA (SoOHA) — If she was to meet someone from her past life, Halima Dahir Mahmoud is not sure they would recognize her. She’s lost weight and is constantly stressed. She was once a nomadic herder who would roam the Ethiopian countryside with her 200 sheep and goats, and 50 …

HARGEISA (SoOHA) – Agriculture students from universities in Somaliland have been helping local farmers to master improved farming methods in order to strengthen their production.  Twenty-five students from Hargeisa, Golis and Beder universities in Hargeisa have been volunteering their knowledge and introducing skills to 500 farmers across Somaliland, including in Gebiley, Arabasiyo, Abarso, Adadley, and Dacadr-budhuq.  Mubarik Mohamed Iman, a …

DADAAB (SoOHA) – Ibrahim Mohamed Mukhtar, 28, is running a thriving photography business in northeastern Kenya’s Dadaab camp and employing four other Somali refugee youth. Having lived in Dadaab since he was a baby, and coming from a poor family, Ibrahim started making a name for himself as a photographer after leaving primary school in 2017.  …

HARGEISA (SoOHA) – In this week’s report from Somalia’s IDP camps, Radio Ergo visits Nasa-Hablood camp near Hargeisa, where destitute former pastoralist families face a lost past, an empty future, and constant threats of eviction from landowners. Fear and anxiety haunt the displaced pastoralist families in Nasa-Hablood camp, on the outskirts of the …

Accessing populations is a major challenge for the humanitarian sector in parts of Somalia. Widespread insecurity threatens the safety of aid workers, and can limit the ability to show accountability for funding. But some are asking whether humanitarians — and the donors funding them — have become too risk-averse, leaving …

HARGEISA (SoOHA) – The community and local administration in Somaliland’s Saraar region havebrought relief to drought-hit families in villages facing acute water shortage.   Ulasan and War-imran villages in Saraar have been facing a longstanding water crisisthat has forced some residents to move away to other areas. The nearest water source is 30 km away.  Ahmed Mohamed Hashi, the mayor of Aynabo town, told Radio Ergo that members of the local assembly …

Conflict and disaster have shaped the lives of the Somali people for the last 30 years. Now, a new initiative is helping women to develop their own businesses – making them and their families more resilient to any future upheaval. The security situation in Somalia is still unstable after years …