Drought knocks Somali women butchers in Garowe out of a living

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Monday June 6, 2022

(ERGO) – Halimo Mohamed Jamah, a mother of five and sole income earner in her family in Garowe, used to sell camel meat making a decent $20 a day until the impact of the drought and inflation knocked her out of the market.

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Until November 2021, she was able to pay the family’s $40 rent and meals as well as school fees for three of her children. Thereafter the situation rapidly deteriorated until in March they had no option than to join Kara-kataa IDP camp in northeastern Somalia’s Puntland state.

“We have a small makeshift here in the camp which gives us relief from the burden of paying rent and we get a $65 voucher card every month from World Food Programme. We take this voucher card to shops in a partnership with WFP to buy the food stuffs that we need,” Halimo said.

Halimo used to buy a medium sized camel weighing about 50kg for $150 on credit. She would sell the meat in smaller portions to local customers and pay the wholesaler back afterwards. However, as the drought worsened the camel herders moved their camels further away from the town in search of pasture and fewer camels were being sold for meat in town. The price of a medium camel escalated to around $230.

Halimo eventually ran up debts of $800 that she could not repay, forcing to the family out of their house.

“My children are at home and they don’t go to secular or Koranic school. Whenever they see their agemates going to school you can tell from their faces how unhappy they are,” Halimo said, adding that her children dropped out of primary school in February when she failed to raise $33 in fees. Her husband has been jobless for a long time.

About 20 women butchers in Garowe have been similarly affected by the livelihood crisis brought about by the drought. Istahil Farah, a single mother of six, was also put out of business.

“I used to earn my living selling meat, but now the high cost of living has pushed us into despair. Life has become too harsh on us, no school, no water, no electricity,” Halimo said.

In February, Istahil was arrested and taken to a local court in Garowe after failing to pay $4,000 she owed to the camel meat wholesalers.

Her relatives came through and were able to pay half of the debt. She was released and told to make the final payment in June, but she has no money and fears what may happen.

Jawahir Ismail Ahmed, a divorcee with six children, also owned a butchery and enjoyed a decent living until costs rose dramatically. She had been making $15 profit a day for the past two years but stopped the business in December. She now depends on her relatives.

“We are in a stressful situation; we are so demoralised. The most difficult thing I experienced when I stopped working was that I was not able to sleep for four days. I was crying a lot in the middle of the night. People read the Koran to me and then I felt relieved from the distress,” said Jawahir, emphasising how tough it is raising her children alone.

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