Helping poverty stricken families in Somaliland

Fatuma Osman is a social worker at the SOS Social Centre in Hargeisa, Somaliland. One day she went to visit Safia, one of the Family Strengthening Programme beneficiaries in the local market and was amazed by what she saw.

The Family Strengthening Programme team first met Safia and her family in April 2007 when assessments for the programme started. Safia lives with her six children and a grandchild all crammed in a one-roomed hut measuring approximately four by four metres, in a nearby slum area close to the SOS Children's Village. The village where Safia lives is mainly populated by low income earners or generally very poor people. Everywhere the desperate situation is visible and similar.

Safia's traditional Somali hut, which had been built for her by her late husband, leaked whenever it rained. The hut, which was patched together using old rusted milk tins, tattered clothes, sticks, pieces of card boxes and plastic paper, was in a very bad state as it needed repairs, but that was a luxury she could not afford. The position of the homestead was also dangerous as when it rained the floods would pass right in front of the compound, leaving the children vulnerable to falling into the water or catching water borne diseases as they played in it.

The children were malnourished and occasionally suffered from diarrhea caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene. Most of the children had ringworm, visible from the wounds on their heads. Their skin also had lesions, showing that they were suffering from skin ailments. The children and their mother slept on old torn plastic carpets as they could not afford any proper beds, let alone a mattress. Water was also a big problem as Safia's oldest daughter would trek with her for miles to search for this precious commodity, only to come back with very little or sometimes none at all, having gone for many hours leaving the younger children unattended. Safia had given up all hope of having to provide for her young ones. This left her with little energy or strength to provide the basic needs for her family. She would work very hard but what she made at the end of the day was not enough to feed the hungry mouths that awaited her return.

However, life has dramatically changed for Safia and her family after she joined the SOS Family Strengthening Programme seven months ago. After meeting Safia and giving her support towards her income generation and much needed guidance in the form of self esteem, trauma counselling, business skills training and planning for her family, she proved nothing would be impossible in her quest for success. Safia is now a vibrant, talkative and confident lady who says she cannot afford to fall back in her business. She had hired men to help her repair the hut using new plastic pieces, recycled iron sheets and some nice cloths lining the inside. She said that during the recent rains it had not leaked as it usually did. The children too have benefited from Safia's hard work, as she slightly increased the size of the hut so that the children now have a better space to live in, and she has changed the direction of the hut to keep the floods away from her compound during the rainy season. In addition two of her oldest children attend school, for which Safia pays fees while the little ones attend the Quranic School waiting to be enrolled in school soon.

Safia can now afford to dress and feed her children better as she is able to make up to US$ 12 in a day. She has also purchased a mattress which the younger children sleep on. She makes a profit of about half a dollar per dress and eighty cents for every dozen bananas sold. After making all the necessary home purchases and deducting her buying price for the items she sold, Safia makes a final profit of about US$ 5 which she puts into a revolving fund. She is now able to afford the little 'extras' she once only dreamed about. In addition she has started weaving baskets to sell, during her spare time in the evenings as she watches her children play.

Every child is entitled to shelter, warmth, love and security and Safia, with the help of the SOS Family Strengthening Programme is now able to give all of that to her children. Instead of living in misery and despondency Safia now has hope for the future.