Extreme heat has forced labourers living in displacement camps in the northern coastal city of Bosaso to stop work, leading to food and water shortage for their families.

“Can a man sweating with a heavy load of sacks on his head keep working? The answer is no! We’ve been affected by the heat and we are in great hardship,” said Asar Hassan Farah, 50, a porter at Bosaso port living in Gultale IDP camp.

Asar has reduced the days he works to two a week and is now struggling to afford one meal a day on the $16 a week he is earning.

“On the days I work, we cook once a day, there is no second meal, we just wait until the next day. Our main concern today is that we are hungry,” he told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.

Asar’s family have been living in the camp since being displaced in November 2019 from their farm in Tiyeglow, Bakool region, following successive failed rainy season.

On days when his family has no food they turn to their neighbours for help. He used to earn an average $160, but with temperatures soaring currently between 39-45 degrees celsius, he cannot keep up with the work.

About 270 families living in Gutale camp, five kilometres west of Bosaso, are facing food and water scarcity due to the weather conditions making manual labour more challenging.

Abdi Ahmed Abdi, another IDP in the camp, told Radio Ergo that he used to work every day but is now down to three days a week. Earning just $100, he has cut down on expenses and the family of six children eat once a day.

Water is also short and currently costs two dollars a jerry can.

“A family can use five to six to seven jerry cans a week. There is no money to spend on water now, but it’s very hot and we must buy water,” he said.

Abdi is also a porter at Bosaso port although making the 10-kilometre trip from his makeshift house in Gutale camp is arduous.

Abdi’s family also came to Bosaso in 2019, fleeing drought on their two-hectare farm in Tiyeglow.

They settled first in Boro camp and located to Gutale due to clan conflict in June 2022. Everyone has to pay the private landowners of Gutale $3 a month in rent.

The camp leader, Jama Mohamed Abdulle, said they have spoken to Bosaso city administration about the hardships beings faced in the camp and the need for humanitarian assistance.

“We have been to the social affairs department several times; we have also spoken to the regional administration although we have not got any help until now. We can’t address the issues at camp level, but we don’t have the capacity,” he said.

Bosaso city usually experiences four months of extreme heat every year when many locals travel out to other regions and many businesses and other social activities become dormant. This year’s temperatures have been higher than usual.

Source: Radio Ergo