Widowed and Displaced, Women Find Ways to Survive Somali Conflict

[Jacaylbaro]

Many Somali women have lost their husbands and eldest sons, who either died in the country's conflict or simply left home to emigrate to another country. Women often find themselves alone with several children and relatives to look after - and traditionally, women are not typically the breadwinners of the family.

 

Many women struggle to provide for the day-to-day needs of their families, but some are also running businesses selling basic commodities.

Others to work as street cleaners in exchange for food, a job with its own risks. In 2008, a roadside bomb killed 21 women who were cleaning rubbish from a southern Mogadishu street. Forty-six were wounded.

 

In Mogadishu, many internally displaced people live in camps run by Somalis who left their homes. They live in make shift houses constructed from sticks and plastic bags. There is no electricity, limited running water and very poor sanitary conditions.

 

Those who run the camps are think the situation in the country will not improve anytime in the near future.

 

In the camps, women collect firewood, do laundry and carry water for people who have a little money to spare.

 

Life is especially difficult for those who have no work and have to rely on neighbours for support.

 

"We under going difficulties that we never seen before," says one woman. "We do not have proper shelter to live in or a reliable food supply. So we ask for donations from anyone who can afford to help."

 

 

 

READ MORE .................... http://www.english.rfi.fr/africa/20110227-widowed-and-displaced-women-find-ways-survive-somali-conflict