A Mother’s Determination

She isn’t just a mother. She is a father as well. She isn’t just a mother to three or four children. She is a mother to ten children. She isn’t just a mother who has to make ends meet. She is a mother who has to ensure that her children are well fed and go to school. She isn’t a mother whose sole purpose is to fend for her children. She is a mother whose life revolves around her children. She isn’t just any mother. She is Hamda Ibrahim Muse.

Hamda is 35 years old and a mother to ten children. She lives in Sheer-Dheer village, Awdal region of Somaliland. Life for her is filled with struggles having to ensure that her children are well fed and go to school.

She has a small makeshift shop made of sticks and covered with small dried twigs to offer shade from the scorching sun. This is also where she leaves his youngest son to play and sleep as she works.

Hamda's makeshift shop with some of the foodstuff that she sells

Her shop is not fully stocked. She sells small things like onions, potatoes, biscuits, sweets, and soaps among other things. She would like to have more for her shop but the drought in the area has made it hard to restock the shop, as community members don’t have enough money to buy food, least of all basic necessities.

“The money, I get from the small business, I use it to pay school fees, buy food, medicine, clothes and milk for the children,” she says.

Three of her children are in primary and secondary school. She wants them to have uninterrupted education. She wants them to have a better future. She ensures that all she does leads to this goal she has unconsciously made for her children. Schooling three children is hard enough; schooling the other children will be even tougher, but she is determined to see her goal realised.

“It is hard to pay their school fees with the biting drought, as I sell less things, but I want them to have a better life in the future. I pay for their school fees, clothes and food so as to encourage them to attend school everyday,” she warmly says with a smile.

Through the Irish Aid, World Vision has been responding to the people’s needs through interventions such as Community based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) activities as well as protected livelihood through livestock restocking and unconditional cash exchange.

Hamda was among 19 vulnerable men and women selected for the unconditional cash transfer. She received USD 220 to supplement what she does.

“With the money, I took care of the family’s basic needs like buying food, water and milk for the children, I also repaid a loan I had taken. I was also able to restock my shop,” she happily says.

Communities in Sheer-Dheer are benefiting from the Irish Aid activities through World Vision to help them alleviate the drastic effects of the drought.

Story By:

Abdirahman Abdilahi Muse

WASH Communications Coordinator