Somalia – June 10 2020

Life under coronavirus in Somalia

“If my business continues like this, I’m afraid I will go back to square one.”

Faduma lives in Mogadishu, in Heliwa district together with her eight children. She is among the beneficiaries from the SOS Children’s Villages family strengthening program in Somalia. She was a stay at home mother who depended on her relatives to pay for her family bills. Her children were not enrolled in school because she could not afford to pay the school fees. Faduma was struggling in providing the three basic meals to her children, at times they would only eat twice a day.

“Before enrolling in the family strengthening program with SOS Children’s Villages Somalia, I remember going to the health center and the nurses worrying about the weight of my children as they showed signs of malnutrition. I was a stay at home mom and heavily depended on my family members sending money for most of my and my children’s needs. Things changed after I got trained by the FSP team in business startup for six consecutive months. This equipped me with knowledge and skills which I merged with my own to start a small-scale business.

I am thankful now that I can fully support my family with this small income I receive from my business. I am more skilled and know about different ways of business bargaining when I buy and sell products. My children are going to school and I have enrolled them in private schools and the SOS school near my neighborhood. It makes me so happy when I see how excited they get about their education.

Now schools are closed and we have the COVID-19 pandemic affecting a lot of things including my business. Most of my customers are not paying me on time because they depend on their families who send remittance from abroad. If my business continues like this, I’m afraid I will go back to square one of struggling to provide for my children.”


𝘍𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘖𝘚 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢. ⁣

 

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