12.10.09
From Somaliland
Rowda Mohamed Elmi is 43 years old and lives in the Stadium neighborhood in the Somaliland capital, Hargeysa. This is a small neighborhood located in south of Hargeysa town where many Somaliland returnees and IDPs from South and Central Somalia live.
Rowda has seven children comprising of four girls and three boys between the ages of 18 and 9 years. All of her children have access to education in Hargeysa through the support of None-Governmental Organizations. However, she says, life is difficult because she is the sole breadwinner for the family since the childrens’ father is jobless.
Rowda fled Hargeysa to become a refugee in Eastern Ethiopia twice. She was first displaced in 1988 following the civil anarchy and later in October 1994 after clashes between two rival sub-clans in Somaliland spread to Hargeysa. “Life has been very difficult for me and my family during this period. Our house was destroyed and property looted during the clashes. We fled without anything to keep us going. We lived in refugee camps under very harsh living conditions. Our children missed out on their education and there were no health facilities to cater for us,” she says. She returned in 1997 to a more stable Hargeysa than she left in 1994.
Despite all the challenges she faced during the time of the conflict, she is now one strong woman who confronted the hard times with courage. Rowda currently participates in a 53-member women group being supported through the Danish Refugee Council’s revolving fund project. The project is aimed at rebuilding the lives of many women affected by conflicts by setting up small businesses to improve their living conditions. She is now operating a small kiosk selling food staff and cold drinks. She also sells goat meat to the villagers.
Being the breadwinner, Rowda has a tight schedule everyday. The most challenging part of her daily work is going to the livestock marker to buy a goat to sell its meat. She has to be at the market as early as 5 am local time. The livestock market is dominated by men. As a woman, she has to negotiate hard to get one at a good price to earn her a profit when selling its meat. She returns home at around 6:30 am to prepare breakfast for the children before sending them to school. She opens her kiosk at 7:30 am to sell the meat and the food stuff. She returns at 7:30 PM everyday. Rowda plans to continue working hard to make enough money to build a house for her family and provide for herself and her children in future.
Some 11,979 women have benefited from the DRC’s revolving fund projected and other small grants since 2000. The assistance DRC is providing to Rowda and other IDP and returnee women in Somaliland, is funded by Danida and UNHCR.
