Trapped in a sea of mud, there’s no escape for the disabled of Somalia

When the floods came to the city of Baidoa in south-western Somalia everyone who could rushed to safer, higher ground.

But one group of people could not move – those living with disabilities.

About 800 families remain trapped in the Al Barako camp for displaced disabled people on the outskirts of Baidoa where what the United Nations has described as ‘once-in-a-century’ floods have submerged much of the town.

The camp is situated in a crater-like depression and now resembles a lake.

One of Al Barako’s residents is 80-year-old Boley Ma’alin Abikar. She is completely blind and lives in a makeshift shelter with her family, many of whom are also disabled.

Boley Ma’alin Abikar

The family earlier this year fled the more than 200 kilometres to Baidoa from their home in Qoryoley, southern Somalia following a devastating drought which killed their herd of 260 cows and goats.

They also faced increased intimidation from the militant Islamist group Al Shabaab which controls much of the country. As the drought started to bite and their resources to dwindle, they found it increasingly difficult to pay the taxes demanded by the group.

Snakes and mosquitoes increase risk of death

The longer Abikar’s family are stuck in the camp, the greater the risk of water-borne diseases. Suspected cases of cholera have already been reported in Somalia.

“We cannot sleep as our beds are underwater,” says Abikar, her orange headscarf matching the orange plastic sheeting covering the makeshift shelters in Al Barako.

Boley’s daughter, Batulo Mohamed Ibrahim

“The place is full of snakes and mosquitoes, and the water is polluted with sewage and other filth.”

Abikar’s daughter, Batulo Mohamed Ibrahim, was born disabled. She is confined to a wheelchair where she sits in faded, ragged clothes, her feet caked in mud. Her legs and arms are deformed and she has never been able to speak.

Before the floods, relatives used to wheel her into town where she would beg, using the money she earned to help feed the family.

Now she is completely stuck as it is impossible to push her wheelchair through the thick, heavy mud. It takes three or four people to lift her a short distance.

Like Ibrahim, several residents of the camp used to make money by begging in central Baidoa. Now they are stranded, unable to go out to seek food, clean water, medicine or other essentials.

Unable to work or beg

Abikar also lives with her son, Mohamed Ibrahim, his wife and their 10 children, all of whom were born with disabilities. Some are blind or otherwise physically disabled; others have mental disabilities. Ibrahim used to find work in town as a porter and cleaner. He is now jobless.

The United Nations says 384 informal settlements have been affected by flooding in Baidoa, putting at risk more than a quarter of a million people displaced by war and drought.

At least 110 people have lost their lives in the floods and more than one million forced to flee their homes. This has brought the total number of displaced in Somalia to at least four million, more than 20% of the population.

Boley’s son Mohamed Ibrahim

The impact of climate change is one of the key reasons people flee their homes. Shortly after the country was stricken by the worst drought in 40 years caused by an unprecedented five failed rainy seasons, torrential rains submerged towns, villages, fields and farms.

With the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza/ Israel grabbing international attention and resources, humanitarian agencies are struggling to fund emergency responses in countries like Somalia, which has endured 35 years of conflict.

The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia which requires $2.6 billion to help 7.6 million of the country’s most vulnerable people has only been 42 percent funded.

By 3 December 2023, the United Nations said some form of assistance had reached about 820,000 people, about 30% of those impacted by the floods.

No help has reached the disabled of Al Barako

Boats have been airlifted to some of the worst-hit areas, while others remain inaccessible as they are controlled by Al Shabaab, affected by conflict or, like the camp for the disabled in Baidoa, simply out of reach.

So far, no humanitarian agency has provided any assistance to the residents of Al Barako.

The government-appointed chairman of people living with disabilities in South-West state, Mustaf Salad Ali, acknowledged the difficulties faced by residents of the camp.

“Some of them cannot see or hear. Others cannot move. So they cannot run away from the raging floods or even know they are coming. The community and the government need to work together to help them.”

However, Ali said the government is overwhelmed with helping others affected by the floods and is not yet able to help the disabled of Al Barako.

His words offer little comfort for people like Ibrahim Ali Jesow who was born with malformed legs. He is unable to leave the camp as his crutches get stuck in the mud.

Clean drinking water is out of reach

He used to scratch a living teaching the Quran to disabled children.

“I taught about 50 students in a makeshift classroom. Their parents paid me what they could afford. Some gave me two or three Euros a month; others paid me nothing,” he says.

“Now the classroom has been swept away in the floods so the children cannot learn, I cannot teach and I cannot earn a living.”

Children in the camp.

“We don’t have water to drink or wash ourselves before we pray,” says Jesow. It costs 0.5 Euros to buy, something we cannot afford even if we were able to make our way to places where people sell water.”

“We are at great risk of contracting diseases from the contaminated water we are forced to drink.”

Unless help reaches Al Barako soon or the floodwaters recede enough for them to leave, there are serious risks of a cholera outbreak in the camp.

For disabled families like Abikar’s where only two out of 14 people are able-bodied, the future is bleak. Their shelter has been destroyed, they have no way of earning a living and little prospect of rebuilding their lives for months if not years to come.

An edited version of this article was originally published in Planeta Futuro-EL PAIS, https://elpais.com/planeta-futuro/2024-01-04/primero-sequia-luego-inundaciones-los-somalies-con-discapacidad-atrapados-por-los-estragos-del-clima.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=social&ssm=TW_CM_PF&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1704442098

Bilan is Somalia’s first all-women media team. Funded by the European Union through UNDP and hosted by Dalsan Media Group, Bilan shines a light on the issues women care about and offers a platform for women’s voices.

Naima Said Salah, Baidoa, Somalia