Hard time surely passes!

Deeqa Determined to meet the needs of her children

FS Mogadishu was launched in October, 2018 in Heliwa District. Deeqa who is a vulnerable single mother with six children was registered into the program to change the living situation of her children. She could not get three meals a day for her six children and enrolling them in school was not a possibility at the time. She used to sell charcoal at her homestead but could not make enough profit to meet the needs of the children. The charcoal also went out of stock in the market quit often.

She became a member of Bandarwanag CBO. She attended a number business management trainings conducted by SOS project staff. She later received a loan of USD 400 and invested in small poultry farm at her in her homestead as well. Her business started to grow gradually and her customers increased therefore, allowing her to slowly change the living condition of her six children. By March 2020, the spread of Covid19 reached Somalia and the first person tested positive in the country. The pandemic spread first. the government of
Deeqa selling charcoal at her homestead

Somalia came up with mitigation measures to prevent further spread of the infection in Somalia and Mogadishu in Particular. This meant closure of the country borders with neighboring countries, suspension of flights, restriction of people and vehicular movement and closure of all learning institutes.   Apparently commodities went out of stock and prices went high. Deeqa said, “Covid19 threatened my small growing business since the number of customers reduced drastically.”

Once again life became difficult for the children of Deeqa. With no school and play outside with neighboring children, all six children had to stay indoors to be safe from the risk of infection.

SOS children’s village Somalia developed Covid19 risk mitigation measures for the FS project beneficiaries and secured budget to support CBO members on Covid19 preparedness, prevention and response. The Covid19 budget for the project beneficiaries covered on three areas; 

1. Six month food vouchers for 297 beneficiaries from September 2020 to February 2021 to help them cope up with covid19 market shocks and support them continue with loan repayment.    
2. Covid19 awareness raising for all project beneficiaries, children, young adults and caregivers. Toll free lines placed at the two CBO offices to reach out to families for covid19 sensitization through telephone. There were two TV sets as well placed at the CBO offices playing covid19 audio-visual messages for CBO members visiting the offices while visibility materials with Covid19 messages posted on walls for sensitization to minimize the risk of infection.
3. Demonstration of handwashing skills and distribution of handwashing facilities and soap detergents for all project beneficiaries to improve hygiene and prevent the risk of infection.

On top of that, social workers paid home visits to FS households while observing covid19 preventive measure that includes social distance, facemasks and handwashing. They gave psycho-social support to children of FS families to build their resilience and cope up with Covid19 impact. They also help the children attend lessons aired over the radio.

Deeqa benefitted from all the covid19 activities thus enabling run her business effectively again by use of alternative methods of customer attraction/relation such as use telecommunication and increasing visibility of posters of her business.

Improving the sales of her business again and increasing her household income. In April 2021, She received a second loan of USD 700 and invested in a new line of business, this time a shop and closed the charcoal
Distribution of handwashing facilities for FS caregiver

Business since it could not work well for her. Deeqa’s shop is now expanding and has good relationship with her customers. Her profit from the business increases after every month.

Her ambition is to work hard and expand her business further to be able to cater for all the essential services her children need including health, education, food and nutrition and quality care for children.

Practical demonstration of handwashing skills.

“ I will double my efforts to ensure that my business keeps expanding so that my family is self-reliant and that my children grow in good living condition,” said Deeqa.

           Deeqa’s current shop

Deeqa is also an active member of Bandarwanag CBO and contributes well in mobilizing and sensitizing the CBO members as she is a good public speaker.

Deeqa thanks SOS for supporting her family generate income and gain parenting skills. She says it made her six children happy and grow healthy.