"Before, our children were constantly sick from the water, and our cattle weren’t getting enough," said Luli. She leans casually on the wooden counter of her small business while she talks, wrapped in a bright yellow cloth. On the shelves behind her are bottles of oils and spices, some sacks of rice and flour are stacked on the ground. When war broke out in Somalia, Luli lived with her husband and their five children in Mogadishu, formerly called the "Pearl of East Africa”. As successful businessmen, they had several houses. However after the break out of war, some of their friends and family members were killed. Not long after, Luli and her family fled to Haro Shiikh, her native village in the province of Somaliland.
By the time they arrived the war had also reached their village and almost all were dead or had fled. Shortly after arriving in the village her husband also died. But Luli had to be strong; she worked hard, bred goats and eventually built ‘Luli’s shop’, a small kiosk which she still runs today. Setbacks and hardship were neverending: her goats and sheep died during droughts, and the children were sick from the filthy water. “Nothing has influenced the course of my life more than war and water,” says the 53-year-old.
Listening to Luli, you can truly understand the meaning of the phrase ‘Water is Life’. In my apartment at home, I turn on the tap. Out of it comes water, as much as I want and right when I want it. For Luli, fetching water used to be a burdensome daily task. Hours were spent walking to fetch water for he family and her animals. It’s simple math: no clean water leads to disease and sometimes death.
Luli stands beside her village's new water tank. Photo: Johanna Mitscherlich/CARE.
Emerging humanitarian catastrophe
We drove seven hours from the capital of Somaliland, Hargeisa, to reach Luli’s village. We drove through the parched, sandy landscape past cattle and countless potholes. In this region, 70% of people live off of the cattle trade, and like Luli, they and their animals are dependent on water. If it does not rain this year, a humanitarian catastrophe can quickly emerge. To mitigate the effects of drought, CARE built a water tank in Luli’s village two years ago. With funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, solar-powered water tanks were installed to provide the village with clean water.
Initially there was a catch: the solar pump had to be constantly repaired. However, the nearest car technicians were 600 kilometres away in Hargeisa and no one in the village owned a car. My colleague Hassan who studied engineering, had a fantastic idea to solve the problem:
Hassan and colleagues at CARE in Somaliland joined the electricity of the village with the solar system to the water pump. Luli, whose shop is one of 20 houses in the village with electricity, no longer pays her electricity bills to a company, but to Ahmed. Ahmed is 22 years old and comes from the neighbouring village. He was trained by CARE technicians to service the solar-powered water pump. “I hold a great responsibility because without me, people have no water and no light,” he says proudly. The villagers can now charge their mobile phones using solar power, too. A charged battery is essential in a Somalia, where little cash is used. Instead, people pay for goods through their mobile phones. Written on the wall of Luli’s shop is the number to which her customers can send their money.
Luli sells groceries in her small shop in Haro Shiikh. Photo: Johanna Mitscherlich/CARE.
Luli’s village of Haro Shiikh now has access to clean water. Many of the 2.8 million people in Somalia do not. At a time when over 70% of people in Somalia are looking for a job, Ahmed now has steady employment. I am impressed by my colleague Hassan’s creative idea and its implementation. My colleagues’ determination to find long-term solutions in a country that has been shaped by decades of famine, instability and violence. In today’s world, we are know a lot about technology. Solar panels can charge our electronics and your phone can pay for a stick of gum. Above all, we now know that sometimes, water has to be light, so it can be life.
CARE technician Ahmed helps maintain the village's solar-powered water tank. Photo: Johanna Mitscherlich/CARE.