Is there any life after explosions?

By Naima Said Salah, Reporter, Bilan Media

Whenever there’s a big attack in Somalia, journalists, like the security forces and paramedics, rush to the scene to report the story. When the attack is huge, like the truck bombings in Mogadishu on 14 October 2017 which killed more than 500 people and injured hundreds of others, international media focus their spotlight on Somalia.

But what happens afterwards? When the media moves on and the ‘story’ fades into the background? What happens to the families of those who were killed? What happens to the lives of those who were maimed? Their stories are rarely told.

More than six years after the October 2017 attack at Sobe junction, hundreds of people are still struggling to cope.

One of them is Sahra Ali Ahmed who lost her legs in the explosion.

The loss of her limbs led to the loss of her business and the loss of a decent life for her family. She used to earn between $5 and $8 a day selling goats’ milk.

“I used to be a happy and hardworking person,” says Ms Ahmed. “Now I am unable to work and my family has been torn apart.”

She explains how her marriage collapsed after the incident as her husband blamed her for what happened.

“My three children and I moved to a rural part of Galgadud region to live with my mother,” says Ms Ahmed. She has now returned to Mogadishu due to persistent violence in Galgadud from which she could not run away as she has no legs. She lives with her brothers in a dilapidated house made from corrugated iron. Her children remain with her mother in the countryside.

Ms Ahmed relies on her brothers for survival.

“The psychological scars continue to haunt me,” says Ms Ahmed who has been unable to seek treatment for her mental health due to the lack of treatment facilities in Somalia for those suffering from mental illnesses.

Ms Ahmed wants to find a way of supporting her family again. She struggles to move around because the area where she lives has uneven and rocky roads which she cannot navigate without her legs. Her neighbours are encouraging her to learn new skills, such as henna, so she can start to earn a living again.

Her biggest dream is to be mobile again.

Another person whose life changed forever after the October bombings is Hamse Mohamed Ahmed. He used to support his family by holding down two jobs, one as a teacher, another as a motorcycle driver.

He lost his hand in the blast and, with that, his hope for a better future. Despite undergoing treatment in Mogadishu’s Madina hospital, he has been unable to return to either of his jobs.
Mr Ahmed had already faced many challenges in his life before October 2017. He and his family had been displaced from their home in the Lower Shabelle region due to drought and conflict. He managed to find a job as a teacher in Mogadishu, which enabled him to provide for his family of six, including four school-age children.

His family now earns far less than the $600 he made before from teaching and motorcycle driving. They try to survive on his wife’s work as a cleaner, which is irregular.

It’s not only the families of those who are injured in attacks whose lives have been changed forever. It’s the families of those who were killed.

Once such family is that of Batulo Sultan who lost her brother, Mohamed, in an explosion in 2011. His body was never found, and his mother died waiting for its return.

Mohamed was the glue that held the family together. It has since broken apart. He helped to support the wider family as well as his two wives and five children, as he was able to find a good job after returning from studies in Malaysia.

“The burden of caring for my brother’s children has fallen on us,” says Ms Sultan.

“We have taken on the responsibility of raising them,” she says. “But my family has limited education and limited job opportunities so we are unable to provide them with the kind of life they had before.”

The Chairman of the National Agency for the Disabled, Mohamed Abdullahi Jama, told Bilan Media that people with disabilities do not have the same rights as other people in Somalia. He said many don’t dare to seek justice or speak out about their problems because they fear they will be targeted by Islamist militants if they highlight the challenges they have faced since the attacks they perpetrated.