A changed life

Omar Guleed Hussein*, 19, lives with his parents in Tiyeglow District, Bakool region. He spends most of his day feeding chicken and goats. And he does this with a lot of enthusiasm. Omar attended Quran lesson until he was 14 years old. Thereafter, he joined his father in small-scale farming and tending livestock. Omar was fond of adventurous stories especially of travelers to Saudi Arabia. He purposed one day to visit the country. He asked his father to sell two camels  to enable him travel but he declined saying Omar was too young to travel across the Red Sea on his own and had no professional qualification to find work in Saudi Arabia. One day, Omar left home for Bosaaso without the knowledge of his parents. In Bossaso he met his age mates who encouraged him to become a pirate as an easy way to earn huge monies. His parents opposed this suggestion when they learnt of it. They instructed Omar’s brother in Bosaaso to return him to Tiyeglow. This infuriated Omar. He decided to join the Al-Shabaab force in Bosaaso. However, it is at this point that Omar learnt of the project on rehabilitation of feeder roads in Tiyeglow.   Omar was among the first group of casual labors. His main task was to clear shrubs on the roadsides. He earned $ 3 per day as wages from the project. He worked 42 days and earned $ 126. This enabled him to purchase 3 goats and 50 chickens to start animal farming. He also bought some furniture for his home. Today, he is a happy livestock farmer.  “I received enough money from the project to start farming.  The 3 goats and 50 chickens generated enough money for my monthly budget. I am so grateful that the project was implemented here”. The project was implemented by UNDP through the Recovery and Sustainable Livelihoods (RSL) Programme under the Area Based and Early Recovery (ABER) Project. *name has been changed