A fresh start

11 May 2006

“We were all surprised and we went to the seashore to look,” says Mohamoud. "We saw boats upside down and kept asking each other what had happened since we had never seen this before. Boats were broken, and engines and nets were taken by the water."

"While on the beach we saw the water come in and everything was being taken out to sea," he recounts. "So we all ran away. I took my youngest child (2 years old) on my back and ran with my wife and other children to the top of the nearest hill. The first big waves came at 1 p.m.”

'The house was destroyed and all our belongings were gone'

Although the water didn’t reach the hill where Mohamoud fled with his family, they stayed there for three full days with many others from their village because they were afraid the waves would return. Only after those three days did the family discover that they had no home to return to.

“The house was destroyed and all our belongings were gone – utensils, mattresses – everything was taken away or badly damaged," Mohamoud explains. "I was very upset and worried about what to do for shelter for my children, but I was grateful that my family survived.”

Although Hafun is a region where CARE had never worked before, and is a jarring 10-hour drive on mostly unpaved roads from our nearest office, our staff delivered food and water here after the tsunami. CARE is also replacing lost boats and fishing equipment, and re-establishing and training fishermen's associations so Mohamoud and others can learn how to improve their income.

Getting back onto the water

Forty-year-old Mohamoud has always been a fisherman. His wife, Faadumo Ahmed Mohamed, used to have a small shop where she sold basic goods such as cloth, vegetables and oil. Connected to the house, the shop was also destroyed by the tsunami. Mohamoud estimates that they used to earn as much as £3,000 a year, a substantial income by local standards.

On the one-year anniversary of the tsunami, CARE gave Mohamoud and several other fishermen in Hafun brand new boats and fishing nets. Over the coming months, CARE plans to distribute several hundred boats and will meet as much as 80 percent of the estimated need for fishing nets and other gear.

“My spirits are better now that I have a boat with an engine and nets,” relays Mohamoud. “If I didn’t get these things, it would mean me having a very poor life or we would have to leave the coast so I could get work somewhere else. I was born in Hafun and grew up here. I’ve never left.”

Dwindling fish stocks

Since the tsunami, Mohamoud has noticed that the catch isn’t as good when he goes out fishing. He doesn’t understand why, and wonders if it’s a consequence of the tsunami.

Part of the problem is over-fishing, which has been growing steadily worse as more and more drought-affected pastoralists turn to fishing to earn a living. Harmful practices such as catching lobsters during their breeding season contribute to the problem.

For this reason, CARE has been urging the regional government to adopt regulations that specify what size nets to use for lobster catching, identify spawning areas for lobsters and other fish, and forbid the catch of small lobsters. CARE is also teaching the fishing associations how to fish in a more sustainable way.

Looking towards the future

Simply replacing Mohamoud’s boat is not enough. He must learn how to help increase his catch, and thereby his income, if he is to fully recover from the ravages of the tsunami.

As well as understanding how to catch more fish, Mohamoud states, “I’d like to learn engine maintenance, how to repair cracks in the boat and how to process fish. Fishing is the skill that I have and I hope my income will improve so my family will have a better life. I hope I can earn enough to support my wife to restart her business.”

With CARE’s help, Mohamoud is working to turn these hopes to reality.