SOMALIA: Aden Muhumed Hassan, "I am better at collecting charcoal than my friends who have hands"

SOMALIA: Aden Muhumed Hassan, "I am better at collecting charcoal than my friends who have hands"

HARGEISA, 19 November 2009 (IRIN) - Aden Muhumed Hassan, 46, a divorced father of one, lost his hands 11 years ago after he accidentally picked up unexploded ordnance [UXO] planted during fighting between the Somali National Movement (SNM) and former President Siad Barre's army in Somaliland's liberation struggle between 1981 and 1991, and during the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia in the late 1970s.

 Ethiopian by origin, Hassan has lived in the self-declared republic of Somaliland since 1977. He told IRIN of his experience.

 "It was about 10 in the morning [in 1988] when I was herding my cows in the Bali-Abane area [Somaliland]. When I tried to remove a piece of stick close to the place where I was watering the animals, I suddenly felt something explode; my hands were gone and I fell to the ground in shock.

 "A few minutes later, I got up and walked back to the watering point where there were some people who knew me. They had nothing to stop the bleeding, so I asked them to get the leaves of the local Karir plant to control it.

 "I was then loaded on to a camel and taken to Masajidka [where the SNM used to take its injured].

 "Despite having no hands I was with the SNM veterans during the Somaliland liberation struggle. The war ended after the ouster of [former President] Barre [in 1991] and the capture of the northwestern regions of Somalia by the SNM. [Later the self-declared republic of Somaliland was declared.]

 "I was then registered as an SNM war disabled veteran and stationed at the disabled centre in Hargeisa. The newly established government used to feed us there.

 "But when the SNM term [in office] ended, we were told to go look for a livelihood. The government provided some money for those who had the worst injuries.

 "I came to the city and my first job was collecting money at a company's lavatory. I then started my own business selling charcoal in Daruraha [a settlement in the Ga'an libah District of Hargeisa] with some 200,000 Somaliland shillings [about US$32] I had saved.

 "When you cannot use your hands, it is difficult eating or getting dressed. Before, when someone would give me some clothes, I did not like it because I believed I could not wear them; but later, I adapted.

 "I can now wear my clothes; I can also use a spoon when eating. I am [even] better at collecting charcoal than my friends who have hands.

 "Before I wanted to die but now I am able to work and I am surviving. I earn about 15,000-20,000 Somaliland shillings daily ($2.41 to $3.22).

 "[Allah] has ordered us to work and promised that he will provide for our livelihood. It is for this reason that Alhamdullilah [thank God], he provides for me and my child."

 maj/aw/mw[END]