(ERGO) - Sahra Mohamed Ali is the head of the maternity department in Daryeel’s newly opened Mother and Child Hospital, where she handles deliveries over a seven-day week.
That would be enough for most people – but mother-of-eight Sahra also works as a midwife making home visits and is the only female taxi driver in this part of Hargeisa. She does it all to support her children and her husband, who became partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke.
Sahra, 31, starts her eight hour hospital shift at 8:00 am and then gets into her taxi to make house visits. Her 11-year-old daughter takes care of the younger children till midday when she goes to school, leaving her 13-year-old son to take over when he comes back from classes.
“It is really hard and demanding work. I know my children need me but the needs of our circumstances are also huge,” Sahra told Radio Ergo’s reporter.
Sahra offers lower fares for pregnant women and is always on standby for emergency runs to women’s homes or to hospital. As most women do not seek pre-natal check-ups most deliveries are unpredictable.
Sahra, who has a diploma in midwifery, earns $200 a month from her hospital job and around $20 a day from taxi fares. This keeps the household going and pays the $60 school fees for each of her five children in Madaras school.
Whilst neighbours often advise her to slow down and spend more time with the children, the youngest of whom is still breastfeeding, she commands much respect for keeping her entire household together single handedly. She used savings from her work of $3,000 to buy the taxi for her husband, but he fell sick before he had the chance to drive it.
https://radioergo.org/en/blog.php?article_id=3169
That would be enough for most people – but mother-of-eight Sahra also works as a midwife making home visits and is the only female taxi driver in this part of Hargeisa. She does it all to support her children and her husband, who became partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke.
Sahra, 31, starts her eight hour hospital shift at 8:00 am and then gets into her taxi to make house visits. Her 11-year-old daughter takes care of the younger children till midday when she goes to school, leaving her 13-year-old son to take over when he comes back from classes.
“It is really hard and demanding work. I know my children need me but the needs of our circumstances are also huge,” Sahra told Radio Ergo’s reporter.
Sahra offers lower fares for pregnant women and is always on standby for emergency runs to women’s homes or to hospital. As most women do not seek pre-natal check-ups most deliveries are unpredictable.
Sahra, who has a diploma in midwifery, earns $200 a month from her hospital job and around $20 a day from taxi fares. This keeps the household going and pays the $60 school fees for each of her five children in Madaras school.
Whilst neighbours often advise her to slow down and spend more time with the children, the youngest of whom is still breastfeeding, she commands much respect for keeping her entire household together single handedly. She used savings from her work of $3,000 to buy the taxi for her husband, but he fell sick before he had the chance to drive it.
https://radioergo.org/en/blog.php?article_id=3169
