6 Nov 2026, 13:10Somalia
A gift to the women of Somalia
Dawn Trade: A Day in the Life of Somalia's Milk Women
Like Shukri and Sagal, women in Somalia are resilient amidst adversity.
All they need from you is an opportunity to thrive.
“The context in our country is one of decades of armed conflict that has uprooted and destroyed local communities, depleting basic health, sanitation and education services. As if that was not enough, extreme weather conditions have perplexed us leading to both severe droughts and heavy floods ruining crops and killing livestock”, Mohamud Abdullahi ADRA Communication and public relationship Officer
The stark result is one of the highest numbers in the world of internally displaced people, some 3.8 million, close to 20% of the overall Somali population. Most of these people are vulnerable women and children who lack safe shelter, clean water, and food.
Despite these challenges, local initiative, resilience and the spirit of entrepreneurship is ripe, notably around several commercially viable value chains such as cereals, sesame seeds, fisheries, meat and milk production. These small business initiatives, often headed by women, are many times frustrated by the lack of basic infrastructure, such as access to water for cattle rearing and available and affordable energy to ensure refrigeration for milk and fresh produce.
Shukri in Hargeisa, Sagal in Baidoa, and thousands of women like them are the backbone of a dairy sector deeply woven into Somali life. Somalia is the world's second-largest producer of camel milk, with an estimated seven million camels producing more than one billion litres each year. Camel milk is consumed fresh, fermented as suusac, and increasingly transformed into yoghurt, ice cream and chocolate by a growing number of women entrepreneurs.
Yet despite its cultural importance and economic potential, much of this abundance never reaches formal markets. Limited access to refrigeration, reliable energy, water infrastructure and transport keeps many producers and traders trapped at subsistence level.
In the Bible, the prophet Isaiah describes a time when the land was ravaged by war and agriculture was wiped out. In that desolate landscape, God’s people survived strictly on pastoral livestock ‘because of the abundance of milk they give’, Isaiah 7:21-22. For women like Shukri and Sagal, that ancient connection between milk and survival remains as true today as it was in Isaiah's time.
Shukri and Sagal approach the nomadic pastoralists in the early hours of the morning and greetings ensue. Years of trading together have built trust and respect between them. One drop of camel milk is placed on the back of Sagal's hand and Shukri inspects it carefully for its appearance, thickness and scent. These women are masters of their trade. Through years of handling and selling milk they have developed an instinct for quality that can mean the difference between profit and loss. The milk is approved, a price is agreed, and soon the containers are loaded for the journey to town.
Their story is repeated across Somalia, from Hargeisa in the north to Baidoa and Kismayo in the south. Like thousands of women involved in dairy trading, cereals, fisheries and livestock markets, Shukri and Sagal are the sole breadwinners of their families. They collect products from remote rural communities, transport them to market and absorb the risks when infrastructure fails. Without reliable transport, electricity, refrigeration, water and access to finance, every day becomes a race against time. If the milk is not sold within hours it goes sour; during droughts, when herds move farther away and milk becomes scarcer, the risks grow even greater. For these women, daily sales determine whether there is food on the table that evening.
Across Somalia, countless women share the same determination as Shukri and Sagal. They have the knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. Yet without access to water, energy and refrigeration infrastructure, too many remain trapped by circumstances beyond their control. Together, we can help change that.
This November we are doing something NEW. We are launching the first ADRA-UK crowdfunding campaign so YOU can support women’s businesses in conflict-torn Somalia: A gift to the women of Somalia. See QR code for further information and donations. Your gift will directly be used to make women’s businesses more sustainable through access to water, refrigeration and solar energy infrastructure. Every gift, large or small, is received with grateful hands from the women of Somalia. As a token of their appreciation, sample containers of sesame seeds will be shipped to you*, if you so wish, so you can gift them to family and friends for Christmas or keep them as a memento that you have been a vehicle of hope and opportunity to women in Somalia.
*To maximise the funds raised, only gifts above £20 will be eligible for a sample container of sesame seeds as long as stocks last.
ACTIVE project team
Like Shukri and Sagal, women in Somalia are resilient amidst adversity.
All they need from you is an opportunity to thrive.
“The context in our country is one of decades of armed conflict that has uprooted and destroyed local communities, depleting basic health, sanitation and education services. As if that was not enough, extreme weather conditions have perplexed us leading to both severe droughts and heavy floods ruining crops and killing livestock”, Mohamud Abdullahi ADRA Communication and public relationship Officer
The stark result is one of the highest numbers in the world of internally displaced people, some 3.8 million, close to 20% of the overall Somali population. Most of these people are vulnerable women and children who lack safe shelter, clean water, and food.
Despite these challenges, local initiative, resilience and the spirit of entrepreneurship is ripe, notably around several commercially viable value chains such as cereals, sesame seeds, fisheries, meat and milk production. These small business initiatives, often headed by women, are many times frustrated by the lack of basic infrastructure, such as access to water for cattle rearing and available and affordable energy to ensure refrigeration for milk and fresh produce.
Shukri in Hargeisa, Sagal in Baidoa, and thousands of women like them are the backbone of a dairy sector deeply woven into Somali life. Somalia is the world's second-largest producer of camel milk, with an estimated seven million camels producing more than one billion litres each year. Camel milk is consumed fresh, fermented as suusac, and increasingly transformed into yoghurt, ice cream and chocolate by a growing number of women entrepreneurs.
Yet despite its cultural importance and economic potential, much of this abundance never reaches formal markets. Limited access to refrigeration, reliable energy, water infrastructure and transport keeps many producers and traders trapped at subsistence level.
In the Bible, the prophet Isaiah describes a time when the land was ravaged by war and agriculture was wiped out. In that desolate landscape, God’s people survived strictly on pastoral livestock ‘because of the abundance of milk they give’, Isaiah 7:21-22. For women like Shukri and Sagal, that ancient connection between milk and survival remains as true today as it was in Isaiah's time.
Shukri and Sagal approach the nomadic pastoralists in the early hours of the morning and greetings ensue. Years of trading together have built trust and respect between them. One drop of camel milk is placed on the back of Sagal's hand and Shukri inspects it carefully for its appearance, thickness and scent. These women are masters of their trade. Through years of handling and selling milk they have developed an instinct for quality that can mean the difference between profit and loss. The milk is approved, a price is agreed, and soon the containers are loaded for the journey to town.
Their story is repeated across Somalia, from Hargeisa in the north to Baidoa and Kismayo in the south. Like thousands of women involved in dairy trading, cereals, fisheries and livestock markets, Shukri and Sagal are the sole breadwinners of their families. They collect products from remote rural communities, transport them to market and absorb the risks when infrastructure fails. Without reliable transport, electricity, refrigeration, water and access to finance, every day becomes a race against time. If the milk is not sold within hours it goes sour; during droughts, when herds move farther away and milk becomes scarcer, the risks grow even greater. For these women, daily sales determine whether there is food on the table that evening.
Across Somalia, countless women share the same determination as Shukri and Sagal. They have the knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. Yet without access to water, energy and refrigeration infrastructure, too many remain trapped by circumstances beyond their control. Together, we can help change that.
This November we are doing something NEW. We are launching the first ADRA-UK crowdfunding campaign so YOU can support women’s businesses in conflict-torn Somalia: A gift to the women of Somalia. See QR code for further information and donations. Your gift will directly be used to make women’s businesses more sustainable through access to water, refrigeration and solar energy infrastructure. Every gift, large or small, is received with grateful hands from the women of Somalia. As a token of their appreciation, sample containers of sesame seeds will be shipped to you*, if you so wish, so you can gift them to family and friends for Christmas or keep them as a memento that you have been a vehicle of hope and opportunity to women in Somalia.
*To maximise the funds raised, only gifts above £20 will be eligible for a sample container of sesame seeds as long as stocks last.
ACTIVE project team
