LocationsFrom shoe shiner to boat motor mechanic
August 31, 2026
Once a shoeshiner earning $2–3 a day, Mohamed now repairs boat engines in Bosaso, Puntland.
At just 19 years old, Mohamed Abdirizak carries a responsibility far beyond his years. He has become one of the main breadwinners of his nine-member family, comprising his parents and seven siblings who were displaced from Mogadishu due to conflict.
Today, Mohamed works at a boat motor repair garage in the port city of Bosaso, Puntland. He earns around $15 a day—five times what he used to make until a year ago as a baalashle, a shoeshiner.
But his journey to this point was far from easy.
Since they were displaced a decade ago, Mohamed and his family have been living in an IDP camp in Wadajir, Giribley, home to more than 600 displaced families. His mother lives with a disability, and his father is unemployed. To eke out a living for himself and his family, Mohamed used to walk six kilometers to the city to polish boots on the streets.
“I used to earn between $2 and $3 a day,” he says. “I would leave home in the morning and stay in the city until evening, working in the dust and heat. I used to mostly walk, as I could not afford the fare every day.”
Then came an opportunity he had not expected.
Mohamed was selected to participate in vocational training in boat motor repair.
He joined a group of 100 beneficiaries — 80 internally displaced persons and 20 host community members — who received vocational training in skills linked to Somalia’s growing marine and fisheries economy, including boat motor repair, boat handling, fish-net repair, seafaring and fish processing.
Right after completing his training, he found work at the boat motor garage where he is working today.
“I started as a shoeshiner. Now I am responsible for the whole garage. I earn about $15 a day,” he says.
The fisheries skills training in Bosaso is one of the various components within a larger programme called Saameynta, UNDP’s flagship displacement and durable solutions programme implemented jointly with IOM and UN-Habitat, which has so far supported over 74,000 IDPs across Somalia to transition toward sustainable, self-reliant lives.
Trainees in Bosaso learning the fundamentals of boat handling.
For people living in Giribley and Wadajir IDP camps, vocational skills provided by the programme has helped them find stable income and greater independence. However, they say much more could be done if they had access to modern equipment.
Mohamed and many of his fellow trainees do not have their own tools, meaning they have to work for boat owners and other businesses to earn a daily income. Most also have only one specialized skill, and many would like to learn more so they can expand their opportunities and earn a more stable living.
“I want to learn more skills and start up my own fishing business,” Mohamed says, reflecting a desire shared by many of the trainees.
The engines Mohamed repairs today are what keep Bosaso’s boats—and his family’s future—moving.
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