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“I had 300 goats, 100 succumbed. More than hundred are losing energy to move” says Da’ud ‘Ali, 66, a pastoralist from Dafur village (90 km South of Wajir District). Just like Da’ud, for Omar Mohamed Mursal, 61, the story is the same. He says that the drought did not happen in the last 35 years
“I had 700 heads of cattle, now 650 are dead,” he stated pointing at the diminishing herd under an acacia tree. He adds that of the 50 remaining, 20 of them are in the worst stage of starvation.
“They don’t have much energy. They will definitely die later.”
Women and children have not been spared either. Women trek for miles in search of water. Some have died along the way due to hunger and sweltering sun. Tropical diseases have also developed to alarming levels in the area. It is estimated that more than 3.8 million Kenyans are facing the worst drought ever in their history.
Latest figures from the government of Kenya and Oxfam International point that over 10 million people and thousands of livestock are in dire need of food and water from 29 September 2009. Most of the affected regions are North Eastern, Coast, Eastern, Rift valley and central, areas such as Rift Valley, which have never previously experienced a drought of this intensity, are now affected. Pastoralist communities fled to neighboring countries seeking survival. Some went as far to Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania where thousands of their animals face death as the areas are also experiencing severe droughts.
Malnutrition rate among young children are already above emergency levels. Parents are now pulling their children out of school to join in the search for food by begging along major highways. Young girls assist their parents in search of water in far areas exposing them to early marriages. An Education officer in Mandera town says that most of the schools there remain closed for weeks as the crisis heats up.
Sand storms have left a number of classrooms roofless exposing pupils to eye problems. The anticipated El Nino rains have failed in most of the hard hit areas. Many farmers have never had a bounty harvest for a decade now. Food prices have gone up more than five times their amount. According to one a worst hit pastoralist, the situation could not be this worse if residents had animals.
“We used to sell some of our animals to local butchers and traders, and we got some coins to buy some food, but now there’s none to sell,” he says as he sighs.
“The ones [animals] remaining can hardly fetch money in the market. They are emaciated and look sick.”
Drought Hangs Over Muslim Areas
The areas that are predominantly Muslim bear the drought pangs. Many families face breaking up due to roles bestowed to different members of the society.
The ‘Ummah Foundation is one of the local agencies owned by the Jamia Mosque. Jamia Mosque waged a heavy campaign and contributed food to the victims in Isiolo, Wajir and many areas where Muslims have been affected. Also the Foundation was at the forefront in helping and contributing aid to all disaster situations nation-wide.
The Kenyan coalition government launched an ambitious emergency response programme to provide rapid delivery of food, water and medicine to over 10 million people in arid and semi-arid areas of the country most affected by the prolonged drought.
The response programme has presented serious challenges to the government anf their coping mechanisms posed by the unprecedented deterioration of food security in the country.
Food Programmes
The multi-faceted rapid response programme was simultaneously in eleven arid and semi-arid districts by President Mwai Kibaki, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga at Loiyangalani trading centre in Marsabit North District.
Kibaki said the interventions undertaken would complement the relief food distributed by the government in conjunction with the World Food Programme covering 2.6 million adults, another 1.5 million children, and over 250,000 others in supplementary feeding. Meanwhile, the government kicks off providing a relief food programme to victims nation-wide to ensure full success of the programme.
Also the government initiated a free feeding programme to public schools nationwide so that children can continue their education peacefully.
Pastoralist have not been left out in the response. The government began the scheme of buying animals from them, despite that a month later the scheme backfired when the initiative was cancelled due to lack of finance (a big blow to pastoralist. The minister of Livestock and Development Hon. Mohamed Kuti announce the move: the suspension of slaughtering and buying animals from the pastoralists, saying the treasury was yet to release Sh 200 million to finance it.
Many states in the world have experienced drought but they have come up with alternative solutions. Here in Kenya what is possible is a marshal plan that can ease food insecurity by coming up with a nation-wide irrigation scheme, which supports farmers.
Kenya is a low-income food-deficit country with a GDP per capita of around US$1,240 (2007 World Bank). The 2007 UNDP Human Development Report ranked Kenya among the “medium human development” countries of the world, placing it 148th out of 177 countries. WFP operations in Kenya support the Government's efforts in implementing all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Rains are began early on this month Octobe,r but are likely to bring scant relief or worse still, deluges that could dramatically worsen the situation. There are genuine fears that the region could be hit by floods as a result of the El Nino phenomenon, which could destroy crops, houses, and increase the spread of water-borne diseases. Even with normal rain, the harvest will not arrive until early 2010. People will still need aid to get them through a long hunger season.
Meanwhile, Kenya has not been excluded from the global recession which makes life for many all the more difficult, with electricity rationing, high prices and water shortage.
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