Thousands stare hunger in the face in arid North

• Starvation threatens families, with 70 per cent of them needing urgent relief food

At Makoror, a village of famine-stricken herders in the periphery of Wajir Town, women are braving the hot sun to excavate a nearby quarry to earn Sh100.

In a potentially risky environment, their young children join them in their daily search for means of livelihood as hunger bites.

Mrs Sarura Abdille wakes up at dawn daily to fend for her three children. She goes to the quarry accompanied by her 10-year-old son, Hussein.

She survived the ravaging drought of 2006 that claimed the lives of 100 people in North Eastern Province, including her husband. About 80 per cent of the livestock in the area died then.

Mrs Abdille says her husband died as a result of thirst on the border with neighbouring Somalia as he searched for pasture and water.

The current dry spell reopens old wounds in the hearts and minds of many survivors like her now living a day at a time.

Having also lost her herd of goats, she remained helpless, living in squalor in the village where life for her family is getting terrible due to lack of food.

“We work the whole day for just one meal; we get Sh100 for every wheelbarrow of gravel,” says Mrs Abdille.

But the few shillings she earns are not enough to keep her family for a day. Hunger is sapping her strength, and in the next few weeks, she will be too weak.

The number of times she has slept on an empty stomach is countless. “Death is just on the horizon,” she said.

“Sometimes we get a kilo of maize from the Government,” said the emaciated 54-year-old mother.

“That is why we have to dig these hard rocks ( in this quarry) every day to find a source of livelihood,” she says.

This is the situation in many other northern Kenya villages where hunger is the order of the day.

There are thousands of hungry people in North Eastern Province and now with failed rains, shortage of food and water is the biggest problem facing the people.

“We are terribly worried of food and water shortage since the dry spell seems to be holding on, particularly in the grazing areas,” said Diyad Mowlid a coordinator of Aldef-Kenya, a charity that has been distributing relief food in Wajir.

According to aid agencies, about 1.5 million pastoralists in northern Kenya are part of the 10 million Kenyans facing hunger.

Thousands of them are on the move in search of pasture and water. In the past few weeks alone, hundreds of families have moved towards the border with Ethiopia and Somalia.

The region had poor rains throughout last year. Provincial authorities say the situation is getting worse, and the vegetation cover getting depleted as watering points dry up.

“The food security situation is depressing,” said Wajir East district commissioner Henry Ochako.

The problem is compounded by the high prices. “The prices of food are high due to the skyrocketing fuel prices. The majority cannot afford meals,” said Mr Ochako.

Poor harvest

The effects of the poor harvest in the rest of the country have spilled over to are area where famine is a perennial problem.

“Residents are feeling the consequence of both the artificial and natural causes of food crisis in the country,” says Halima Said, a trader in Wajir’s Soko Mjinga.

Now the shortage of pasture and water has translated into deteriorating livestock health.

The cattle in turn fetch low prices. In Wajir, a goat is going for Sh1,000, down from Sh2,000.

About half of the people in Wajir District now rely on food handouts from the Government and aid agencies.

An assessment by international aid groups in the region indicated that malnutrition among children is above the World Health Organisation’s threshold peaking at 23 per cent.

In the vast province, the shortage of both food and water is affecting the pastoral population in a similar way. In Mandera, food insecurity is threatening many families, with an estimated 70 per cent of the population requiring food assistance.

“Only 37 per cent of the population in Mandera relies on food aid, far much below those who require food assistance,” says a worker with Action Against Hunger.

There is hardly any farming along the seasonal River Dawa due to several seasons of failed rains.

A combined tragedy of dry conditions and subsequent locust invasion along the river forced many small-scale farmers to abandon that activity.

“Within the next two weeks, the river will have dried up. And no water, no food,” said Omar Abdullahi, a farmer who has abandoned that line of business.

From Danyere in Garissa to Dandu on the border district of Mandera, people are hungry. Schools are likely to stay without any pupils.

“The crisis in the food sector, affected the school feeding programme that used to attract children to school,” says teacher Ahmed Abdi.

In the previous years, the supplementary feeding in primary schools retained thousands of children. Nationally, 1.5 million children who depend on school feeding programmes are staring hunger in the face.

“The writing is on the wall. Like the 2006 drought, there is looming danger,” says Mr Saman Dahir, a pastoralist in Wajir.

In the previous drought, the Government and aid agencies were sharply criticised for the snail’s pace at which they brought help to the needy.

“It was not until death was reported that help came; we don’t want to witness a similar situation. This is the right time for mitigation,” said councillor Adow Ibrahim.