Victims of Mpeketoni raids facing starvation
What you need to know:
- “We are sometimes forced to spend more than six hours walking to the hospital. This is a big blow to us,” said an IDP at Mavuno-Poromoko camp, Peter Katithya.
- He said the IDPs are required to pay Sh5 for a 20-litre jerrycan to the owners of the boreholes, a fee that they can ill afford.
- The survivors arrived at the camp following the June-July attacks in Lamu that left at least 90 people dead.
More than 1,000 people, displaced by the Lamu attacks and who are now living in camps, are in dire need of food, the Nation has established.
They people, a majority of them children and women, are also ravaged by disease due to lack of health care.
The families that took refuge at Mavuno-Poromoko Camp in Mpeketoni, Lamu West District have nothing to eat. The Nation found the children suffering from kwashiorkor.
The survivors arrived at the camp following the June-July attacks in Lamu that left at least 90 people dead.
The chairman of the Mavuno-Poromoko camp, Charles Musungu, said the more than 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly from Kaisari Village where nine people were butchered on June 16, use untreated water from two bore holes.
He said the IDPs are required to pay Sh5 for a 20-litre jerrycan to the owners of the boreholes, a fee that they can ill afford.
The Nation also established that about 10 per cent out of the 400 children living at the camp suffer from malnutrition.
Those we interviewed said life at the camp is difficult, as they go for days without food.
“The Red Cross Society has diagnosed children with kwashiorkor. This is no surprise because of the poor diet,” said Mr Musungu said.
He asked the county and National Government to urgently provide food for the IDPs.
“Many of us living at the camp have no harvest this year. After fleeing from our homes, pastoralists and wild animals took over our farms.
“The government used to supply us with food, but it ran out early last month,” Mr Musungu said.
The IDPs are worried that there might be an outbreak of water and airborne diseases at the camp.
According to Mrs Jemima Benza, a mother of 13 children, many people and particularly children, have already developed flu due to conditions at the camp.
UNCLEAN WATER
“We use unclean water. Our children and the elderly are suffering from bouts of flu and diarrhoea. We need urgent intervention,” she said.
The IDPs said access of medical service is a major challenge as the nearest hospital is more than 20 kilometres away from the camp.
“The closest hospital is in Mpeketoni, which is quite a distance. Boda boda riders are not willing to risk their lives to come here to take us to hospital.
“We are sometimes forced to spend more than six hours walking to the hospital. This is a big blow to us,” said an IDP at Mavuno-Poromoko camp, Peter Katithya.
The IDPs appealed to the county government and the Health ministry to set up mobile health clinics.
These suffering from tuberculosis and HIV/ AIDS are the most affected. The IDPs on ARVs drugs are sometimes forced to go without the medication for several days after they complete their doses.
