Hope lives in Maasai village Battling Drought, Poor Roads and no Hospitals.
Mzee Ole Puruo is trying to sell his few remaining cows at the Kiserian Market in Kajiado County, the ongoing drought having wiped off most of his once large herd.
Earlier, he watched his cow that had just died being moved to the slaughter house.
He is not alone in his tribulations. Most members of the Imparbali Oo Nkineji (place for watering goats) community in Kiserian, are grappling with this change of fortune. Most households in this village have lost their livestock to the biting drought. The few remaining cattle have depreciated in market value. Cows are selling for as low as Ksh500, while goats and sheep go for as low as Ksh100.
“Our cows are dying, yet they are the source of our livelihood,” Ole Puruo laments.
“I plead with our government and our President, William Ruto, to consider us pastoralists because we are in trouble. I plead with all our leaders to help us,” he adds.
Drought is not the only problem members of Imparbali Oo Nkineji are grappling with. There is also distance and terrain. The village is located some 15kms from Esonorua, the main centre where they can access water.
Getting to Imparbali Oo Nkineji therefore involves using a vehicle before abandoning it and jumping onto a motor bike that can wriggle its way through rough stony footpaths that pass for roads.
“We tried constructing the road using our hands and the tools we had but like you saw, we need a tractor to do a better job,” narrates Mark Lekutit, our contact, who is also one of the well-wishers who occasionally, flanked by his friends, delivers relief supplies to the village.
Here, he says, children cannot go to school until they are 10 years old because the school is so far and the terrains too rough to be maneuvered by younger children.
Even relief food hardly makes it directly to this village. Whenever there is a government relief food programme in this area, the donations are dropped at institutions that are nearer to the centre, which is 15kms from this village.
The villagers then embark on the 15-kilometre journey to get to the centre. Often by the time they get to the distribution centre, the food is finished and they have to walk back to the village crestfallen, their hope being that they will be lucky next time.
According to FEWS NET 9WHAT IS FEWS NET?), about 5 million people in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas are in need of humanitarian aid. The ongoing efforts to rescue millions of Kenyans from the pangs of hunger are bearing little fruits due to big number of people crying for help.
The current drought, FEWS NET says, is already historic in its length and severity, and forecast models are now signaling an elevated likelihood that the October to December 2022 short rains season will also be below average, setting the stage for an unprecedented five-season drought and its consequences.
This will only increase the severity and scale of food assistance needs into 2023, and a significant and sustained scale up of humanitarian assistance is needed to save lives and livelihoods.
The Kenya Drought Flash Appeal of 2021/2022 received only $28.5 million out of the required $139.5 million.
Pastoralist communities who depend on small scale agriculture and livestock keeping for their livelihoods have been hit hardest.
March –May rainy season was the driest ever recorded in over 40 years, according to the Kenya Meteorological Department.
In most areas, over 90 per cent of water sources have dried up and, as crops fail, and families lose their livestock – often the only source of income for many, Imparbali Oo Nkineji has never been this unlucky.
According to Marisa Sintaroi Puruo, this community has more than a fair share of misfortune and drought has only made the bad fortunes worse.
“We have no water. The one we dig up is bitter and we share it with livestock and wild animals. Even if you boil it, the stench remains and it is not safe for drinking,” says Marisa.
“We also get water from a place called Esonorua which is 15kms away from here. We go early in the morning at 4am and live behind little children and our livestock all without water until we come back,” she adds.
As if unclean water is not a bad enough problem, the community has no hospital nearby and residents are forced to carry patients on their backs using up to Esonorua because of poor roads.
“Some die on the way and we just throw away their bodies since we don’t have coffins.”
Mothers who give birth and lose their babies on the way to hospital also throw them away.
A similar fate awaits the mothers who lose their lives to birth complications as they head to hospital…their bodies are thrown away” Marisa tells us.
“My husband got a fracture and my co-wife is also on a wheelchair because of the hard terrain that broke her legs.” She further laments.
Mr. Lekutit, the village well-wisher says his Bishop Samuel Sayiorry thought it wise to plant a church in Imparbali to try and open up the village so people could visit for missions and bring the locals food, water and also try to build roads and a school.
“We have nicknamed our village “London” as a prophecy for good things to come so that God can remember us like other people who have good roads, schools and clean water.” says a hopeful James Puruo, the village elder.
