- Title: KENYA: Drought continues to spell doom for Kenya's pastoralists
- Date: 23rd July 2011
- Summary: HERDSMEN WALKING PAST CARCASSES
- Embargoed: 7th August 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya, Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Disasters,Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA1H8ZFBI8IUBMZ8V3SO1ANMDQS
- Story Text: Carcasses dot Kenya's North Eastern province as the worst drought in decades continues to ravage the region, villages deserted as pastoralist seek pasture.
Nomadic communities' in the dry hamlet of North Eastern Kenya are still trying to grapple with effects of drought that has hit them which according to humanitarian agencies is the worst in decades.
The communities who are mainly herders have had their entire herds decimated and all water pans dried up.
The United Nations which recently declared famine in two regions in neighbouring Somalia say that pastoralists communities in Kenya and Somalia have lost millions of their livestock and at least 3.5 million people in Kenya alone will need food aid.
"To say the truth, for the past six to seven years we have not had any rains here; the population then was around 6,000 to 7,000 but since the drought became serious, the population has drastically reduced and it is just the few of us remaining. The others have left and have gone to look for water and pastures elsewhere," said Mohamed Hadji, a local resident.
Years of drought, that have also affected Kenya and Ethiopia, have hit harvests and insecurity has made it extremely difficult for agencies to operate and access communities.
80 year-old grandmother Muslin Ibrahim lost her 300 goats in a month and six of her children left with the remaining ten to seek pastures close to the Somalia border.
"I just came to look for food, I do not have anyone to send. I know I'm not registered here but I'm just trying my luck. I have nothing to eat back home, I just need something little to eat," she said
Emergency feeding programmes run by the Kenyan government and other other aid agencies have sprung up throughout the District but aid workers here say that the need is still outstripping demand.
Families are being encouraged to send their children to schools offering food to beat malnutrition that has spiraled in the recent months.
"It is like reached the worst level and community members here are like 100% relying on intervention by relief agencies; talk of WFP, ALDEF and Save the children who are working on this district. And we can say incase it goes beyond this, we might report deaths-if there is no intervention to cushion those who are not being reached," said Benjamin Makhokha, an assistant at World Food Programme.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday (July 20) said 11.3 million people were in need of food assistance and not six million as previously thought due to drought and famine in the Horn of Africa. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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