28th November, 2011
The rain is coming down in droves as we make our way to Tsangatsini health clinic in Kaloleni. “You should have come here just a week ago, the ground was bare. Everything had dried up,” our driver, Japhet Rai, informs me as we dislodge our 4-wheel-track from a muddy patch on the road.
“Tunaomba usaidizi (we need your help),” he shouts to some men who are grazing nearby despite the heavy downpour. Stones are heaped under the vehicle, and after an hour of pushing and shoving, the car is back on the road.
The dirt road is now a pool of water, and we are soaked to our briefs. “I am afraid we will not make our way into all the areas we intended to go. The roads will be impassable,” says AMREF project officer in Kaloleni, Joseph Karisa Mwakombe.
I have no objection, because as it is, flash floods have taken over the roads, and we have to wait for hours at a time before we can make our way onto the other side of the road.
Talk about a story of contrasts. One day it is as dry as a bone and the next thing you know, the land is one big pool of water. I am here to look at the impact of the drought situation but now I am thinking the likely story is one about flooding!
But as I am reminded at a meeting at the Kaloleni District office, close to 38,000 people in the area will still be reliant on food aid at least until February when their harvest is due. “That is if the rain does not disappoint like other seasons,” says Kaloleni District officer 1. Mr. Daniel K. Mwenda.
For close to six months, the locals had been brought to their knees as crops failed and most earth dams dried up. This meant that the government and donors had to replenish the plates of the most vulnerable, while organisations like AMREF did water tankering to some schools.
“We realised that our normal programmes could not continue when people are hungry. The school feeding programme was failing as there was no water and in most schools, children had to carry water for use at the schools. Fetching this water took up a lot of time as most dams were up to 12km away,” says Mwakombe. In total, 12 schools were catered for in Kaloleni, Kilifi, and Malindi while 12 tanks have been ordered for distribution to the affected schools.
In the present, things might be looking up in terms of food supply, but as the public health officer, Ali Shehi says, water borne diseases peak at this time. “When it rains diarrhoea cases shoot up because many people are still not using toilets and often, the water they collect for domestic use is untreated,” says the Public Health Officer in charge of Tsangatsini location. Latrine coverage is between 14-29 percent in Kaloleni according to research and often open defecation finds its way to water sources.
While Bendera Ayiere Teri celebrates the coming of rain, she is also apprehensive. The mother of three is at Tsangatsini Dispensary with her children who are suffering from the common cold and dysentery. “I know about boiling water, but I do not have the time or enough firewood to do so,” says the woman who survived the dry times by burning and selling charcoal.
It is an attitude that has the authorities and AMREF worried as statistics show that water borne diseases tip in rainy seasons. “Amoeba and upper respiratory disease cases are on the rise,” reports Thomas Ngowa, a nurse at Tsangatsini dispensary. According to his records, the top three diseases are now, Diarrhoea, Malaria and upper track respiratory diseases.
That is why hygiene promotion in the community is so important. AMREF Project Manager, Eric Kariuki, says that while having water is important, in order to cut on the disease burden, it is crucial that the water is clean and safe, the community uses toilets and they know how to maintain personal hygiene. AMREF, through its WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) project, has been targeting school children to ensure that they act as change agents in their community.
One school that has benefitted from the initiative is Ndatani Primary school, in which AMREF built six latrines, pioneered a health club, helped build classrooms besides providing two water tanks and water tankering during the drought period.
“If it was not for AMREF, I do not know where we would be,” says the school’s head teacher, Alphoce Katungo. Through AMREF’s support, the school has seen dropout and absenteeism rates decrease while enrolment levels and exam performance have gone up. “When we started the school we had 300 pupils, now our pre-schoolers total 260,” the head teacher shares. The public school opened its doors in 1998 and has a total of 560 pupils.
But while school enrolment rates are going up, poverty levels are also increasing within the district. Erratic weather patterns, a high birth rate, cultural beliefs, an upsurge in diseases like HIV/AIDS and TB, and low literacy levels are just some of the reasons given for the region's dependency on aid. It does not help that most residents are dependent on charcoal burning during dry weather periods which contributes to desertification or that even when it rains; good seedlings that would guarantee a good crop are still a preserve of the rich.
Most times, it means that even when the rain comes, little reprieve is gotten. Such is the tale of 36-year-old pregnant mother-of-four, Kache Karisa. The peasant farmer, whose family has had to contend with one meal per day since her crop failed last November, still does not have access to seedlings that would help her harvest enough in her 3-acre-plot.
“I got the maize seeds from my neighbours. I could not afford cowpea or vegetable seeds. They are way too expensive,” she says. Kache’s family now lives on the proceeds from the sale of charcoal.
At the local market, drought resistant maize seeds cost Kshs 450 (US$4.5), while hybrid seeds cost Kshs 250-300 (US$ 2.5-3) per 2 kilograms. Cowpea seeds cost Kshs 120 (US$1.2) per kg. This is way out of the financial reach of people like Kache, who survive on Kshs 200 (US$2) per day.
“The money is not even enough for food. The price of foodstuffs has really shot up and I have to buy maize flour at sh120 (US$1.2),” says Karisa who shares a one-roomed mud house with the rest of her family.
For real gains to be achieved in the community, experts call for a multi-faceted approach. “Anything that will improve literacy levels will be a good move. It is difficult to drive a point on sanitation and hygiene issues in a family where the parents are poorly educated,” says Mwakombe.
A focus on micro finance is another solution that would get the community into gainful investment, instead of cutting down trees for charcoal; while Kariuki thinks mechanisation of agriculture and efforts towards manageable families would do the community good.
“There is need to construct 4-5 huge earth dams in the area. As you can see during the rainy season, there is a lot of water that ends up in the ocean. It is a waste. This water would be used for farming even during the dry times which are now becoming more frequent,” foresees Kariuki.
