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Kenyan hunger worsens over drought
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Peter Etesiro is the village elder in this community of about 300 on the outskirts of Lodwar (more than 300 miles northwest of Nairobi). He says this drought has been one of the most difficult experiences of his life.
Stella Nabibia is the head of the catering department at Turkana Women Conference Center. She's had to skip lunch as the price of food has skyrocketed because of drought.
Margaret Akai lives in the community outside of Lodwar. She has nine children. They sleep in the huts behind her. One of her children shows visible signs of malnutrition.
John Githongo was a former anti-corruption chief in Kenya.
Jennifer Collins responds to readers' questions after story below.
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Kai Ryssdal: In Kenya today the director of the government's Anti-Corruption Commission has resigned. Maybe because after 5 years in office, he hadn't successfully prosecuted a single case. Corruption was one reason the U.S. threatened to stop some Kenyan politicians from coming here this week, and also to take a closer look at some planned aid programs.
All of this attention to corruption comes as Kenya is suffering through its worst drought in a decade. A drought that has basically broken the agricultural economy there. Marketplace's Jennifer Collins reports now from Northwest Kenya.
JENNIFER COLLINS: In the searing afternoon heat, a couple dozen women sit in the shade of a tree and weave baskets.
They make about 30 cents a day. That's if they can sell those baskets. Even in this dusty rural community about 300 miles from Nairobi, 30 cents isn't much. Margaret Akai worries about feeding herself, her husband and nine children.
MARGARET AKAI: The kids are really starving and if there is no intervention, they will not survive. They're becoming weak and susceptible to illness.
The drought has devastated agriculture and killed off livestock, so men like Akai's husband can't find work as herders. She says everyone depends on her now.
AKAI: When I see my kids going hungry, I try to weave very fast. So I can then go to the river and collect firewood to sell in town.
But even this extra money doesn't put enough food on the table. Residents here say hunger contributed to the deaths of some of their neighbors. The World Food Program warns more Kenyans may die if food isn't soon shipped to the nearly 4 million people who urgently need it. Another $230 million is needed for emergency rations. But because of the global financial crisis, donor countries are slow to give. And some Kenyans are outraged to see their country in this dire situation.
JOHN Githongo: For even one Kenyan to die is not acceptable.
John Githongo is an anti-corruption official in the Kenyan government. Now, he runs a couple of nonprofits. He says Kenya used to be known as a breadbasket. It should have the resources to handle this crisis.
Githongo: The Kenyan government collects over $4 billion in tax every year. The civil service and provincial administration in this country has the capacity to distribute food around the country. So Kenya is well placed to deal with these kinds of problems.
Githongo says the government is wracked by graft and infighting. There are also reports that corrupt officials sold off some of the country's grain reserves at the beginning of the drought. Now there's not enough left to feed the hungry. Restaurant manager Stella Nabibia says corruption is exacerbating the affects of this drought.
Stella Nabibia: It makes the prices to go high.
Nabibia runs a restaurant that's popular with tourists and aid workers -- even here there are problems.
Nabibia: You can see there are stickers.
Stickers, because food has to be shipped in from more fertile regions -- things like tomato and kale are five times as expensive as they used to be. So new prices cover last year's menu. Nabibia says she's also had to cut back on the food she cooks for her 8-year-old son. They have tea for breakfast everyday and skip lunch. But on her walk to work she sees people who are far worse off.
Nabibia: You just seem them. Sometimes they just come asking for water, just for water to keep them going. It's not new here if somebody tells you I've gone for four days without food. It's real. Yeah, it's real.
Faced with this reality, Margaret Akai and her neighbors weave their baskets and pray that help will come soon --- from inside or outside Kenya. But village elder Peter Etesiro is pessimistic.
Peter Etesiro: I'm used to hard times. But this time is the worst because I see only darkness. There's just no solution.
In the Turkana district, I'm Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.
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Thanks to Marketplace for airing stories about Kenya. Manya are asking why a woman has nine kids in Turkana, well the man has all the say,and the woman does the feeding of the children.More cows,more kids.When the drought strikes, the man is miserable.Lasting solutions to the woes of African problems is the answer but not handouts.
For those of you who commented: Thank you -- Your feedback means a lot to us at Marketplace.
For those who would like to provide assistance to Margaret Akai and the community on the outskirts of Lodwar, Kenya, Share International has already provided some food and other assistance to this community. Director Sammy Murimi has Kenyan roots and lives in Louisiana. He tells me he's willing to work to make sure the aid gets directly to Akai and others. Here's a link: http://www.shareinternationalinc.com/SITurkanaInfo.html
Be sure to note that you are giving in response to this story and would like to provide assistance to the IDP Camp near Napatet, on the outskirts of Lodwar.
Also, for those requesting baskets. The aid organization Serv has a small program buying and reselling the baskets. Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/ybe3cj4
I've emailed several other organizations, but I haven't found others working in that community yet. I'll post again if I find something. As always -- be sure to ask lots of questions to make sure you are satisfied with the organization and the way they spend your dollars.
There are others working in the Turkana region. They include (but are not limited to): The UN's World Food Program, World Vision, International Rescue Committee, etc.
Thank you for airing this piece. I can attest first hand the problems that part of the world is facing. I am from Tanzania (neighboring country to Kenya) and the same problems depicted here persists... I do something about it... since my parents still live in tanzania, I visit each year, during the holidays, and take donations with me. Once I reach there, my mother (and other family memebers) we buy goats, flour, beans rice and oil, adn distribute to the people. One goat costs $25 and it yields 10-12 kilos. That means, that day, 10 families will eat meat from that one goat.We have it slaughtered in the yard, my mother cuts it up, and we distriubute to the women. Since they know we have been doing it for 3 years now, there is a long line early in the morning, and it is not uncommon to see 400 women waiting. I know it's not much, but I do whatever I can... All the money is used dollar for dollar, and no funds are used for "administration"
IF anyone is interested in donating funds for this December visit, pls contact me at: murt.hasham@gmail.com. Pls add goat doantion in the subjet line. Thanks,
I think this can’t be stressed enough - Though there is an urgent need for emergency aid, we ALSO need to start exploring long term sustainable development solutions. . . Education is needed, we cannot continue to JUST rescue - in deeper respect for humanity we need solutions to the roots (of poverty) for survival, and for their further un-dependency.
Turkana is a hot and unforgiving environment where people have to work very hard for basic sustenance even in a good year. When we returned this July to review development projects we have supported and assess future needs, we were again met with amazing hospitality and wonderful song and dance by these very proud people. The situation was tough then but is now dire in Turkana and the rest of Kenya. The drought is wreaking havoc on the human population as well as on domestic and wild animals. The strained resources also increase the chance of violent conflict with neighboring tribes. We must hope for good rainfall these coming weeks. Right now there is an urgent need for emergency aid, but in the long run development of water infrastructure and alternative sources of income is needed. Our US based nonprofit organization Friends of Turkana (www.friendsofturkana.org) supports sustainable development in the region and we are trying to find avenues for sale of crafts from the region at a fair and just price.
Greed and graft work very effectively for whoever is holding the purse. There are a few who are very, very smart and many who don't have even a basic education available to them to protect themselves from these people. In the community of Kisumu, one group has taken in 250 orphans and struggles to feed and educate them. In response to the food shortage, they have managed to get a commitment for a greenhouse to start growing there own food. If you'd like to see more, check out Fr. Tom's Kids at www.frtomskids.org
This piece highlights two very big problems in Kenya today - corruption and too many people. Addressing these two is the only way to deal with the ills facing our Kenya today. Those of you that have been Nairobi lately can attest to the fact that uncontrollable population growth is indeed a ticking time bomb. Although I am not opposed to sending food to the needy, this is only a temporal solution. A permanent solution to these two problems is the only long term answer...
A very evocative report focused on a pressing need. I found some of the above commentary very disturbung, however. Criticism is so much easier from our standpoint of wealth. We need to explore the roots of the poverty and the circumstances that yielded large families with less prejudice and without judgement.
In this part of the world strong family ties encourage relatives to rescue abandoned children to the peril of their own children. An organization desperately working hands on in this town can be found at http://unembraced.org You’ll see more struggling children orphaned by disease and abandonment. Thank you Ms. Collins for your wakeup call to reach out to these unembraced.
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