Climate Change Makes Tough Choices for Kenyans
Livestock are dying as water and forage become still more scarce in Tangulbei, Kenya. The people of the community lose their source of food and wealth when their livestock die. Immediate help is urgently needed.
As dawn breaks in the remote village of Pilil in Tangulbei division, men commandeer their livestock for the days grazing while the women set out in search of food. Despair and frustration characterize their mood, living life by the day not knowing what tomorrow holds for them.
As the sun comes out, one can see bare tracts of land under the scorching sun, with little or no vegetation. Women gather poisonous wild fruit that they must boil for eight hours in precious, scarce water before it is safe to eat. These wild fruits, previously not considered edible, are what the communities in Tangulbei now regard as food.
The choice between water for other domestic uses and water for boiling the wild fruits for eight hours is a tough one. How does a family chose between hunger and thirst?
ActionAid Response to Kenya Food Crisis
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Tangulbei and the surrounding Baringo district faces an acute shortage of food and water after two years of no rain. The area, which is predominantly occupied by the Pokot community, mainly depends on grazing livestock for their livelihoods. The current drought killed most of their livestock, leaving the community without food to sustain themselves. “
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“I had thirty heads of cattle a year ago. I am now left with only one which is too emaciated that it can barely stand,” laments 82 year-old Apollo Kibet as he points to the cow now in its dying phase. The frail, elderly man tries to hide his despair but his emotions get the better of him and he starts sobbing as he looks at his three year-old grandson.
“My household depends on me for their survival, how can I provide for them, I have nothing.” Said Apollo. “The only thing that defines a man in our culture is cattle and I have none. I would rather die than live in this condition” he adds as he wipes his tears. The same sentiments are echoed all over the village.
Women worry over the daily struggle to find enough food to feed their children. They walk tnearly five miles to getwater and wild fruits which are increasing becoming scarce due to the drought.
“I have to set out by seven in the morning to get these wild fruits and prepare them in time for tonight’s meal. My children cannot go to school on a hungry stomach so I have to move with them,” said Mary Ngoleyang, a 32 year-old mother of three.
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The poisonous wild fruit, known as sorich in the local dialect – a name that connotes so much irony of the living conditions of the community, is the only food that the community has for its survival.
“I have been boiling these fruits for a year now; we have no other source of food. I spend the whole day boiling sorich and if one dares consume the wild fruit before its ready, the risk could be fatal,” says Selina Kele, a 48 year-old mother of four.
It is evident that the wild fruits are quickly depleting because of the community’s dependence. Women have been forced to cover longer distances to find the fruit.
It’s estimated that in two weeks time, the little water available will run out and the community will be left without water to cook the wild fruits with or to drink. Five gallons of water is needed to boil each pound of fruit until it is safe for consumption.
Mother and her children wait for water distribution delivery from ActionAid.
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“The inhabitants have started eating carcasses of their dead animals which poses a serious health risk. If humanitarian assistance is not forthcoming soon, humans will also succumb to the drought,” said Musa Kibon, ActionAid’s Program Assistant in Tangulbei.
ActionAid is responding by providing emergency food supplies and by trucking water into the community. This assistance meets essential, immediate needs. At the same time, ActionAid continues to press for the long-term solutions to Tangulbei's crisis.
“Owing to policies of marginalization witnessed during the last three-four decades, these regions have continued to lack the requisite infrastructure needed to support livestock production and marketing ,” said Angela Wauye, ActionAid’s Food Security Program Coordinator.
With increased climate change induced droughts, these areas need roads and bore holes to enhance market connectivity and thus, food distribution but also strengthen communities’ adaptive capacity to the effects of global warming. ActionAid’s HungerFree Campaign seeks to exert real pressure on Governments to prioritise infrastructure development in the North Rift and North East regions in a bid to address structural causes of hunger and food insecurity in these areas.
Also, sign on to our petition calling an end to world hunger and continue the fight against poverty with ActionAid.
