Why women here can’t make, receive phone calls

Through wisps of white clouds, the morning sun beams down on the rural trading centre as residents, mostly pastoralists, emerge from their manyattas.

As the day breaks in Sericho in the expansive Isiolo South constituency and locals settle to their day’s chores, Nusra Abdi and Roshian Abdi are bothered.

They applied for jobs at the Local County Assembly but they have no way of establishing whether they were successful. For them to make that crucial call, they have to travel 48 kilometres away in Modogashe, using not so reliable transport.

The alternative is to beg a man to make the call for them! Why? We asked. Are women forbidden from making mobile phone calls?

To make us understand their quandary, the women show us a towering water tank on the edge of the trading centre, where a group of men are lining up with their mobile phones in their hands.

“This is where all the calls in this locality are made. You have to be on top of this rickety structure to make that crucial call,” Nusra explained to her bewildered guests.

Nusra and Roshian’s predicament reflects the plight of women and to a larger extent, residents of Sericho, Gafarsa and Hawaye who have no access to mobile network coverage.

Either by fate or design, the women in this frontier area cannot make any call since it would be a daunting task for them to scale the 15-metre high water tank mast to make accomplish the task.

It is at the mast, that people are able to utilise the erratic network to make crucial calls or receive text messages from relatives and friends. And it is not always reliable! You can make the risky trip to the top but fail to get a connection.

Below the water tank is always a hive of activity as men line up to get their turns to make the calls. Children who have play field nearby are always awed by the spectacle and have been sucked into the frenzy.

Money transfer services are also foreign in this area and residents have to continue enduring the cash money transactions while the rest of the country is enjoying the cashless dealings.

For Nusra, fate can’t be this unkind. She lost an opportunity to attend an interview for a job she had applied for while she was Isiolo town, after she was unsuccessfully reached by the people who were to interview her.

“Life here is very difficult without mobile phone network. People are still relying on post offices to deliver their messages even if they are urgent. I hope that this time round, I will not miss an opportunity because of this network issue. I plan to travel to a relative in Isiolo to wait for the opportunity,” says Nusra.

Tens of locals walk for several kilometres to the “magical” water tank mast to make calls.

Some wake up as early as 5.00am to make it to water tank to communicate to the world, lest they are forced to use what is commonly referred to as the snail mail.

Experience difficulties

Lack of mobile network in the expansive area prone to conflict has not made it any better for security, health services or emergency services.

“During cattle raids and emergencies like flash floods that are common in the area, the security personnel experience difficulties in getting information,” says Garbatulla Deputy County Commissioner Jack Obuo.

In tackling emergencies, humanitarian agencies that have pitched tents in the area have difficulties in responding to distress situations and as a result, have led to loss of lives.

Msalam Ahmed, a project officer with Kenya Red Cross, says his organisation had been forced to rely on two-way communication radios to respond to emergencies.

“Emergency support services cannot reach the intended beneficiaries without proper communication. Without mobile phone network, our services are strained,” says Msalam at his office in Garbatulla town. He adds: “Without proper communication, we cannot know whether it has rained in certain areas and the likelihood of experiencing flash floods.”

Msalam, who is in charge of Integrated Health Outreach Project, says to respond to emergency health issues, all health centres have been fitted with radios for communication.

“In case of referrals, it is difficult to communicate with hospitals where the patient is supposed to be taken. Also, we need to communicate and know where relief supplies are needed,” he says.

Hassan Mohammed, a resident of Sericho, says that living without mobile network in the area has had major implications to the local community.

“We can have this money transfer business. I think we are the only people who are still relying on cash for our daily transactions because we don’t even have a bankin the vicinity. Life is very difficult for us,” complains Mohammed.

Mohammed Yassim, from Hawaye, some 30 kilometre away, says that as a result of lack of effective communication, the cost of business has gone up.

“The other day, I was sent Sh3,000 through my mobile phone and I had to use some Sh1,500 to travel to Modogashe to withdraw it from an agent. Does this make any economic sense?” Poses Yassim.

Lack of network has also affected even their livelihood and that of livestock  because it is not easy keeping in touch with camel milk dealers.

Unreliable transport

Jarso Mohammed says most of the time, the camel milk that is supplied to Isiolo goes to waste due to unreliable means of transport.

“If we had mobile phone network, we would deal directly with our dealers and tell them whether there is a lorry available to transport our milk or not,” he complains.

But with all these miseries all is not lost. Things appear to be looking up for the residents with Safaricom already setting up base stations in the area following the intervention of local MP Abdullahi Banticha.

Banticha tells The Standard on Saturday that he contacted Safaricom who promised that network would be available by mid next month.

“They have already set up two masts and we hope that once they are up and running, it will be a big relief to the locals. Communication would be easier,” Banticha says.

The MP enumerated the agony the locals go through in the absence of network saying the initiative by Safaricom was godsend.

“Responding to emergencies was a tall order, but we hope things are going to improve and our people will enjoy the benefits of mobile phones,” he says.

Related Topics

network Isiolo