Depleting fish stock drives women to sand harvesting

Sometimes they are forced to work overnight because the lake becomes rough during the day. [Photo: Isaiah Gwengi/Standard]

A few years ago, women traders of Nambo Beach in Siaya County did not fear the promise of a new day. Now, every sunset causes a tightening of stomachs.

The dwindling fish numbers in Lake Victoria has forced them into seeking an alternative income generating activity that takes a toll on their bodies and families.

Instead of the baskets they carried, they now carry shovels. With toddlers strapped on their backs, the women have to brave extreme weather conditions to earn a living. Levina Kachama is only 20 and a mother of three. She looks much older than her age.

She gets to her workplace exhausted, but cannot afford the luxury of resting even for a day due to the many responsibilities staring at her.

She and her female colleagues are only too aware that they have to work hard for the next three to six hours. They work in groups of two and their work is to offload sand from the waiting boats to the shore. The income is meager. Ms Kachama earns between Sh250 and Sh400 daily.

“Sometimes we are forced to work overnight because the lake becomes rough and dangerous during the day,” she says. For Carolyne Anyango, 34, who has been in the trade for the last three months, sand harvesting is like any other business that needs hard work and determination.

“I do not regret joining the trade; one is guaranteed to take money back home,” she says.

She adds that in fish mongering business, one is not guaranteed fish to take to the market.

Mary Akinyi admits that the work is tedious and that she hardly gets time to be with her family. “We spend long hours wading in water to offload the sand from boats and I am afraid that this could be a health hazard,“ she says.

According to Nambo Sand Harvesters Association Chairman Samson Apiyo Omore, the job is risky. “The women are prone to diseases such as billharzia and typhoid because of the long hours they spend wading in water,” he says.

The irony is that most of them have been widowed by the very lake that nourishes them. “At least one boat capsizes weekly, with many fishermen dying,” says Nambo Beach Management Unit Secretary Alfred Ochieng.

The sand harvesters are now calling upon the State to provide them with necessary equipment and skill.

“We could be using the wrong method to harvest sand.

The government should help us acquire necessary equipment and skills for the trade,” says Mr Omore.

Ms Anyango would like to start up a business: “This work is risky and is likely to shorten our lives. We ask leaders to empower us financially to enable us run decent businesses.”

However, Mr Apiyo has something positive to say about the trade. “When I started off in 2004, a lorry of sand went for Sh800 but today it fetches up to Sh2,500,” he says.