Karachuonyo where money-crazed sand miners don't spare graves

Stand-alone grave that has been spared at a sand harvesting site in Kobala, a village in Karachuonyo, Homabay County. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] Pastor Joshua Ondori died on October 21, 1986 and was buried ten days later at his farm in Osodo village, Karachuonyo. His remains lay in peace in a marked grave until sand harvesting craze hit Osodo and surrounding villages. Today - 36 years later - Ondori's kin cannot trace his grave. A plaque used to mark the grave has since been tossed away by youth who mine sand for a living in Karachuonyo. Because of unchecked sand mining, Ondori and tens of others are not resting in peace as expected, but in pieces. The Standard team found the plaque engraved with Ondori's name lying in a pile of broken stones and litter. Many graves in Osodo have been dug out. Similar cases abound in Kobala, Kobuya, Kamwala and Karabondi villages of Karachuonyo. In some places, bones and clothes of the dead have been left exposed. In Osodo, 90 per cent of youth own a shovel. Sand harvesting is most certainly their only means of earning a living and so they dig and dig, make mounds and load the products onto lorries that frequent the village. Travelling from Kobala to Chwowe beach the state of the road prepares you for the horror of environmental destruction. Residents are sick of what is happening and now say in the next one year or so there may be no access road to the beach. Michael Otieno, a grandson of pastor Ondori, said he does not know where his grandfather has been reburied. Ondori's remains have been reburied several times. "We would have loved our grandfather to rest in peace, but how can he have peace if we live a life of hunger? We are the people who survive by doing this because we have no otherwise," Otieno told The Standard. At yet another home, we find the family exhuming a body to bury it elsewhere. This is the second time the remains are being moved. The digging is fast and they soon get to the coffin. Another home has two graves disturbed by sand harvesters. A walk through the village reveals wanton destruction; open gullies and disturbed graves. A few graves are untouched but look all that is left are mounds of earth since all sand around them have been shoveled out. John Otieno, a sand harvester, said one can be buried even five times as long as they are buried in sand-rich-land. It is interesting that the families of the dead are the ones perpetrating the vice. They receive money from sand harvesters in return. Sylvester Onyango, a boda boda rider, said he sometimes joins his peers in sand harvesting when there are no customers to ferry. "I decided to embark on boda boda business because this job (sand harvesting) made me scared at the beginning. We were digging close to a neighbour's land when we stumbled on a human skull," said Onyango. Willis Omullo stands near some of the broken graves at a sand harvesting site in Kobala. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] As time went by, he got used to the sight of human remains. He said whenever they got them they just reburied them without ceremony. The youth are oblivious of the risks they have exposed the community to. Daniel Okinyi, a resident, wants the government to act to reduce the sand mining craze. He said that apart from sand, even bones of their forefathers are scooped and carried away with the sand. "The bones being reburied are incomplete and that's an indication that some have been sold with the sand," he said. In one of the open gullies opposite Osodo SDA church, we see gowns of the departed in the sand. A closer look reveals that the clothes were used to wrap a person who died years back and was reburied. Paces away we see two long bones. Pastor Peter Onyango of Voice Of Salvation Healing Church is unhappy about the sand harvesting that has left youth in the village taking part in sacrilegious acts and destroying the environment. "This is the village that treats it's dead as unworthy. The level of respect that our generation had for the dead is unmatched," he said. He said the position of Christianity is that if a person has been buried through a ceremony, no one should interfere with the grave without ceremony. "The church cannot burry one person twice, whatever is happening to graves in our village is a serious concern and should be addressed by the government fast. We have homes with exposed coffins and human remains," he added. Willis Omullo, a resident, has launched a pressure group, Aluora Makare (Good Environment), to enlighten villagers about the dangers of sand harvesting. He has been facing opposition. "Topsoil has been harvested with sand and now the village is staring at several natural calamities like famine and flooding should the rivers around and the lake swell. There's nothing we can farm in this village." He said. Aluora Makare has been advocating land rehabilitation but the challenges facing the village are massive. The village stayed without power for close to three years after all Kenya Power poles were felled because of sand digging. Pieces of bones at a sand harvesting site in Kobala. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] The story of Kobala is not different from that of Kobuya and Rakwaro villages where gullies have formed, putting the lives of residents at risk. Statistics show that schoolchildren and other residents have died in the sand mining sites from falls. Homa Bay Water, Irrigation and Environment Executive Joash Aloo said they are aware of the problem but are yet to pass laws that will curb harvesting. "We are aware of it and we are developing a policy that will be taken to the county assembly for ratification, once we have a policy which is like law, we can now move to enforce it after public participation," He said. He said the county is bothered about the activities that are tearing the ecosystem apart and is working on a policy paper to make sure locals are sensitised on the dangers of uncontrolled sand harvesting. "The economic benefits of selling that sand is not worth the level of destruction of the environment. We are moving swift to ensure carcass waste management is done in a humane manner to avoid exposing the bones of our ancestors because of greed for money," said the executive. Homa Bay National Environment Management Authority boss Joash Nyandoro remained tight lipped on the issue, stating that he is away. newsdesk@standardmedia.co.ke

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