Hunger ravages lives in Isiolo as women, children battle drought

Joseph Lokale, 44, from Attan village in Isiolo County. He lost 14 goats as a result of the ongoing drought. [Nathan Ochunge, Standard]

In the parched village of Attan in Isiolo County, there are no taps. The only drinking water comes from the only remaining bore hole about 10km away.

The land is bare with small rocks and scattered acacia shrubs. The prolonged dry spell that has lasted for the last three years has depleted nearly all pastures, threatening pastoralism which is the main source of livelihood for majority of the locals.

The pastoralists have lost over 80 per cent of their livestock after wells dried up and crops failed and now thousands of people are facing hunger. Isiolo is among the 23 counties in the country hit by the prolonged drought occasioned by delayed rainfall putting the lives of over 4.5m Kenyans at stake in the arid and semi-arid areas.

At the same time, close to a million children aged between nine and 59 months are malnourished and 134,000 lactating women are also malnourished and in need of treatment in the drought-hit counties. The current situation is attributed to the poor performance of the 2021 short rains and early cessation of the 2022 long rains season.

Joseph Lokale, 44, from Attan village lost 14 goats to the ongoing drought. We found him seated on a stool outside his hut. The father of eight was in a pensive mood pondering what to do next after his loss.

"Livestock is our main source of livelihood. I have nothing to sell and get money to fend for my family now. I have been forced to look for an alternative way of earning a living," said Mr Lokale.

He added: "We burn charcoal from shrubs in order to get money to buy food and that business is mainly a preserve of women. As you can see, my wife is not at home, she went early in the morning to cut down shrubs, burn charcoal so that she can sell and buy food," said Lokale.

Keep Reading

According to Lokale, as a result of drought, roles have changed, instead of going to look for work to do to feed the family, it is the wife who is out in the fields cutting down trees to burn charcoal for sale.

He remains at home to do house chores, saying that the charcoal business has little profit. According to him for one to take a 25kg sack of charcoal to Isiolo town on a motorbike, over 20km away, costs Sh300.

"A 25kg sack sells at Sh600, meaning that transport knocks off half the money leaving one with very little," said Lokale.

According to Lokale, government relief supplies is not enough to cater for their needs, saying it's too little to even last for three days.

"Every month we get three kilos of maize and one kilo of beans from the national government. Isiolo County gives us 5kg of maize and 2kg of beans. With my eight children, this is a drop in the ocean and cannot sustain us for more than 10 days," said Lokale.

Dermatan Loitan lost 15 cows and 33 goats and five camels to the drought. The 60-year-old has nothing except a malnourished goat that survived.

"For the last six months, besides being unable to fend for my family, my six children who were in secondary school and three in a local polytechnic were sent away over fees. In the process, two of my daughters were impregnated," said Loitan.

At Kulamawe area, Wycliffe Waqo once a wealthy person by their standards is now a pauper. He had 221 cows, 500 goats and 20 camels. He lost 60 per cent of the animals to the drought, and the rest were stolen by a neighbouring community.

"We used to sell a mature cow at Sh30,000 and now those who have them are lucky to get Sh5,000. Am now unable to take care of my five wives and 16 children," he said.

To mitigate the situation, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua announced plans by the Government to buy off livestock in 13 worst hit counting including Isiolo through the Kenya Meat Commission, but locals said the programme is yet to kick off.

[email protected]