23rd August, 2011
Drought now greatly affecting Northern Kenya
Samburu East is located in the semi arid and arid northern part of Kenya. The district has a population of 60,000, 20,000 of whom are primary school children. Samburu East has had no proper rainfall for the last three years, and is now severely affected by the drought.
The people of Samburu are forced to dig up dry river beds or wait for an unreliable government water bouser to supply water. Food availability and access in the district is now entirely dependant on government and agency response.
Meals provided by schools are often the only meal most children can look forward to in a day: “I eat therefore I go to school...I go to school therefore I eat” is their daily reality.
'Most boreholes in the district are concentrated around the town of Wamba. Further inwards the boreholes are few and extremely far apart and most of them have run dry,' Husseini Qureshi, District Water Engineer
According to the area District Commisioner, the government food rations for Samburu East are inadequate, and therefore any support from agencies such as the World Food Programe has become a necessity. However at current levels, it is not sufficient. 'Food stocks delivered to the school are calculated to last three months, but we sometimes run out of stocks and have to find ways of getting the the food to the school. Sometimes we manage and sometimes we don’t,' said Julius Longonyek, Headmaster of Lengarde Primary School. A District Steering Group has been set up to address a cross section of issues, comprised of members from district departmental heads, councillors, church leaders, key community leaders and NGOs CIDEP, WFP and AMREF.
AMREF’S drought response in the District
AMREF is providing support in Samburu East, targeting 35,000 people with the following drought mitigation measures:
• Providing nutrition supplements and highly nutritious foods for children and mothers
• Developing 5 shallow wells
• The provision of 11 water tanks
• Weekly water tankering
• Provision of fuel subsidy for 10 boreholes
• Provision of 135,000 chlorine tablets to make dirty water safe
With your help we can reach many more people. Please support AMREF's emergency appeal for communities affected by the drought.
£ 70 could support the water bouser make one trip to a community or school water tank
£ 790 could install a 10,000 litre water tank at a school
£ 7 could support one person with medical outreach services
£ 3 could purchase 100 chlorine tablets for water purification