ACT Alliance

By George Arende

Mweni, several months pregnant with her seventh child, is at the provincial offices waiting for a distribution of food. Her life has become lamentable. "Life has been difficult and despite my condition, I cannot eat more than one meal a day,” she says. Mweni and her husband have to dig drains to provide a single meal for themselves and their children each day. Poverty in Kibauni department, 105km east of Nairobi, is unimaginable.

A visit to the home of Mulatia Mulinge further reveals the desperate need for food in the area. Mulinge is not there, having travelled 40km hoping to find a job. He has left his children home alone for weeks now. His youngest, a three-year-old, survives on porridge made from maize and water, a meal that comes once a day.

Kibauni sub-chief Sebastian Ngogi says relief food from the government is insufficient. “People are starving though no deaths have been reported. One boy’s dreams to become a teacher are halted. His education is disrupted due to lack of food,” Ngogi says.

Hauling rocks for water
There is a solution. The women of Kibauni are carrying out back-breaking work in a bid to build a sand dam that traps water beneath its surface for months at a time. The builders haul rocks all day, knowing too well that in their culture hard labour is the task of men. Secretary of the Musewani Self Help Group, which is building the dam, Christine Matheka, says women find it difficult to carry rocks but they want a change from drought. They are having to go for days without washing, at times up to two months.

Katoto Mutinda, in her 70s, is helping build the dam. Her entire life has been a constant search for the elusive commodity, water. “My past struggle in search of water makes me carry these rocks. I spend three hours every day walking 7km with a 20 litre can on my back and when this project is completed I hope to plant vegetables in my small garden. I hope my grandchildren will benefit from my efforts by having water, and that they won’t suffer as I did.”

The people of Kibauni used to travel up to 12km searching for water. Today, thanks to other dams constructed by ACT Alliance member Anglican Church of Kenya, they have only to go a few kilometres. A fourth sand dam is underway, with plans for a further three.

Benefitting from sand dam
Another ACK partner, Mukonza, is benefiting from a dam build by ACT member Christian Aid. The group plants vegetables in a small garden next to the sand dam. Proceeds from the sale of the vegetables earn it 2000 shillings (nearly US$20) a month.

Access to water has changed the lives of families only ever familiar with harsh weather patterns. ACK relief coordinator Evans Mwanza says people in Makueni and Machakos eastern provinces need food to restore their livelihood and dignity as well as for sustenance. ACK is not only in the business of getting water to people. It recently distributed 2160kg of beans, 11 tons of maize and 540 litres of oil to 270 households and vulnerable groups in Kibauni.