DanChurchAid
Kenya
Drought in Kenya's Makueni District
Source: By Evans McGowan, ACT International
With its solutions, community says:
"We will never suffer again!"
Agnes Nundu watches Ramon and Kasioka play in the freshly turned dirt. Since the children's birth, farmers have planted their fields, only to have the rains fail and see nothing grow. Now three years old, these children have never witnessed maize growing.
Behind the children's dirt playground, a bulldozer roars to life to push the dusty soil into a large earth dam. Surveying the surrounding farmland, the contractor working on the dam comments, "I noticed that people haven't planted." But the people have planted - yet the crops have failed.
Drought in Kenya's Makueni District
While much of Kenya is experiencing the rainy season, here in Masongaleni of Kibwezi, within Kenyan's Makueni District, there has been only one millimeter of rainfall. Church World Service (CWS), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International , and its local partner, Community Resource Initiative (CRI), have come together to fund the building of the earth dam.
Building an earth dam
The new dam will catch more than 12,000 cubic meters of water to be used for irrigation by 50 families when the rains fall. Farmers will plant again during the short rainy season of October, but then must wait until March next year for the harvest.
CRI chairman and program coordinator Sebastian Mutiso met with around 200 community members (of whom about 130 were women), to develop the relief plan. They decided to use CWS-ACT funds for the earth dam as a sustainable solution. Meanwhile, they are receiving maize from another non-governmental organization through the Kenyan government. With the community's own resources as a base, residents have received other resources to enable them to alleviate both the present and future plights of inadequate rainfall.
A team of local leaders surveyed the land and chose a site for the dam based on the terrain, accessibility and proximity of families in need, on land owned by Agnes. She gave the community the land and became the chairperson of the dam management committee. The community plans to buy a hand pump to irrigate neighboring farms and trees to improve water catchment and soil conservation. The community hopes to become self-supporting, by running a tree nursery and vegetable garden, once the rains come.
In preparation for and in faith of the coming rains, CWS emergency-response officer Sam Mutua suggests training the committee in forestry and dam management. CWS has given additional funding for more relief next month.
Ten years ago, CWS successfully funded a water project implemented by CRI. Over 47 kilometers of piping was laid and 16 water points established in the community, reducing the distance to fetch water from more than 20 kilometers to less than 4 kilometers. The water comes from Umani Water Springs in Kibwezi and is metered, meaning people have enough for domestic use but not for irrigation.
Looking at the dam, Agnes trusts that the rains will come and says, "We will never suffer again." Next to her, the children continue playing in the dust. Little Ramon clutches a baobab fruit in his hand. The fruit contains a powdery substance that nourishes the body while leaving the mouth dry. Hopefully before too long, the rains will fall, nourishing the earth and bringing to life the many magical stories of maize growing from the ground.
Evans McGowan is working at the Church World Service East Africa Regional Office as a volunteer through the Presbyterian Church (USA) Young Adult Volunteer Program. Both Church World Service and the Presbyterian Church (USA) (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) are members of ACT International.
DanChurchAid is a member of ACT International - a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies.
