Untold suffering for Kilifi residents over acute water shortage
A man helps pull a goat stuck in the muddy Dingiria water pan in Ganze, Kilifi County.
Dry flakes of mud litter the site where the once full Dingiria water pan in Ganze, Kilifi County, stood.
According to locals, the dam’s current state is a grim illustration of the effects of drought in the county, the worst they have seen in 10 years.
For the more than 10,000 residents of Dingiria/Mapotea, Mrima wa ndege and Jila sub-locations who depend on the water pan, it appears they are living in another Kenya.
It is 11am and a group of women sit under the hot sun with their jerricans as they wait for the salty and muddy water to settle before they fetch it.
Woman are the hardest hit by the drought in Ganze, Kilifi County.
In a different section of the water pan, a herd of sheep and goats fight for the quickly drying puddle of water as others wander in the mud.
Dama Yaa says it is hectic for women in the area to get water as they start their journey to the water pan at 5am and leave at about 2pm, depending on the number of people queuing for the commodity.
“Sometimes we come and find elephants have drunk the water, and we must wait again before we fetch," she said.
Ms Yaa treks 10km to get to the site.
Margaret Kaingu says even after getting water, rarely do they have any food to cook with it.
A woman fetches water from the drying Dingiria water pan in Kilifi County.
They sleep hungry some days or eat wild roots known in the local language as ndago.
Ms Kaingu says ndago is a type of grass with cassava-like roots boiled as food.
She said the roots are not healthy for consumption but it is all they have available.
“Our children feed on the roots to at least have something in their stomach. The water is salty, and frogs are in the boreholes. Sometimes we have diarrhoea, but we have to drink it to survive. We do not want to starve to death,” she said.
Sheep drink dirty water at the Dingiria water pan in Ganze, Kilifi County.
And Ms Furaha Kazungu added that she gives her 14 cattle priority to drink before starting to look for water for her domestic use.
She had 30 cows but lost 16 to drought.
“We have a big problem because we do not know what we will eat and where our livestock will get water,” she said tearfully.
Dingiria Assistant Chief James Randu told Nation.Africa that the drought is worsening.
“Unfortunately, we have experienced severe drought for more than four years now and many people are suffering due to the lack of food and water,” he said.
Sometimes locals find that elephants have drunk the little remaining water and have to dig or wait for the puddles to refill.
“The water in the borehole is not fit for consumption, but the community has no alternative than to use it.”
Sokoke MCA Thaura Mweni said legislators from Ganze had alerted Governor Gideon Mung’aro about the hunger and water shortage in the area.
“Sokoke ward is among the worst-hit areas, but we feel the county government is slow to arrest the situation to save our suffering people.”
