Tana children struggle to survive as drought persists

For most residents of Wayu village in Tana River County, the only thing that one can get for free in the drought-ravaged expanse is air.

But even then, it is dusty, hot and dry under the sweltering September sun.

In one homestead, Abdi Guracho and his wife Asha Muslima are engaged in a heated exchange over a nutritional supplement meant for their child.

The man wants the supplement to be used for chewing miraa (khat) as it is sweet and energetic compared with normal chewing gum.

“This is the challenge we face as mothers. Men are fighting for these supplements with the children. The moment you get home with them from the donors, they demand them and if you don’t submit it becomes a fight,” Ms Muslima said.

She said she rarely has enough breast milk for the child because she does not get enough to eat.

The mother of three notes that the available livestock cannot yield a cup of milk, and she has to buy milk from shops at Sh70 for a 250ml packet.

“The best you can get when you milk a goat at the moment is a quarter a glass, the children have to forgo meals since we can’t afford the feeding routine as required,” she said.

From giving them three meals a day, the parents have cut down supply to one a day and sometimes nothing at all.

The children are forced to survive on water and nutritional supplements for those that are fortunate to have responsible fathers.

Their hope is in the supplements, which barely last a week. They note that the commodity provided by a donor is vital in keeping the children below five years old going hungry.

“Two weeks ago, my baby could not sit properly due to hunger. We had no food, no water, we survived from begging from our neighbours and at times when we got supplies from the World Food Programme, I would make them a meal,” said Hanna Argamso.

Ms Argamso notes that food has become too expensive, with a kilo of maize flour selling for Sh150 and a kilo of rice Sh140.

The mother of two explains that money, on the other hand, is hard to come by, as the merchants buying livestock have become mean and are taking advantage of the drought to exploit them by demanding lower prices for a goat.

“The brokers demand Sh2,500 for a goat that sells at Sh5,000 during a good season, so we prefer to keep our goats and instead send our children out with them to look for pasture,” she said.

The schools that were once rescue places have run out of food, and classrooms are almost empty as children cannot learn when they are hungry.

Teachers in the area note that at times, they are forced to share their meals with some children who appear to have gone without food for days.

“You teach in a class and you can clearly see that these children are not concentrating. Some of them even cry when it’s about lunch hour, then they reveal to you that it is their second day without food. It hurts a lot,” said Mr Edward Kiiru.

To save their children from starving to death, some parents travel with their families in search of pasture, noting that in such areas, their livestock will feed properly and there will be milk for the young ones.

Along the River Tana, where the farming communities live, the season is not fair as granaries have run empty and nothing thrives on the farms.

The four seasons of failed rains have made families start feeding on seed stock, meaning there is nothing to plant.

“The children have to feed. There is nothing to give them at the moment since the ground does not yield. We attempted to farm and when the rains failed, we lost a lot, so we are currently exhausting our seeds for food,” said farmer Mohammed Maro.

Mr Maro hopes it will rain in November and change the situation, but that may not happen.

More than 10,000 children are suffering from malnutrition, with nearly 3,000 of them on the brink of acute malnutrition, said County Director of Health Oscar Endekwa.

“Children in herder communities are the worst hit. The parents lost livestock while the few left have moved to the lower Tana Delta in search of pasture, hence there is no milk. The market is also not selling vegetables like before due to failed rains,” he said.

On the other hand, more than 1,000 pregnant and nursing mothers are malnourished as they cannot feed properly.

This, Mr Endekwa says, poses a risk to the lives of infants and may result in mortality during delivery.

“These people need a lot of help. The mothers need proper food and the children more nutritional supplements and food [or] they may become anaemic,” he said.

National Drought Management County Director Abdi Mussa notes that more than 70,000 people need food as the drought hits the alert stage.

Bura and Galole, he said, had exhausted their pasture cover, while the Tana Delta, the fallback area, has pasture cover of less than 35 percent.

“There is a crisis, and if it is not arrested on time, we may end up with ethnic conflicts over pasture. The situation is way too bad,” he said.
Whereas the World Food Programme (WFP) is trying to intervene through cash transfers and food supply every two months, the situation may demand more as it continues to worsen.

Nutrition needs to be a core component of emergency response and integrated long-term support, said WFP Country Director Laureen Landis.

“What I have seen in this area is what I will describe as a dire situation, comparable to that of Ethiopia, and these people need urgent help that is long-term, else we may start losing lives of children,” she said.

A prolonged drought, she added, will result in loss of lives and the government and its partners need to have a conversation about a lasting solution.

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