Drought as a triple tragedy for Samburu women, girls

For Veronica Leakono from Tingasap village in Maralal, Samburu County, the perennial drought in the area has always been a major source of immense suffering.

Due to the ongoing drought, all the rivers in the village have dried up. The area has, in recent years, been experiencing perennial drought, thanks to the effects of climate change. Women like Leakano have to walk for long distances in search of water.

On this bright sunny day when we visit this village to witness the commissioning of a water project, Leakono and dozens of other women have gathered to usher in a new dawn. The joy on their faces is evident.

The Loosuk Water Supply Project has been funded by the Kenya Red Cross.

For years, the mother of seven and other residents here have been relying on a borehole in a neighbouring village about six kilometres away to get water for domestic and animal use.

Due to the long distance, Leakono reveals that she could only fetch a maximum of two 20-litre jerrycans of water on a good day. On a bad day, she would only manage one. This meant the animals on such days would go without water.

Ease of access

She is now a happy woman after a borehole was drilled two kilometres from her home.

“I am a very happy person now as the distance to go looking for water has lessened. In the past, I used to leave home at 4am to enable me to get to the borehole by 5am. This ensured that I did not get a long queue,” says Leakono.

The trek was so exhausting most of the time she would be unable to effectively discharge other domestic duties like tilling her farm, a situation that exposed her family to hunger.

However, with the new borehole, she can now fetch at least four 20-litre jerrycans daily for domestic and animal use.

Things will even be better for her as there are plans to put up water kiosks across the village, meaning she and other women will no longer be required to trek for two kilometers to the borehole.

Susan Leaduma, 65, also knows all too well the negative effects of climate change in the area, especially on girls and women. Ms Leaduma, one of the officials managing the new water project, says in her days as a young woman, they would trek for more than 20 kilometres in search of water during the dry season.

“In our youthful days, the only available borehole was about 20 kilometres away, which always took its toll on us. We could not do any other job apart from looking for water. It is sad that the problem persists to date," she says.

Sexual abuse

The perennial drought, she notes, has also been exposing women and girls to sexual abuse as they look for water.

“Many girls and women have been sexually abused. The time that the women and girls leave their homes to go fetch water in the boreholes normally makes them vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence. Some [sex pests], at times, take advantage of darkness to attack and violate them,” says Leaduma.

She adds that some girls have had to miss school to look for water for their families. The mother of two describes the new borehole as Godsend as it will help lessen their burden.

Also read: How drought has exacerbated pastoralist women’s woes

“Construction of many more boreholes and water pans will go a long way to lessen the pangs of the drought, which has now become the order of the day because of climate change,” she tells Nation.Africa.

Samburu is one of the counties that have been severely affected by drought. Women, girls and children bear the brunt as they are responsible for getting water for livestock and for home use.

Early marriage

Many young girls have been married off by their fathers to help their families get the bride price.

As Susan Sepina* says this is exactly what happened to her in 2017 when she escaped child marriage and female genital mutilation by a whisker. She was nine. Sepina recalls how one evening after school her father ambushed her with the shocking news that some people were seeking her hand in marriage.

“It was very disheartening for me when my father told me that my education had come to an end. Even before I could ask any question, he told me that school had no meaning. He went ahead and indicated that he was doing that to get money to take care of my siblings in the wake of the biting drought,” she says.

Also read: The uneven balance: How global warming is hitting women harder

For one month, she stayed at home looking after her father’s cattle during the day and helping her mother with domestic chores in the evening. She recalls seeing several men flocking to her home, some bringing in a lot of goodies as they all scrambled to marry her.

It took the intervention of her sister to save her from the jaws of child marriage and FGM. “One evening, my elder sister overheard a conversation between my parents planning how I'd be cut in the morning the following day before my supposed future husband would come to pick me up later that day.”

Rescue centre

Sepina ran away to avoid the double tragedy of child marriage and FGM. A good Samaritan, however, came to her aid and took her to a nearby police station. Here, the police officers took her to the Mary Immaculate Girl Child Education Rescue Centre where she is still being hosted.

Sr Teresa Nduku, a nun from the Immaculate Sisters of Nyeri who is in charge of the rescue centre, says drought has greatly hurt women and girls. She observes that many girls are being married off so that their families can get food and money for survival.

“Girls are looked at as assets that can be given out to the benefit of the family. The cultural aspect has increased cases of child marriage and FGM in the area. We are trying to enlighten the community on the need to do away with these outdated cultural practices,” she notes.

However, due to the sustained campaign against FGM and child marriage, Sr Nduku says the situation is slowly changing and parents are beginning to understand the importance of girls' education.

The rescue centre, located in Suguta Mar-Mar, about 30 kilometres from Maralal town, currently hosts 78 girls, all of whom are survivors of child marriage and FGM.

The nomadic pastoralists often grapple with recurrent fallout from droughts, floods, livestock deaths and conflict due to water and pastures.

Since 2020, little rain has fallen in Samburu, with close to 200,000 residents having difficulty getting drinking water and food, according to the county disaster management department.

The annual long rains, which usually fall between October and December, failed for the third successive season and the ongoing drought is showing no signs of easing.

Domitila Chesang, the founder of I-Am Response Foundation, an organisation that campaigns against FGM and child marriages, notes that drought has exacerbated FGM and child marriage not only in the area but also in other regions experiencing famine. She adds that cases of girls being married off for bride price to help families survive the drought have become common.

“With many animals dying from famine and others being stolen, the only way to acquire wealth for families is to marry off their girls who sadly have to first undergo FGM. The reverse dowry paid helps them to acquire more cattle, goats and money to buy food,” she said.

The National Drought Management Authority notes the distances to household water access ranged between 3.1 and 11.2 kilometers in the 13 arid and semi-arid land counties. Laikipia recorded the lowest and Marsabit the highest distances. Samburu is named among the counties that showed an improving trend.

Also read: Pregnant, breastfeeding women bearing brunt of drought

The Authority also indicates that by the end of November, 134,000 pregnant or lactating women were acutely malnourished in these counties. About 942,000 underfives also faced the same.

Routine monitoring by the Authority showed that at the height of the 2017 drought, women in some areas walked up to 15km a day to find water, leaving them with little or no time for other chores, including childcare.

Morris Anyango, the Kenya Red Cross regional manager for Upper Eastern, opines that enabling many residents to have access to water will go a long way in enhancing gender equality and taming gender-based violence.

“These water projects will be instrumental in helping fight sexual and gender-based violence against girls and women. Many defilement cases and cutting of girls normally happen early in the morning or late in the evening, mostly when they have gone to look for water,” says Mr Anyango.

Aquifers project

The suffering could, however, end if a new project by the World Bank targeting the region goes according to plan. The Bank is seeking to invest billions of shillings to tap water from aquifers to supply residents in the drought-prone region.

The lender this year approved $385 million (Sh47.29 billion) in funding, comprising a $135 million (Sh16.58 billion) loan and a $250 million (Sh30.71 billion) grant, for the project.

The first phase will see drilling into aquifers located in 10 counties within the North and North-east Development Initiative (Nedi) after which it will be rolled out in other countries in the Horn of Africa region.

Nedi counties are Lamu, Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Samburu, Marsabit, Turkana and West Pokot.

The first phase is estimated to reach 3.3 million direct beneficiaries, of whom at least 50 per cent are women, through interventions designed to increase supply and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts.

The lender said funding for such projects will help reduce water access gaps.

Other climate change adaptation projects, among them the Lemisigiyoi Weir dam, have been established to help local communities in the wake of a biting drought. 

The dam, which is part of the Drought Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (DRSLP), serves 600 households and more than 3,000 people living around the area. It was financed by the African Development Bank and has helped many people, especially mothers who used to trek up to 20km in search of water.

And as we leave the village after the launch of the project, we can’t help but notice the excitement that the project has brought to the locals. “This water project is the best thing that has ever happened to us in this village. It's God sent. We have endured a lot of suffering for years and it is our hope that this will stop being the case,” Ms Leaduma says.

*The name of one resident was changed to protect her identity.

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This story has been supported by the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) under its Voice for Women and Girls Rights project.