Of young Turkana girls bearing their families' water burden
Fridah Nakusi fetches water as Angeline Ekale looks on on the bank of River Turkwel on July 19, 2022.
What you need to know:
- For years, they have been fetching water from the shallow wells they dig on the edge of the river.
- They cannot tell how long it has been since they started partaking in the role at a young age.
Somewhere in the middle of dry and flaming Natirae village in Turkana County, we meet Angeline Ekale and Fridah Nakusi heading for the Turkwel River.
It is a few minutes past 11 am and the temperatures have already hit 29°C. The loose sandy soil is stinging hot and walking under the heat is savage.
The parched acacia trees are scattered and so before you reach the next tree for a minute shade, the sun will have had its good time in baking you. But Ekale and Nakusi have to make do with these harsh conditions daily.
They are friends and neighbours. As we meet them, each has a 10-litre jerrican suspended to their back with a kanga. Nakusi, adorning a beaded necklace, braves the searing soil barefoot, while an unbeaded Ekale has tyre sandals on.
They chat and giggle as they walk side by side. They say sometimes they sing to the river to kill time. They would not tell how long they walk, but based on the distance we travelled in a vehicle, their home is close to five kilometres from the river.
Also read: A day in the life of a Turkana woman
The area adjacent to the river is bushy with thorny green shrubs. A canal diverting water to nearby farms has been constructed and so they have to take the risk of jumping over it or cross by a tiny makeshift bridge to access the bank.
For years, they have been fetching water from the shallow wells they dig on the edge of the river. They cannot tell how long it has been since they started partaking in the role at a young age.
Nurtured
At first, they would accompany their mothers to the river until they became old enough to trek on their own. Now it is their sole responsibility to supply their parents and siblings with water.
Neither of them has been to school. They cannot construct a single sentence in Kiswahili. They don't even know how old they are. When I speak with them in Kiswahili, they just look at me and giggle until I find a translator.
But Nakusi’s older sister is in school and so I ask why it is not the case for her. “I can’t go to school because I was given the responsibility of looking after goats,” she says.
This chore an additional role. She is from a family of 11.
Ekale, on the other hand, is the only girl among the 10 siblings and she is the only one who has to fetch water for all the 12 members of her family.
“We collect 10 jerricans of water every day.”
Nevertheless, their journey to the river comes with a thrilling experience. On reaching the river, they hand-dig a 10-centimetre deep well along the river.
The water in the Turkwel River is brown, hence unfit for domestic consumption. Their mothers taught them that clean water can be fetched from a shallow well near the river, the knowledge they say they would pass on to their daughters.
Soon after they finish the digging, sparkling clean water slowly seeps out from the sides of the round well. But they can’t sit and wait for the well to fill up before scooping it with a tin into the jerricans. They have a plan to kill the boredom.
Whoosh! Off they dive into the river and delightfully swim against the current while chattering, laughing and just enjoying the thrill. There are no crocodiles or hippos here to scare them off.
Angeline Ekale (left) and Fridah Nakusi enjoy a swim in River Turkwel on July 19, 2022. The girls walk from their home 4km away daily in search of the precious water for use back home by their families.
Mh! It’s time to cool themselves. The sun has ‘cooked’ them enough.
Seven minutes later, they come out drenched and dripping. While I seem shocked, for them nothing is awkward. If they had a chance, they would have asked me: “Is there a problem?”
In seconds, I see Nakusi pick up a 250ml yellow tin she had carried and fill her barrel before passing it to her Ekale to fill hers.
Later, they carry their drums on their heads and start another journey back home.
This was their first trip for the day and it is already half past noon. Going by the 10 jerricans they said they have to collect daily means they have nine more trips to make to the river.
It is a tough day for them. Perhaps a cool dive to the dirty river serves them a vanilla cake to re-energise for the multiple trips.
