Drought Forces Kenyan Nomads to Rethink Traditions


KENYA: January 16, 2006
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34490/story.htm


MODOGASHE - For centuries Kenya's pastoralists have criss-crossed the
arid plains of eastern Africa, moving with their families and herds in
search of water and grazing pastures.

Trekking vast distances into bordering Somalia and Ethiopia, these
nomads carry their homes, Tents made of thatched grass, and their most
valued assets, animals, in soaring temperatures and across inhospitable
terrain.

Despite the hardship, these migrating populations say their traditional
way of life provides all they need, using the meat and milk from their
cows, sheep, goats and camels for survival.

But as drought ravages north-east Kenya, drying rivers and turning
pastures into deserts, the pastoralists are seeing their animals starve
and being forced to rethink their way of life.

Forty-eight year-old Bishar Bukurow Ahmed walked for 16 days in search
of water to Modogashe town. After seeing 90 percent of his cattle perish
in seven days, Bishar says he will never be able to recover the life he
once had.

"This is the worst drought I have ever seen and I think we need to
change our ways, maybe we could settle in one place and do something
else," he says.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national
disaster. Several million are at risk and at least several dozen people
have died already.

The crisis has shocked Kenyans, whose nation is the richest in east
Africa. Other countries in the region, particularly Somalia and
Ethiopia, are also hit, with six million people on the brink of
starvation, according to the United Nations.


MOST VULNERABLE

Aid agencies say a vast majority of those affected are pastoralists,
seen as the most vulnerable community as their entire survival is
dependent on the climate.

But the failure of rains across three bordering nations has left them
unable to use their main coping mechanism: migration.

"Normally a drought is not a serious problem for the pastoralists as
they can just move to another area where there have been some rains -
this is their main way of coping," said Ahmed Abdow from the Kenya Red
Cross Society.

"But this year (drought) has hit so many countries over such a huge
area, that they simply cannot migrate and they have no fallback."

Along the 320 km (200 miles) dirt road from Garissa town northeast to
Wajir, rotting carcasses of animals litter the dusty desert-like terrain
and vultures circle above, undeterred by the suffocating stench that
fills the hot air.

The few surviving cattle in the area are weak and emaciated, unable to
keep up with their owners, who say the animals that were once their most
valued asset have now become a burden. They cannot feed them yet are
also unable to sell them.

If they do find a buyer, earnings are meagre - a third of the price when
the drought began in October last year.

Climatic change and cyclical droughts, further compounded by
deforestation and land degradation, are taking their toll on Kenya's
nomads, many of whom feel they may have to give up the life that
previous generations have passed on.

Although few are educated, food security analysts say that with support
and rehabilitation they could continue to modify their way of life and
use their experience for commercial rearing and trading of animals or
opening slaughterhouses.

Others add that improving road networks from these remote, almost
forgotten areas to major towns would allow the pastoralists to move
easily and be more involved in commercial activities and local business.


Story by Nita Bhalla


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

The material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for
research and educational purposes. For more information go to:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this email for purposes
that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.