Fading Slowly: A Culture, Communities and Children

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Droughts have become more intense and frequent in recent years because of climate change, especially in Africa. The pastoral nomads in Kenya used to record a drought once in every 10 years - now they experience one every two or three years. Kenya is experiencing one of its worst droughts ever, with more than four million people in need of food assistance. (see: All Africa 12/15/2009)

The Government is helping where it can. The need is so great, Kenya has declared a state of emergency. According to on-ground sources, there may be as many as 10 million people in need of food aid.

Food security has been a growing problem for all of Kenya over the last decade. The outlying areas, specifically those lands that are home to the Maasai and other indigenous communities, are suffering at unacceptable levels.

Their livelihoods depend upon the land and their herds of animals. Many of these communities still practice a nomadic, pastoral way of life; traveling over the lands from one pasture or watering hole to another. With watering holes drying up and rains coming less frequently, families and herders have had to travel farther and farther for water.

According to SIMOO (Simba Maasai Outreach Organization) director Francis Ole Sakuda, it is not uncommon for a woman to travel up to ten miles in search of clean water. With the two-year drought and no rain in sight, that ten miles could easily double.

An already hard way of life made more difficult by the climate change has made these traditions and communities slowly begin to fade. The earth and the water are dry, crops fail and herds of animals fall to the ground dead from thirst and starvation – along with them are the smallest of children.

There are a number of agencies and NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) in Kenya trying to help, but the need has overtaken the supply of aid workers and relief food. Many families in the outlying lands have suffered; some have died due to lack of help, as there is no one able to reach them.

“In our land we have no rain. We see floods on TV like what you can see. We are hoping the rain comes to save the few cows that are trying to fight on. SIMOO has been trying to supply water cisterns and build earth dams for livestock. However lack of finances has been a major stumbling block to its success.” Francis Ole Sakuda, SIMOO Director said.

SIMOO is a local Kenyan non-profit that works with the Maasai community; food security, community empowerment programs focused heavily on women, and assisting schools are their main objectives. Please visit simookenya.org for more information.

School is a place of hope and security, for both the future and stomachs of the young children in the community. Attendance is low in many of the schools, as parents are forced to make the sacrifice of keeping their children home to help forage for both food and water. The schools are in a high state of emergency, the need is great for those students that are attending. The teachers often feel the pressure of the drought at an even heavier price. This may be the only meal the children will receive in a day.

Sakuda said, “A teacher from Olosho-oibor school came to our SIMOO office asking for help - as kids sometimes faint due to hunger. We are targeting about 12 schools with an average of 200 kids. However, we can put more emphasis on about 4 schools with 230 kids. We may need to consider about 100 households that are now destitute, to help them restock so that they can start all over again”.

Alysha Atma spends many hours working on projects that support and benefit the beleaguered people of African nations who spend way too much time off the western media radar. This writer explains that she is a culmination of all her experiences. Most importantly knowledge, she says, and all that she still needs to learn; lessons of love, laughter and the extraordinary giving of both young and old. She says she has the enormous fortune of learning from the best; every person around her, and the amazing strength and fortitude of those she has never met but will always strive to listen to. "I continue to work and write because I believe in the power of community and the power of one, both contradictory to each other and yet can move together in a very powerful way. I feel a responsibility to use my place, freedoms and connections here in the US to stand up and yell for those who need my voice and actions. I have seen such strength in my fellow humans that I cannot even begin to comprehend - they have traveled distances, have gone without food, water, shelter and safety for days and weeks at a time. I have a responsibility as a fellow human to put our common humanity before anything else. Everyone deserves to look towards tomorrow, to dream of a safe future and to have a peaceful present." You can write to Alysha Atma at: alyshann78@comcast.net