Drought Situation in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Marsabit "dire", Caritas Director Says

"We are in an emergency now. We need interventions that save lives,” Mr. Mol told ACI Africa November 1

He described the situation at Forole, saying, "We have gotten distress calls from communities in Forole, the border between Kenya and Ethiopia; they have two boreholes although the yield is little.”

“In the entire North Horr sub county, most of the livestock have converged around Forole because there was some little pasture. The two boreholes broke down at one point. The cattle, goats stayed without water for 10 to 11 days," the CM Director said.

Many of the “already emaciated animals” have died under the scorching sun; and mothers and children have “fainted because of lack of water," the Caritas official has said.

"The nearest watering point is about 160kms. For anybody to organize water trucking to the community, it will take three days. This means that the households have stayed without water for a number of days,” he further recounted, and added, “Luckily nobody died but the water stress was so acute."

"The security along the Kenya Ethiopia border is also not very good,” Mr. Molu bemoaned, describing the situation as a challenge that “has aggravated the suffering of the people."

He described the efforts that the development arm of the Catholic Diocese of Marsabit are making to reach out to the people as "a drop in the ocean."

"Most of these boreholes are diesel run and people have to buy water to meet the cost of the fuel. With the support of the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), we buy fuel for strategic boreholes where communities are really hit by the drought and we subsidize the cost of the water. But that is just a drop in the ocean," the Director of Caritas in the Kenyan Diocese said 

He added, "We are only able to work in one or two wards in a sub-county and the distress calls from the communities are very overwhelming."

Against this life-threatening challenges, Mr. Molu calls upon well-wishers to come to the aid of the people in Marsabit. 

“We need funds for water trucking for the communities that are in the middle of deserts without water. We need funds to subsidize fuel, to support water management and to purchase major borehole spare parts,” he said.

He continued, “We also need money to support schooling feeding programs. We have a program called food for fees where we provide food to schools so that the fees can be subsidized.”

On September 8, Kenya's President, Uhuru Kenyatta, officially declared the drought affecting Marsabit and nine other Counties in the country a national disaster. 

Kenya recorded low rainfall for the October to December 2020 short rains and the April to May of 2021 long rains.

According to the International Rescue Committee report, the cumulative impact of the two consecutive poor rainy seasons, combined with insecurity, COVID-19 pandemic, pests and diseases to create humanitarian crisis in parts of the East African nation, particularly in the country’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) regions.

(Story continues below)

The report further indicates that approximately 2.1 million people are severely food insecure in Kenya. 

In the November 1 interview, Mr. Molu told ACI Africa that the people of God in Marsabit are likely to experience the effects of the worst drought “in recent history” should the rains fail in November.

“If it fails to rain this season, undoubtedly this is going to be the most severe drought in recent history. We will be talking about three failed rainy seasons,” he said. 

He added, “What portrays the highest danger is whether this October to December short rains will be there. We are already in November; that tells you that if it rains, the onset will be delayed, which means that the period people suffer will be extended.”

In September, Catholic Bishops in Kenya called for an end to the violence in Marsabit and prayed for improved weather conditions to reduce suffering from the ongoing drought in the country.