Who will save us? The long, dangerous walk to Taita's drying water pans

A major water crisis has hit several parts of Taita Taveta County as the sources of the precious commodity dry up because of the biting drought.

Families spend many hours searching for water. 

In rural areas, Nation.Africa established that the task of providing water for households falls disproportionately on women and girls.

Residents of Voi, Wundanyi, Mwatate and Taveta sub-counties trek many kilometres in search of water. 

In some villages, they walk for hours to fetch water from sources that are drying up, while in others water vendors have been making a killing.

Locals also fear attacks from elephants that invade villages in a scramble for the diminishing water.

In Kale, Bughuta, Kasigau, Marungu, Paranga, Mwaktau, Ngolia Sagalla, Mbololo, Chawia, Rong’e and Bura, residents spend almost an entire day seeking the precious commodity. 

In Bughuta and Kale, residents say they get water thrice a week from the county government, buying for Sh5 per 20-litre jerrican. 

"The remaining days we buy from vendors at Sh10 per 20-litre jerrican. This is expensive because of our economic status," said Ms Hadija Umazi.

Ms Umazi said life had become unbearable due to the rising cost of living caused by the surge in food prices.

Residents told Nation.Africa that they need help from the government and other entities.

"We don't have any source of income and the worst of it all is that the water is unavailable so we have to walk to look for it," said another Kale resident, Mariam Chengo.

The water problem was aggravated by the presence of wildlife, especially elephants, she added.

"We cannot do anything even during the day. The elephants invade our homes to look for water and food," she said.

The situation is equally bad in other villages such as Mto Mwagodi, Mbololo and Ngolia where nearly all water sources have dried up, with residents now depending on water vendors, who sell it exorbitantly.

Many rivers where residents used to draw their water have dried up.

In Sisera village, the Mto Mwagodi river has completely dried up. Villagers now dig holes in the riverbed to get water.

"We get water for our livestock and for our domestic use from here. Sometimes the water is not clean because the livestock get inside the holes to drink," said John Mwamburi. 

This is the result of rains failing in three consecutive seasons, with many families having already exhausted their food reserves.

The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) reports that about 150,264 people in the county are in dire need of food aid. About 17,102 children below the age of five require food assistance. 

NDMA county coordinator Gabriel Mbogho said 30,052 households face hunger, the most affected being children under the age of five and lactating mothers.

"The current drought condition for the county is at the alert phase with a deteriorating trend. There's a need to supply food and water to the affected areas," he said.

The NDMA drought response and food security update for October shows 50 schools in the county need food assistance to keep pupils in class.

Voi MP Abdi Chome and his Mwatate counterpart Peter Shake said many children had dropped out of school because of the effects of the drought.

They called on the government to fast-track relief food distribution in the county and consider reintroducing school feeding programmes.

"We were called for a meeting at the county level to discuss the drought situation. I hope the food relief that is coming in a few weeks’ time will also be channelled to schools," he said.

MP Shake said some pupils report to school hungry and many had temporarily dropped out because of lack of food. 

He also urged the government to help before the situation gets out of hand.

"I have personally introduced a school feeding programme for the 68 schools in my constituency but I might not be able to continue with this next term. I support the need for reintroducing the school feeding programme," he said.

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