Pasture land completely depleted in Kenya drought – ‘The cows are trying to eat sand’
MANDERA/WAJIR, 28 July 2011 (IRIN) – In his village, Kiliwehiri in northeastern Kenya, Abdullah Mohamed is known as “that mentally disturbed man”. “It is difficult to be normal after you have watched your entire life’s savings get wiped out before your eyes,” said Ibrahim Abdi, assistant chief of the village. “We are Somalis, we look after each other,” explained Abdi, so the village shares their rations with Mohamed’s family. A month ago, Mohamed was just another pastoralist battling soaring temperatures and drought in the arid Mandera district – identified by the UN, with other parts of the Horn of Africa, as just one step away from famine on a five-point scale. It has not rained in his village for more than a year. Over 10 days, Mohamed watched 40 of his cattle collapse and die – one by one – as they waited their turn at a water-point along the border between southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, a few kilometres from his village. For the people of Mandera and neighbouring Wajir district, their animals are not just an investment but part of the family. “These carcasses meant the world to someone,” said Kennedy Agoi Lumadede, an official with Vétérinaires Sans Frontières-Suisse (VSF-Suisse) as he pointed out heaps of bones along the dirt tracks linking the two districts.. “They [the animals] are like our family members,” said an emotional Abdille Muhamed of Garse Koftu village in Wajir district as he knelt beside the carcass of the last of his cows. “I spent 20 years building this herd [of 40 cattle and 270 goats] – you nurture them like your children.” “We were sharing with this cow whatever relief food we were receiving,” he said. They did not have enough aid to begin with. Muhamed, his two wives and 12 children, had moved back to his village when he was down to his last cow. The village has been living off relief food for almost a year. “But we have at least five or six families moving back to the village every day now as their animals die,” says a resident. “Each family’s portion of aid is getting smaller by the day – the food only lasts a week [from the day it is distributed].” Muhamed, like many others, had walked about four to five hours every day to raid bird nests in the few remaining trees to feed his cow. “It is the only bit of grass left in this desert. My animals worked with me and walked with me for long distances – it was my duty.” Wajir is also a step away from famine. Two remaining calves in the Garse Koftu village tug at a bit of cloth and an empty food sack. “We have heard of instances where the cows are even trying to eat sand,” said Muna Ahmed of Arid Lands Development Focus Kenya, an NGO based in Wajir. Muhamed said: “Today [when he lost his last cow] is a very sad day but I knew it was coming – the worst day was when I lost 17 goats in one day.” […] With pasture land completely depleted in Mandera and Wajir, pastoralists have taken their herds to Ethiopia hoping to find some grazing land and water. “But their animals are too weak – they will all probably die before they can even get there,” said Muhamed. […]
