Mandera, Kenya

“I lost all my cows and goats”: in northeastern Kenya, months of drought have caused a mass die-off among livestock. This is fueling fears that humans, and children in particular, will be the next victims.

Bishar Maalim Mohammed recounts how he had to burn 130 dehydrated animals, his entire fortune, to keep hyenas from getting too close to his home. “I’m left with nothing,” he says sadly, with only four chickens to look forward to.

The 60-year-old lives in Tawakal, a village in the arid county of Mandera, which borders Somalia to the east and Ethiopia to the north. Since May, virtually no rain has fallen. This is a disaster for the local communities, which are mainly pastoral.

The only bull still alive in Tawakal can no longer stand up and has been lying in the same spot for nearly a week. His bones protrude from under his skin. His owner looks at him, helpless.

“There is no more water,” “we have no more food,” laments Bishar Maalim Mohammed. “We are in danger.”

In the nearby town of Banisa, the large water reservoir has dried up, leaving a vast barren expanse that children now use as a playground.

– Rationing –

The town now depends on a smaller reservoir in the village of Lulis, but its water level is falling dangerously low.

Herds of goats, cows, and camels—some of which have traveled up to 30 kilometers—jostle for access to the remaining water, which the authorities are rationing in order to prolong reserves.

“In two weeks, this water will be gone,” says Aden Hussein, a resident of Lulis, interviewed by AFP. “We are in a very bad situation,” says the 40-year-old man.

More than 2 million Kenyans (out of a population of around 53 million) are facing increasing food insecurity after rainfall deficits between October and December, according to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).

According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), an organization that monitors food security, between 20 and 25 million people in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia are in need of humanitarian food aid, more than half of them due to drought.

Faced with this situation, hospitals in Mandera County are overwhelmed. In Banisa, the influx of severely malnourished children, some of whom come from Ethiopia, has overwhelmed the pediatric ward.

During a recent visit, eight children admitted were suffering from severe malnutrition. A 32-month-old girl weighed only 4.5 kg. Another child had just been readmitted after returning to his parents, where there was no food.

“Cases of malnutrition are increasing” because the children were “depending solely on goat’s and camel’s milk, but there is none left,” says Khalid Ahmed Wethow, a hospital nutritionist in Banisa.

The hospital has only eight boxes of therapeutic milk left for its pediatric unit. That is barely enough to last a week.

“May God save them!”

Until recently, the department depended on the World Food Programme (WFP) for food supplements for infants and nursing mothers. But sharp cuts in international aid in recent months—particularly from the United States and the EU—have forced the UN agency to reduce its assistance. The hospital has not received anything for six months.

If the drought persists, “our children will be the next to die,” fears Bishar Mohamed, who is not related to his namesake mentioned earlier.

Having lost 170 goats, he tried to “flee in search of better places, but without success.” “We are thirsty,” he sighs, before pointing to the field where the carcasses of his animals lie.

In the nearby village of Jabi Bar, more than half of the students have left, most with their parents, and today, “only 99 remain,” says school principal Ali Haji Shabure.

The Kenyan government and humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross have stepped up the distribution of water by truck, food aid, and cash transfers to relieve the population, but the needs remain immense.

Bishara Maalim anxiously awaits the next rainy season, expected in April. She prays for her ten children: “May God save them.”

Humaniterre with AFP