Marsabit thirst: Women forced to trek miles as water sources dry up

At home, we turn on the tap with confidence, at work, we approach the water dispenser certain that the commodity meant to wet our throats will be readily available.

However, in Marsabit County the reality is harshly different. The search for water has become part of the daily routine. Wells have dried up, riverbeds lie bare, and families walk for hours under the scorching sun just to fill a few jerrycans. 

What is referred to normal by many is an unimaginable reality to the people of Marsabit County.

To understand this better, we went to the ground to witness first-hand the situation in Marsabit. Our journey started from Nairobi to Marsabit then another 5-hour journey on a rough road from Marsabit town to Dukana.

Under the harsh weather, we were secured in comfortable vehicles but after running through the hot sharp stones that covered the road, one wheel decided to hang its boots. Flat tire.

After fixing the vehicle our journey continued extra one hour to an area called Saru. On the way we met a group of women going to fetch water, with their donkeys carrying jerrycans in tow.

You will be forgiven to think that they are walking towards a borehole or dam or maybe tapped water. But no, their destination was a shallow depression in the ground where water slowly seeps up.

After walking all those miles, dehydration takes the front row and all they want is to quench the thirst first before embarking on the patient journey of waiting for water to come up from the ground.

One woman, fetches the water from the ground then covers her mouth with her clothe and drinks it.

“I am drinking through my clothe so that it can sieve particles,” she says rubbing her mouth with the back of her palm

We meet Bidu Umuro with other women. Visibly exhausted as they left their homes as early as 5am to look for water.

“I arrived here and now we have to fetch this water and start our journey back home,” The soft-spoken Bidu says. “I have not eaten anything since yesterday. I have to wait for the water to come up from the ground so that I can fetch,” she says while using a smaller container to fetch the water from the ground

The donkey carries two jerrycans, so the following day they have to make another trip. Sometimes safety is also a challenge. Attacks from wild animals and also people with not so good intentions.

For the women who do not have donkeys they carry the jerrycans on their backs.

The little water they fetch caters to all their needs. Cooking, drinking, bathing and cleaning.

However, kilometres from where the women were, fetching water still in Dukana ward lies sele gabaro dam. A dam that was constructed in 2010, however, one side broke down.

“We fear that if the other side breaks down as well we will really suffer. Because there’s no any other dam close by. People walk more than 50 kilometres to access this dam. We just want the government to intervene before things become worse,” says Mamo Kaltuma a resident

The following day we headed to Farakoren in Ngurnit/Korr ward here we meet 50-year-old Diubeya Lemaro, a mother of 7.

She welcomes us to her Manyatta, however, due to intense heat, she decides to spread an empty bag of sack for us to it outside. She is visibly exhausted after spending the whole day looking for water.

“I live very early in the morning because the borehole is very far, I comeback when the sun is setting, the population is also high so getting water is not guaranteed,”

Their livestock have died from drought, the ones remaining are sold at a throwaway price.

“We do not have food, no good diet. We can only get maize flour that is why our health deteriorates. Even the few weak animals we have, had to be taken somewhere else to look for grass,”

“What I would like from the government is water, without water I cannot even cook. Due to drought our children lack good nutrition,”

The following day we headed to Laisamis area where we met Kule Harao, a mother of seven. Luckily Kule lives near a bore hole but her biggest challenge is getting food.

“We rely fully on livestock but due to drought we have lost so many, the ones we have; we sell at throw away prices because they are weak. We are here and we have other members who have taken the livestock in areas with grass. So we need upkeep and they need upkeep,”

Sometimes Kule and her neighbours share food, if one sells one livestock and buys maize flour they share and make some porridge.

“The health of our children has really deteriorated.  Most of the time we only prepare porridge and sometimes we go hungry. Sometimes when we get the maize flour, we cannot even afford vegetable or cooking oil,”

According to the assistant Chief of Koya Sublocation, Laisamis, Francis Nalmalo, families can go for days without food. He insists on sensitisation of the people to prevent more livestock deaths.

“Donors and the government should come together and find a solution. The residents also need to be sensitized on finances, for example selling some of their livestock when they are still healthy and save the money in banks for rainy days instead of letting all the livestock die during the dry season and regret,”

Bonaya Adano the CEO, Kalacha Sub County Referral Hospital, says withdrawal of donor funding has affected nutrition.

“Generally, Within the hospital most of the services are being supported by the government, but things like nutrition were supported by partners, since the withdrawal of the partners all those commodities have gone down. The partners used to support unreachable villages,” says Bonaya

“When we do outreaches, we are looking at nutrition, immunization and general health care for the communities who are not able to reach hospitals frequently because of the distance and state of roads and network, not being able to make calls. The government is doing a lot to fill the gaps but it is overwhelming, “says Bonaya

Agustine Guyo Nutritionist, at Kalachi Sub County Referral Hospital there’s arise in malnutrition cases.

“We are not able to reach them and know their nutrition cases. Now their status keeps on deteriorating and that is a worrying. This being a referral hospital. We are receiving all those severely malnourished cases, it’s a bit of a challenge in terms of restoring their status,” said Guyo.

Following weather predictions indicate that drought conditions are expected in arid and semi-arid areas, the Kenya Red Cross Society has activated early action protocol for drought.

By acting early, the Kenya Red Cross Society aims to reduce the impacts for at-risk communities, since when drought strikes, pastoral communities are forced to cross into other counties in search of pasture, water and food. This increases the pressure on resources in those counties.

According to Andrew Leinte, sub-county water officer, working with the county government of Marsabit, assessment needs to be carried out by both the national government and the county government.

“A few boreholes which have been drilled, most of them have got either one meter cubic per hour, that’s about one thousand litres per hour, or they are deep to the extent that people cannot be able to operate those boreholes,” Says Leinte

Leinte adds that there might be a permanent solution. One being water harvesting during the rainy season.

“We should save water like creating of sand dams along our rivers, surface water should be saved, like creating mega dams or ponds. That's the only way out,” he says

According to National Drought Management Authority, an estimated 1.76 million people are currently in urgent need of food assistance, a figure projected to rise to 2.12 million by January 2026.

Three counties, Turkana, Marsabit, and Mandera, are classified in Crisis Phase (IPC Phase 3) of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

IPC Phase 3, is acute food insecurity where households have significant food consumption gaps or are only able to meet their minimum food needs by depleting essential livelihood assets.