Hundreds of dead cattle as Drought, death grips Kenyan heartland
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hundreds of dead cattle as Drought, death grips Kenyan heartland*
* Story Highlights
* Millions of rural Kenyans at risk of starvation because of
drought, crop failure
* Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti all face similar crises, World Food
Program says
* Hundreds of dead cattle dot landscape, driven in search of pasture
by herdsmen
* WFP warns situation will get worse unless shortfalls in resources
addressed
updated 1:59 p.m. EDT, Wed September 2, 2009
MOUNT KENYA, Kenya (CNN) -- For as long as anyone cares to remember, the
pastoralists of Kenya's Rift Valley have fled with their herds to the
fertile slopes of Mount Kenya when times are tough.
H
Hundreds of dead cattle litter the slopes of Mount Kenya, fatally
weakened by long treks to the region.
When the rains failed this year they set off once again in search of
water and pasture -- but they found only despair.
"I could have stayed home or I could have come here, but it is all the
same. All that you find is death," said Peraguan Lesagut, an aging
pastoralist who came five months ago with his herd.
After years of persistent drought Lesagut left his two wives and 16
children and drove 200 cattle to the foothills of Mount Kenya --
Africa's second highest summit. Now, only 40 are left; the rest
succumbing to cold, disease and exposure.
Across the folds of this mountain everyone has the same story. Hundreds
of dead cattle dot the forests, young herdsmen try to coax ailing calves
onto their feet, knowing that if they don't get up they will die.
"I am hopeless because I have seen almost all of my animals die,"
Lesagut said. "If the rains are delayed for even another week two, then
I will lose everything."
Millions of Kenyans are facing the same stark reality. The World Food
Program (WFP) says that, together with the Kenyan government, they will
need to feed 3.8 million people across the country.
Successive years of failed crops, drought and erratic rains caused by
climate change have all had an impact. Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti
all face similar crises. Despite this, the U.N. agency says that its
emergency programs are facing massive shortfalls.
"We are facing a really difficult situation. We realize that the world
economic crisis has affected the amount that countries can give to us,"
says WFP spokesperson Gabrielle Menezes, "But at the same time we are
seeing an awful situation in Kenya. If we don't start feeding people now
things are only going to get worse."
For many Kenyan farmers, the situation is already bad enough. Eunice
Wairimu has seen four successive crops fail. This is harvest time in
Kenya but her corn plants barely reach her knees and she will have to
use her meager harvest as animal feed.
"I don't even like to go to my farm because I become very upset," she
said. "There is nothing for me to get there for my family."
Wairimu used to sell her surplus, but now she depends on food rations.
She accepts them grudgingly.
"According to our tribal culture we aren't used to being given food. We
have always been willing to work hard. If it is the will of God to bring
rain, he will bring rain. But he also brings drought."