The drought in Kenya is severe and is taking its toll on many. Below is an excerpt from a letter I received from a friend ministering in Kenya. Please pray for rain to come to this area soon!
Stories in the newspaper abound about people starving, families subsisting on wild berries, children missing weeks of school because they are either searching for food or too hungry to attend. The areas that are not starving have felt the impact in rising food prices.
We have heard from many of you and started the work of food delivery to the most desperate areas. Yesterday I went to Oldonyonyokie to deliver water and food with Williams and Charles Wakaba (our Financial Manger). We had hired a truck that holds 13,000 liters of water … and had an agreement with Magadi Soda Co to haul 5 different trips with this truck of their spring water … we arrived about 9:30 AM (we left our compound at 6:30 AM).
We were greeting the large number of people that were gathered to meet us when we got a call from Counselor Jackson. He said the water truck had arrived at 7 AM and was told to wait till 8 AM and then told we could only have one load of water … Counselor Jackson was at the Management Offices trying to get more water released and asked us to come. We rushed to Magadi and spoke with Kantu, which is with the Magadi Management, whom we have dealt with for years. He was gracious as always and explained that they are alarmed as one source of water is not producing … they are a business … they are located at Magadi Lake (salt water sea) and harvest salt. They need water to process their salt. After discussions and understanding that our truck cost us a lot of money 80,000 Kshs ($1,013) they agreed to let us have four tanks … by this time it was almost 11 AM. Now we were in the rush against the clock. We found it necessary to work between the two villages receiving food and water and to stay right on the water truck to continue the work quickly.
The food truck arrived and all were able to receive 5 K packets of Unga (corn meal) in both villages. The people rejoiced and I was decorated with Maasai beaded necklaces … they were very grateful!
The area is so dry and the sun so hot and intense … people were so weaken … many sitting down. The animals you saw made you want to cry. The cows could hardly move … have to helped up by their owners. Kantu said, “if the rains do not come with two weeks all the cows will be dead”. This is the wealth of the Maasai people … they are quite desperate [sic].
Your donations are making a difference. As we left yesterday for Oldonyonyokie our visiting team and Joseph, one of our staff, headed for Machakos … they also were taking food and water. I have not heard their report yet. Also our Field Officers left on Wednesday to investigate and make a strategy on how to best get food to Meru, Namelock and Taita Hills! The distribution logistics are important. We do not send food without a staff member going with us because of possible corruption. The food is better than gold right now.
The intense heat in Oldonyonyokie was so hard and I was only there one day … I arrived home so weak … just from the heat exposure … showered and went to bed. I cried myself to sleep …realizing again … these wonderful Maasai people will never ever even know what a shower feels like. I could see in my mind their smiling faces and the hope in their eyes as they carried their bags of meal back to their home … water on their backs … food in their hands … wish you could have been there with me!
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