Killer drought rendering Horn of Africa bone-dry

GARISSA, Kenya

the pre-dawn hours, with temperatures still in the teens and a gentle breeze blowing across the dry, dusty dunes where Kenya meets Somalia, Gala began walking with six tethered camels in a desperate search for water.

Not long after noon, as the mercury topped 105 degrees Fahrenheit, Gala — whose name means “camel” in Somali — finally reached a borehole where gas-powered pumps helped draw a steady stream of hot, clear water.

She walked for nearly nine hours, matching the pace of her groaning camels for about 25 miles, past dry riverbeds and small round huts patched with plastic and cardboard, sheltering nomads also moving in pursuit of water.

“Where is water? Where will we find it otherwise?” the woman asked in Somali as she struggled to control the lead camel.

All across the Horn of Africa’s remote and barren regions, a crippling drought has pushed people incredible distances in a frantic hunt for water.

“We anticipate that the situation is going to get much worse because the rains have not yet come,” said Evans Ktule, district officer for the Liboi Division on the border between Kenya and Somalia, where months without rain have produced severe drought.

Tied to Gala’s camels were dozens of yellow 5- and 10-gallon jerrycans, meant to supply 10 families, each with at least eight children, with a week’s worth of water for washing, cooking and drinking.

In seven days, as the skinny camels start complaining of thirst again, Gala’s long walk will start over.

After three years without sufficient rain, at least 11 million people spread over five African countries face famine, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), which has begun a fundraising tour of the region in hopes of drawing attention to the plight of the most vulnerable people.

So far, $186 million has been donated by the developed countries, but the WFP expects it will need $574 million to meet the needs of emergency cases in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

“It’s our top priority,” said Umberto Greco, head of the WFP office in isolated Dadaab, where there are 130,000 Somali refugees.

If nothing happens to improve the food supply in the next couple of months, the drought’s victims will find themselves in a “terrible situation,” he said. Already, more than 40 people have died from drought-related causes in northern Kenya. Estimates suggest that by next month, half the cattle in Kenya and 80 percent of cattle in parts of Somalia will have died.

“If there’s no rain, there’s no pastures. If there’s no pastures, the cows cannot feed, and therefore, they die,” said Margaret Mwaniki, project coordinator for Caritas International, which groups 162 Catholic relief, development and social-service organizations.

“When a cow suffers,” she explained, “the whole community suffers because they’re the only source of livelihood.”

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