KENYA: Harrowing life of nomadic women

  1. Posted on Friday 11 March 2011 - 11:32
    Adow moha
    Adow Mohamed, AfricaNews reporter in Wajir-North Eastern Kenya
    It is 9:43 am East African time. Pale, exhausted, thirsty and hungry, a group of women arrives pursuing donkeys at Waal Adhi water point about 105 km east of Wajir town in north-eastern Kenya. Clad in tattered clothes locally known as guntina, they offload the donkeys as they embark on a ferocious mission to fill the 20-litre Jerri cans with water. But this is not for the faint-hearted or simply put, not for women as the demand for water may sometimes lead to fist-fight.
    nomadic women in Kenya Photo: Adow Mohamed
    Looking frustrated they clink unto the containers by the handle. It is mannish affair as men exchange unprintable words in mother tongue.

    “If only they could give us a chance to explain ourselves,” says Fatuma Ahmed, referring to the unrelenting men.

    Such are the predicaments facing the nomadic women in Kenya. They travel unimaginable long distance in the wilderness in search of water. To cap it all some are lactating and pregnant mothers.

    “I left six months old baby at the Kraal. I fear for him,” says Fatuma seemingly agitated.

    The sun sizzling, she looks around in search for a shade but alas leafless shrubs can only be found in the surrounding. Still holding the container, she squats and murmurs words that one could hardly decipher.

    “Wait until the cows get water and are satisfied,” shouts a bare-chested man.

    At 3:30 pm local time the women are still waiting. A man then comes and urges his colleagues to give the women a chance to fill their containers. Like the hungry vulture in the Mara, they literally invade the water source and the filling match begins.

    nomadic men in Kenya Photo: Adow Mohamed
    Nomadic men in north-eastern Kenya

    An hour later they perch the filled Jerri cans on donkeys and camelbacks to start the tedious journey back to the kraal where they left at dawn. The terrain is unthinkable for many but for Fatuma; it is part of her life. After 24 hours the cycle of horrendous search for water begins.

    At such times women and their children are at a great risk as shocking famine grips northern Kenya.

    As Robert Schuller puts it “tough times never last, but tough people do."

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