THE KENYA CASH CONSORTIUM RESPONSE TO THE FLOODING CRISIS IN ARID AND SEMI-ARID LAND (ASAL) COUNTIES OF KENYA
Abdi Mohamed Farah - Maramtu Village
Abdi Mohamed Farah is living with a disability, but he wasn’t born with it. Before the accident in October 2017, he was working as a loader (locally referred to as a “turn boy”) in a transport company. But then, his left leg was amputated, thus impeding him to continue with his previous job.
He spent one and half months in Kijabe hospital where he underwent the surgery. According to Abdi, the company he was working for never compensated for his medical expenses. Abdi now faces difficulties in moving and is confined to his village as he can only walk using crutches. He is now unemployed and depends on his wife and mother.
Abdi has three children, the last of whom was born one and half years ago. The family has only three cows whose milk they sell to get food for the family. They live in a temporary shelter made with wooden sticks, old cloths and grass. Abdi says he has been affected by the recent floods as well as the global pandemic Covid-19.
Additionally, the main source of drinking water for the village - a borehole constructed by well-wishers - was contaminated, thus making the water unsafe for drinking.
Abdi Mohamed Farah - Maramtu Village, Tana River County Photo by Shabin Barrow / ALDEF
He was amongst 96 beneficiary households from Maramtu village who benefitted from the cash assistance provided to vulnerable members of his community targeted by ALDEF, with funding from the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO) in partnership with ACTED and Oxfam as part of the Kenya Cash Consortium.
He says part of the money received he used them to repay debts that he had accrued at a shop in Madogo where he’d buy food items for his family. With the remaining cash, he purchased some additional food items for his family and mother.
Nuria Matoy Igala - Mororo
Nuria Matoy Igala - Mororo, Tana River County Photo by Shabin Barrow / ALDEF
Nuria Matoy Igala, also known as Mana Nu, was devastated when floods not only destroyed her semi-permanent house in Mororo, Tana North sub-county, and also washed away all her belongings.
When River Tana broke its banks following the spillage of dams upstream, this mother of four children sought refuge at a higher ground near the Garissa-Nairobi highway.
Nuria stayed in Madogo IDP camp - a former secondary school playground - with her children for more than two months. Then they returned to rebuild their home and their lives.
Before the floods came knocking at 2 am that night, Nuria used to farm chickens that she would sell to get an income and sustain her family. However, she lost all her chickens in the floods.
“The small kiosk my daughter operated was also destroyed, leaving us with no source of income to sustain my family,” she said.
Mama Nu together with other vulnerable displaced families in Mororo received multipurpose cash assistance worth KSh 4,711 from the Arid lands Development Focus (ALDEF), a local NGO operating in Tana River, funded by the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO) and in partnership with Oxfam and ACTED – collectively forming the Kenya Cash Consortium.
Nuria used the funds received to buy four chickens to help her restart her small-scale business, in order to help sustain her family. She also used part of the money to re-mud the walls of her semi-permanent house, which she lives in with her children – three girls and a boy.
She thanked the efforts of the Kenya Cash Consortium in providing her support.
Yussuf Kufo Dadhe - Mororo
Mzee Yussuf Kufo Dadhe - Mororo, Tana River County Photo by Shabin Barrow / ALDEF
Mzee Yussuf Kufo Dadhe, 71, from Mororo, Tana North sub-county, is unwell, having been living with high blood pressure for many years.
At the same time, he is also under pressure to raise his eight young children, whose youngest is three years old. He is amongst thousands of people living along River Tana whose lives have been impacted by the devastating floods in the county. He now lives in a small semi-permanent house with holes limiting his and his family’s privacy as a result of floods that washed away valuables in his households and damaged his shelter.
Mzee Kufo and his family took refuge in a temporary shelter he built with his young children following the flooding that destroyed part of their house, thus impeding them to return and forcing them to move to the temporary camp they had escaped to.
“The flood has caused a lot of suffering. As you can see, I no longer have the energy to work for my family because of my age and because I’m unwell” he said. “We couldn’t save anything because the flooding started at night and we had to run for our life” he continued.
He said mattresses and utensils were amongst the household items that were washed downstream by the floods. He also mentioned sometimes being unable to purchase medication due to the current pressing needs for him and his family, including food and shelter.
Mzee Kufo was amongst the IDPs that were displaced form Mororo centre to Madogo IDP camp, a secondary school playground, where his family was among the 954 beneficiary households who received cash transfers worth KSh 4,711 from the Arid Lands Development Focus (ALDEF), funded by the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO) through the Kenya Cash Consortium.
Parts of the money he receives, Mzee Kufo said, he used to repair his semi-permanent house while also buying medications and food.