Drought response

Women walking to gather water in the Turkana desert, Kenya

This desert, larger than the island of Ireland, is home to over 850,000 people.

Turkana has suffered from cyclical droughts for the last number of years and unfortunately this winter the rains have failed once again.

Aidlink, along with our partner the Diocese of Lodwar, is working with the Turkana people in the Turkana desert in N. Kenya.

In reality what this ‘means is that now people in Turkana have to walk greater distances to find water. The average distance increased from approx. 4km to 7.5km in January alone, with some people having to walk as much as 12Kms just to access water. Greater numbers of livestock are dying and the production of milk, a staple in the Turkana diet, has dramatically declined. Recorded cases of serious diseases such as malaria and pneumonia have increased and overall the nutritional status of the population, particularly children under 5 years old, is put under more and more pressure as food and water become increasingly scarce.

Solutions

This is why Aidlink has been working in partnership with the Diocese of Lodwar in Turkana for over 10 years now. Our focus was primarily on water projects such as building earth pans and rock dams. These dams and pans are the ideal solution given the topography of the region for reducing distances to travel for water for large numbers of people and their animals, …but we didn’t stop there.

We expanded our programmes to incorporate agricultural projects, health projects and education projects too.

Agriculture

We are having a vital impact on the communities we work with in Turkana. This year the agricultural project provided seeds, tools and agricultural best practice trainings to over 2500 people. Stronger, more drought resistant strains of crops such as cow pea, maize and green gram were distributed.

Shambas farm greenhouse in Lodwar, Turkana

Agro-Forestry

Farmers were provided with hundreds of with hundreds of fruit tree seedlings such as banana, pawpaw, macadamia, avocado and passion fruit and we installed community green houses where more seedlings can be grown in a controlled environment for further distribution amongst the families.

Water

Over half a dozen shallow wells were flushed and cleaned in the area and a ‘food for work’ scheme was organised for people to dig... irrigation canals from these wells to the farmland and we installed windmill powered water pumps at these wells so the canals and the farms remain sustainably irrigated. We also provided communities with alternative strains of livestock, such as high milk-yielding goats, rabbits and turkeys and we provided training on better animal husbandry.

Health

The health programmes led to increased availability of health care; particularly for pregnant women. Last year 9,500 pregnant women received improved maternal health care thanks to thanks to Aidlink’s supporters.

windmill powering a water pump to irrigate small shambas farms in Lodwar, Turkana

140 traditional birth attendants and health care workers were trained in the region and over 33,000 children were educated on improved hygiene and sanitation practices (the simple habit of washing your hands before you eat can prevent the spread of the majority of communicable diseases) and last but by no means least...

we managed to greatly reduce

child mortality rates,

particularly for children under

the age of 5.

You can read more about Aidlink's work with the Diocese of Lodwar in Turkana in our independently appraised 'Impact Assessment of Aidlink funded projects / activities in the period 2001-2008 in Turkana, Kenya' here.

Aidlink is a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital, incorporated and registered in Ireland with registration no.124133. Registered office: 34 Greenmount Office Park, Harold's Cross,Dublin 6W. Phone: +353-1-4736488 email: info@aidlink.ie Aidlink has been granted tax exemption by the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland, with registered charitable taxation no. CHY 9078.

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Drought response

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