• More than 200,000 Kwale residents have been affected by the drought, according to data from the Kenya Red Cross and the national government.
• Kinango is one of the worst-hit areas in Kwale county. Some residents survive on one meal a day or sleep hungry.
Image: FILE
The ongoing drought is tearing families apart in Kwale county.
Husbands and wives are abandoning their spouses and children, and moving to urban areas for survival.
Those running away are said to have moved to Ukunda, Likoni and Mombasa in search of a better life, leaving behind their spouses and children to depend on relief food from government and well-wishers.
More than 200,000 Kwale residents have been affected by the drought, according to data from the Kenya Red Cross and the national government.
Kinango is one of the worst-hit areas in Kwale county. Most of the water sources have dried up.
Some residents survive on one meal a day or sleep hungry.
Sauti Ya Jamii, a Kinango community-based organisation, chairperson Geoffrey Jeffa said cases of couples parting ways because of hardships have surged.
"Daily, I receive complaints in my office of a husband or wife renouncing their responsibilities and leaving home," he said.
The activist said he is working on four cases that were reported last week. Many cases go unreported.
Jeffa said the couples walk away from marriage, leaving their children behind.
The most affected are women who are left with dozens of children to look after as husbands cease to fend for their families.
He said some men tell their wives that they are going to find better jobs, but they cut off communication immediately they reach Mombasa.
Jeffa said the drought has also increased cases of domestic violence in Kinango due to mistrust.
He said women are forced to trek long distances in search of food and water and when they return home late, their husbands beat them, accusing them of infidelity.
Jeffa said cases of defilement have escalated as many girls opt to remain at home helping their mothers.
"When girls notice their mothers are going through a lot, they try to support their parents and some engage in sex trade," he said.
Nora Chao, the founder of Nahugombe, a Kinango Girls' Affair organisation, said hunger is making girls easy targets for boda bodas operators and other sex predators.
She said some parents have abandoned girls who have to look for alternative means of survival.
Chao said the girls are left with a single parent and are trapped in teen pregnancy and early marriage.
"At the moment seeing children not in school is a normal thing in Kinango because the parents expected to provide guidance are not there," she said.
Last month, the national and county governments launched the distribution of relief food in areas hard hit by the drought in the area.
County commissioner Gideon Oyagi said Samburu and Kinango subcounties were prioritised.
Some 5,280 bags of relief food were received by the county. Of the number, 3,200 were bags of rice, 1,280 of beans and 800 cartons of canned beef.
However, Chao said the food is not enough as some households have large families.
She said the relief food only helped residents temporarily and sustained them for a couple of days but hunger is getting worse each day.
Resident Mkeni William said the family breakups due to drought are alarming in Kinango.
She said she has seen several colleagues abandoning their families as they are unable to cater to them.
William said most husbands are jobless and crops failed because of poor rains.
In October, Governor Fatuma Achani said the county requires more than Sh217 million to effectively combat the drought situation.
She asked for Sh80 million from the national government and donors to expand and equip the Nyalani dam and Sh20 million to repair water boreholes
Achani also appealed for Sh110 million to start a livestock offtake and feeding programme.
Edited by A.N