- More than 150,000 people have been affected by the dry season, and are still in dire need of relief food.
- The residents of Ganze and Bamba are still appealing for support to enable them to survive this difficult season.
Despite the short rains being experienced in some of the coastal regions, the effects of the prolonged drought are still evident in Kilifi county.
More than 150,000 people have been affected by the dry season, and are still in dire need of relief food.
The residents of Ganze and Bamba are still appealing for support to enable them to survive this difficult season.
A tour of the region revealed that the situation is still dire as humans and animals are going hungry.
This follows the prolonged drought that affected livelihoods from water shortage and pasture for livestock in most parts.
Even though there is hope that the situation could change following the rains, residents in affected areas such as Ganze have appealed for support to be able to survive in the mean time.
Dhahabu Mtoi from Bamba said the drought has really affected residents and livestock.
He said there is no pasture and cows have been forced to feed on tree leaves.
"Cows normally eat grass but currently there is no grass at all. We are worried because the lack of rains in October and November is now the norm," he said.
Mtoi said they have experienced drought in the last five years which has led to the loss of livestock due to lack of pasture.
He said they also do not have food because of the lack of rain, adding that some people go up to three days without food and this has in turn seen some children drop out of school.
Sebastian Masha from Bamba said animals are dying and families are struggling to make ends meet.
"I am physically challenged because I was involved an accident, my children are at home because of lack of school fees. We appeal to donors and the government to come to our aid so that the children can be able to resume classes," he said.
Muslimehelfen a Non-governmental organisation from Germany that provides humanitarian aid through the Tawfiq Muslim Youth organisation in Malindi, said they have rolled out a programme to provide relief to the affected victims. They have also initiated programmes to plant climate-smart crops to help sustain the communities in drought-stricken areas.
Ahmed Aboud the CEO of Tawfiq hospital Malindi and chairman of Tawfiq Muslim Youth said since last year when the drought struck, they engaged donors from Germany Muslimehelfen and have since been supporting families affected by the drought disaster.
In Kilifi alone, he said they have provided relief food to over 2,200 households in Ganze and Malindi subcounties who have been affected by the disaster while in Tana River county, they reached out to over 10,000 families and provided them with relief food.
From next month he said, they are planning to support 15,000 families in Kilifi with relief food in areas of Ganze, Kaloleni, and Malindi subcounties which have highly been affected.
"The situation is not good, our records have shown that locals are in dire need of relief support because it's completely dry and hot," he said.
Aboud said they have held talks with Kenya Red Cross which has a climate-smart food production programme, to partner with their donors to begin farming in the affected areas.
He said the programme is expected to begin early next year in three areas by planting climate-smart crops to enable residents get food to sustain them even during drought.