More than 350 Maasai braved strong winds and stinging dust at the Seuseu cultural center in Oloshoiboi, a community in the Ngong Hills, Kenya, to receive drought relief food on January 24.
The food was distributed by the Simba Maasai Outreach Organization (SIMOO) at both Oloshoiboi and another community center in Olmaroroi, with approximately 900 people receiving aid in the two locations.
The nine-month drought has negatively affected many communities, but especially pastoralists, who depend on their livestock for their livelihoods and who occupy 70 percent of Kenya’s land. In this tight-knit community alone it has claimed the lives of five people, along with thousands of donkeys, goats, sheep, and cattle.
"This drought, it has made all people poor in this community," said John Mopel during an interview at Oloshoiboi. "When livestock have problems, families have problems, and that means children are sent home from school because families can’t pay for their school fees."
A majority of those at the center were women, who bear much of the burden caused by the lack of rain. Some women had walked for more than three hours to Seuseu to pick up their share of the relief goods, only to carry it on their backs for the return trip.
"Now that the cows are so thin, men cannot sell them. Many of the men have migrated with the cows to Nairobi," Lucy Lemayian explained in an interview. "That leaves the women responsible for taking care of the children without help," she said.
In addition to her typical duties of cooking, cleaning, and fetching water and firewood, Lemayian is forced to make and sell charcoal to feed her extended family. But even that is becoming difficult because grass and leaves, used to cover the cut wood for smoldering, are scarce.
Hannah Maloi sells her jewelry at tourist areas; only when people buy her goods is she able to feed her family. She affirmed that, "Relief food has really helped the people live [through the drought]."
Even though Joyce Tunta is thankful for the relief food, she said it is not enough. The two cups of cooking oil and five bags of maize flour she received will only last for two days. Tunta is a widow responsible for a family of nine.
Several organizations have distributed drought relief food, including RETO Women, a Nairobi-based Maasai organization. The Kenyan government has also supported families stricken by drought. The food distrbuted at Seuseu was provided with funding from Quench the Thirst, a project of Frog Pond Productions, which was established to alleviate persistent water access problems in this Maasai community in the Ngong Hills.
Francis Sakuda opened the distribution with words of thanks to the Pennsylvania-based organization and encouraged the Maasai to pray for the foreigners who had helped them.
Sakuda reminded the gathered community members to ensure their children go to school so that they can return to the community and help. Josepat Panin, the chief of Oloshoiboi, said in an interview, "When we receive help, it reminds us that we need to find new ways to help ourselves."
