Turkana Friday and Saturday (last day) 084, rev.jpg
Turkana, in northern Kenya, has been hit by a massive drought for over a year, triggered and worsened by the effects of El Nino. Under a program called Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development (Kenya-RAPID), funded by USAID and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), CRS is the lead NGO in Isiolo and Turkana Counties working working with Catholic Church dioceses to support the County governments as they develop their capacities to sustainably tap and exploit precious water reserves in Kenya's Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, or ASALs. Substantial water supplies lie below ground, so using them responsibly and maintaining them at the County level (as part of Kenya's devolution under the new Constitution of 2010) is key to the economic development of these traditionally marginalized lands. In the ASALs, crop farming is possible only along riverbeds and/or with irrigation, so livestock is a mainstay of the economy. Ensuring access to water for livestock and people is a major pillar of the program.
The work is being carried out by dozens of NGO and private sector partners, under the coordination of the Millennium Water Alliance in Washington, D.C.
CRS recently repaired this community's borehole in Lolupe, a remote village several hours outside of the Turkana County seat, Lodwar. When it broke down, the whole village had to move five hours away, to live along a riverbed that hadn't dried up. Some people didn't make the five-hour walk. "We lost three elderly women, who were too old to survive the walk," said the Lolupe village elder, Namoru Lokeno Kokoi, who was about 60.
On this day, technicians from the Diocese of Lodwar and the Lodwar Water and Sanitation Company (LOWASCO) were busy building out a water trough for a separate drinking area for the animals. Normally, people would just pump the water out onto the ground for the animals to drink, but then it just seeps back into the soil and much is wasted. Now there will be a concrete retaining trough for the water. This emergency drought response work is funded by CRS private funds (HRD).
Photo by Nancy McNally/Catholic Relief Services
Turkana Friday and Saturday (last day) 084, rev.jpg
Turkana, in northern Kenya, has been hit by a massive drought for over a year, triggered and worsened by the effects of El Nino. Under a program called Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development (Kenya-RAPID), funded by USAID and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), CRS is the lead NGO in Isiolo and Turkana Counties working working with Catholic Church dioceses to support the County governments as they develop their capacities to sustainably tap and exploit precious water reserves in Kenya's Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, or ASALs. Substantial water supplies lie below ground, so using them responsibly and maintaining them at the County level (as part of Kenya's devolution under the new Constitution of 2010) is key to the economic development of these traditionally marginalized lands. In the ASALs, crop farming is possible only along riverbeds and/or with irrigation, so livestock is a mainstay of the economy. Ensuring access to water for livestock and people is a major pillar of the program.
The work is being carried out by dozens of NGO and private sector partners, under the coordination of the Millennium Water Alliance in Washington, D.C.
CRS recently repaired this community's borehole in Lolupe, a remote village several hours outside of the Turkana County seat, Lodwar. When it broke down, the whole village had to move five hours away, to live along a riverbed that hadn't dried up. Some people didn't make the five-hour walk. "We lost three elderly women, who were too old to survive the walk," said the Lolupe village elder, Namoru Lokeno Kokoi, who was about 60.
On this day, technicians from the Diocese of Lodwar and the Lodwar Water and Sanitation Company (LOWASCO) were busy building out a water trough for a separate drinking area for the animals. Normally, people would just pump the water out onto the ground for the animals to drink, but then it just seeps back into the soil and much is wasted. Now there will be a concrete retaining trough for the water. This emergency drought response work is funded by CRS private funds (HRD).
Photo by Nancy McNally/Catholic Relief Services