Help rebuild our lives, Kwale flood victims plead

Mwanamkasi Saidi says she only salvaged her mosquito net and a few items. [PHOTOS: TOBIAS CHANJI/STANDARD]

Mwanamkasi Saidi counts herself lucky. She rescued her one-year-old baby from raging waters as floods wreak havoc in Kwale County.

“When it started raining, I was out fetching water. I just got into the house as my last born child was about to be swept away. I shudder at the thought of what could have happened,” she says.

Her luck, however, ends there. The floods swept away all her earthly belongings.

Mwanamkasi, her husband Saidi and their four children have been forced to make a home in a nearby thicket. Before mayhem struck a few weeks ago, all was well.

A few weeks ago, the residents of Lunga Lunga constituency, Kwale County prayed for rain. And when it eventually came, it struck with vengeance.

The Standard on Sunday team visited the victims after the storm to see how they were coping. Down trodden yet hopeful faces greet you as you enter Sega B village, one of the areas hardest hit by the heavy down pour.

River Umba has burst its banks. At Sega, rugged mats have been stuffed together to make temporary beddings. Other areas affected hit by the floods in Kwale include Kiwegu, Jego, Bondeni, Tsuini, Vanga and Botola in Lunga Lunga constituency. Kinondo ward in Msambweni constituency, was also hit.

After the floods, the road connecting Lunga Lunga and Vanga was disrupted and an estimated 5,000 people living in Kiwegu sub location are now exposed to potential risk of water borne diseases. Assessment is being done in Kinondo to ascertain the overall damage.

Mwanamkasi salvaged a tattered mosquito net, which is now her most valuable belonging.

The floods carried away her household items, two goats, a marriage certificate, identity cards and title deed.

As they get used to living in the cold, her husband Abdul Hamis has to sleep on the bare ground while she and three children use the mat.

“Things are really bad here. We drink that flood water and use it to cook our food. We know we are exposing ourselves to diseases, but what else can we do? Two days ago, my last born fell ill, I could not afford his medication,” he says.

The story is the same for their neigbours.

“I had gone to work at a local restaurant when a neighbour called me to inform me that my small brothers and one-year-old baby were almost being swept away by water. I rushed back home and I was able to save my kin. But my household items were all carried by the waters,” says Mwanamisi Tsuma, a resident of Sega B.

Moses Muindi and his neighbour Sofia Sphene lost their main source of livelihood — chicken.

Koja Mohammed, a Form Four student at Lunga Lunga Secondary, lost all his books and stationery.

“I am a candidate and I had borrowed some text books which were washed away. My teachers have asked me to replace them,” he says.

The teachers have been kind enough to allow him wear home clothes to school.

The victims are in urgent need of help.

“These people need basics like water, food, tends and blankets to survive,” says Mama Hellen Masha, a well wisher.

Sympathetic to the plight of the flood victims in Sega B village, Masha and Nicholas Zani have taken it upon themselves to raise funds to help the flood victims.

Relief food

Through Kwale County Vision-Vanga Disaster Fund, a Whatsapp group, the two have collected Sh20,000 to buy foodstuffs for the victims.

Kenya Redross officials have also been on the ground offering humanitarian help.

 “People living lower grounds should move to higher grounds since this is just the onset of the long rains,” said Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Gulet when he visited Vanga on Wednesday.

Lunga Lunga Sub-county Commissioner Josphat Biwott said a disaster committee has been formed to oversee rescue operations.

Biwott said more relief food is needed incase the rains continue.

“When we sat down as a committee, we assessed the situation and saw the need for more stocking up of foodstuffs just incase,” he said.

Biwott said the affected families need 3,300 bags of rice, 4,500 bags of maize, 2,250 bags of beans, 300 cartoons of cooking oil and 30,000 mosquito nets.