Kenya school children discuss drought crisis on World Water Day

KAJIADO, KENYA: As people around the globe marked the World Water Day on March 22, school pupils of a primary school in Kenya held a debate revolving around a persistent drought crisis and life-threatening food shortages afflicting millions across East and Horn of Africa.

The Environment Club of Kiserian Primary School comprising pupils aged 5 – 14 congregated Wednesday at the school’s backyard to discuss water-related issues, while planting trees and tending their tree nursery bed.

“Water means everything to me,” said 13-year-old Victoria Akinyi, a class eight pupil at the school, who enjoys planting trees. “We use it for drinking, cooking and watering plants,” she said.

The children grow hundreds of tree seedlings – both indigenous and exotic species – as part of an innovative environmental program aimed at averting the effects of climate change.  The government-sponsored school is located in a peri-urban area of Kajiado County, some 26 km (16 miles) south west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

“My message to the young people like me around the world is to encourage them to plant more trees to attract rainfall and help conserve water catchment areas,” said Izabayo Rebecca, 13.  

According to Ms. Joyce Mumira, a teacher in-charge of the school’s environment club, the project was set up several years ago as a brainchild of the school’s young population.

The project, she said, has received support from the local community and is commended as a practical, homegrown solution towards addressing the global problem/issue of climate change and deforestation.

Kenya, just like many East African nations, is experiencing a severe drought causing hunger and suffering to millions.

Stacey Naserian, 12, said she had witnessed members of her own community suffer from the ongoing drought crisis.

“We walk long distances from our homestead in search for water, and some of our friends have reportedly lost their livestock to hunger,” the class seven pupil said.

Already the United Nations and other donor agencies have issued an urgent appeal for food aid to save millions of lives facing hunger and starvation in several African countries, including Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan. At least 12 million people in the region are dependent on humanitarian aid, according to the UN.

Experts say the drought has been particularly severe mainly due to the El Nino weather phenomenon – causing extreme weather patterns resulting to poor rainfall and devastating crop harvests.

According to the United Nations, today more than 600 million people live without a safe water supply close to their homes, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant places in search of water. Many more suffer from serious diseases due to use of contaminated water.

The Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, include a target to ensure everyone has access to safe water by 2030, making water a key issue in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty.