Ethuko Nangole, the face of hunger in Turkana

By Anderson Ojwang’ and Peter Ochieng’

She was lying on the bare ground, worn out by hunger after going for several days without food.

Her attempts to stand or sit up failed as attempted to speak to us. Her relatives held her shoulders to keep her upright.

Ethuko Nangole, 80, was saddled in a corner of her manyatta, desolate and with nothing to eat.

Speaking slowly, she whispered almost inaudibly: "I am danger of hunger in my country. Why cant the government look at our plight instead of living us to die like dogs?"

The Standard crew gave out Sh5,000, five packets of biscuits and six bottles of drinking water to Mama Alar Akai, her sister-in-law, to support her. Akai also lives in Kalapat manyatta, not far from Lokichar in Turkana South District.

The Standard team of Biketi Kikechi, Peter Ochieng, Hilary Obinda and Joseph Kigen left the Eldoret office at dawn and drove for nine hours covering over 300km into the land of emptiness.

It saw the crew team navigate through the crime-prone Pokot and Turkana districts to unlock the suffering of the locals ravaged by famine.

The bumpy journey saw them pass through the bandit-infested areas of Pokot district into Turkana.

The first stop was at Lokichar District office where the crew was given direction of the areas worst affected by famine.

Residents said they had been boiling water to drink to kill hunger and wait for another day. They had not eaten solid food and relied on wild fruits and roots.

Among the residents were internally displaced persons from the January 2008 post-election violence living at Kalimorock IDP camp. Their story of hunger was the same.

One of the residents, Mzee Akut Loriaban, said they had not had food for several weeks and had not received government relief.

With the onset of the dry spell, the stronger villagers had left for Uganda in search of pasture and water for their livestock.