Marsabit has remained my favourite county to visit, mostly because of the contrast in beauty the county has. I mean, where else can you be in a rainforest one minute, and bang in the middle of East Africa’s only true desert the other? So when I received the invite from FH Kenya to document some of the initiatives they had ongoing during the pandemic, I jumped on the opportunity and headed to the Big North.
First I had to take a Covid-19 test to make sure I wasn’t going to put any people I met at risk.
When the results came out negative, I was cleared to travel to Marsabit.
Most of the projects I was documenting are in Balesa, an idyllic settlement at the heart of the uninhabited arid open spaces of North Horr in Marsabit County. Balesa is a four-hour back breaking drive across the Chalbi Desert and some of the roughest terrain in Kenya from Marsabit.
Daytime temperatures dangle between the upper thirties and lower forties on the Celsius scale. The nights are hot too, but the constant winds make them a bit more bearable.
In a place where residents number several hundreds, everyone knows everyone and visitors stand out as foreigners. But Balesans, a majority of whom are from the desert conquering Gabra, are very welcoming, greeting visitors with warm smiles that make you forget the hot temperatures.
Weighing in Against Malnutrition in Balesa
Less than ideal planting weather, poor soil conditions and cultural preferences have made a majority of Balesans rely entirely on fruits and vegetables grown elsewhere for their meals. And with Balesa not being an easy place to get to, nutritious foods are a rarity.
Rates of malnutrition are extremely high in North Horr – 31.5% compared against a national average of 4%. FH Kenya, with the support of Korean Food for the Hungry, have embarked on several initiatives to dial back these numbers.
Mothers and children visiting Balesa Dispensary, located in the heart of Balesa are some of the greatest beneficiaries of initiatives targeted at reducing malnutrition.
At Balesa Dispensary, we found 30-year-old Kame Jarso and her third born child – four year old daughter Nasibo – being attended to by Agnes Arbe, Balesa Dispensary’s Lead Nutritionist.
At her previous visit to the Dispensary, Nasibo had been found to be malnourished and entered into a growth monitoring program. Agnes gave Kame food supplements to give to Nasibo once a day for 14 days.
Today, Nasibo’s weight reading was received with a cheer from Agnes. On enquiring about the excitement, Agnes explained to her mother, “11 kilograms! Being in the growth monitoring program is really bearing fruit for Nasibo. You’ve done a great job by giving her the supplements.”
Though 200 grams below what the average should be for her age and height, Agnes chose to celebrate this small win and encourage Nasibo’s mum to keep up with the improved feeding that was taking Nasibo’s growth curve in the right direction.
Without properly functioning weighing scales, it would be impossible to monitor the growth of children and measure the rate of malnutrition.
Thanks to the weighing scales donated by FH Kenya, cases of malnutrition are being caught early and those affected are entered into a program that sets them on the path of recovery from malnutrition.
Taking the Hospital to the People
In Elhadi, another settlement about an hour’s drive North East of Balesa, we found a medical team on their way to Marime Manyatta, another 10 minutes out of town, to take much needed health services to the manyatta’s residents.
The team from Elhadi Dispensary make scheduled visits to different manyattas in the area where they serve. With a majority of people sticking to their nomadic lifestyle, it is easier to take the services to them than have them walk to the Dispensary, which can be a half day affair, especially for those with children,
Through a Korean Food for the Hungry grant, FH Kenya supported the training of health workers on integrated management of acute malnutrition (IMAM) with an aim to build the capacity of the newly recruited nutritionists, nurses and community health assistants on IMAM services delivery and to sensitise them on IMAM services in the context of Covid-19 infection prevention measures.
Cooking Demonstrations to Reduce Malnutrition
Growing up in the hot, dry and arid lands of Marsabit County and coming from a community whose cutlery are more familiar with animal protein and starches than any other food group, the importance of vegetables or how to properly prepare them aren’t lessons 41-year old Robe Sharamo picked up on her journey to motherhood.
This affected how she prepared her children’s meals, usually overcooking the vegetables, denying them the nutrients she sought to give them.
Working with Ministry of Health staff and community health volunteers, FH Kenya reached caregivers like Robe through proper food preparation instructions and demonstrations.
“One of the things I learnt is the names of different vegetables,” Robe told us during a visit to her home in Balesa’s South C Village. “Skuma, cabbage, spinach… I now know them by name and can tell which ones are good for cooking.”
The practical sessions supported by FH Kenya involved engaging caregivers in preparing the meals which they served to their children as guided by the facilitator. The caregivers then gave their thoughts on the meals prepared, and feedback on acceptance of the same from their children.
“Before the lessons, I did not know the different food types. My children’s appetite was also not very good, just like their health. But thanks to the demonstrations, their appetite and health have improved. I know that skuma adds iron and eggs have protein which builds bodies” Robe told us.
Looking at her five healthy children aged between 14 years and 3 months, it is clear she is putting what she learnt to practice.
Hand Wash Stations Everywhere You Go
Regular washing of hands with soap and water is one of the ways of stopping the spread of the Coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
This made access to hand wash stations at homes and health centres across Marsabit a priority item in FH Kenya’s Covid-19 response plan.
2,000 hand wash stations were procured locally and delivered to health centres, hospitals and homes across Marsabit County.
In Balesa, we found 14-year old Ibrahim Sharamo washing his hands at a hand wash station outside his family’s home in South C Village.
His mother, Robe Sharamo, told us “Having the hand wash station at home has been a huge blessing. My children now have no excuse not to wash their hands before meals.”
The Long Journey to Clean, Reliable Water
Along the sandy run of a lagga that borders Balesa are several singing wells, shallow wells and diesel-powered boreholes dug by residents of the settlement in Marsabit County in an attempt to have a reliable source of water.
Not far from the singing well, one borehole stands out.
Whereas many are open and not demarcated, allowing the free movement of people and livestock, Balesa Shallow Well has a neat chain link fence along its perimeter. It is also clean and inviting with surrounding bushes cleared to make it visible from afar.
This is the ingenious work of Robe Godana, Dadare Bonaya and Sori Elema and other women from South C Village who came together to improve on what they have.
Every drop of water from the solar-powered well tells the story of the long journey the women have taken to get here. A journey that has taken years of courage, determination and hard work.
Robe, a 38 year old mother of eight children, tells us of how she used to wake up as early as 4am and walk far to go fetch water for her family’s use. Many are the times she got chased by well owners, being forced to return home with empty jerry cans.
That’s when she and other women joined hands, and got into a work for food agreement with well diggers.
The women did not have money to pay the diggers. They paid them by each giving a small portion of the relief food they had received to see them through a drought in North Horr.
“During the excavation, we too got in on the action, helping dig the shallow well with our bare hands” Robe explains.
At the finished well, fetching water was done using buckets which were tied to a rope on one end, dropped into the well and pulled up with water which was transported in jerry cans to their homes by hand or donkey. It was a lot of work but at least no one was chasing them from here. This was their well, dug with their own hands and no one could take it from them.
To celebrate their hard work, FH Kenya made the shallow well safe for all by closing off the opening with concrete paving.
The water fetching process took a lot of time though, sometimes up to eight hours on days many people had the need for water. This meant household work like laundry, cooking and watering livestock was not attended to in good time or at all.
“As our families grew, more water was needed and more was expected of us at home.” They needed a solution that would keep up with their busier lives.
That is when FH Kenya returned. They bought and installed a solar powered pump that harnesses the power of the sun to pump water at the tap of a button. They also bought a 10,000 litre water tank to store the water. No buckets, no hand pumping, just the flick of a switch.
“Pumping water is so easy even a pregnant woman can do it” said Robe.
Dadre Bodana is very appreciative of the safety the solar pump addition has brought to her family. “At times we couldn’t go with our children to fetch water at night. We were forced to leave them outside the house despite knowing that hyenas and other wild animals passed through our village at night. But we did not have an option. It was a risk that we are happy did not end in death.”
On health and sanitation, Dadre added “People would at times come to take a bath in the open shallow well, and would fetch our water from the same well. Typhoid and other diseases were common. But after FH Kenya did the concrete paving and later installed a solar pump, there is a guarantee the water is clean and we know that because the cases of water borne diseases have reduced.”
The women have now fenced the area surrounding the well using chain link wire, making their shallow well stand out when compared to others in along the lagga.
The journey to clean, reliable water isn’t over for the women in South C. They are now looking for a way of having the water piped from the shallow well right to their homes.
Departing Marsabit
Before leaving Balesa, the International Space Station decided to do a fly by and I was favoured to capture it.
Lake Paradise is to Marsabit what the Uhuru Park viewpoint is to people who visit Nairobi.
On the drive back to Nairobi, I wondered how many people’s nutrition, health and access to water had improved in Marsabit.
And because Christ tells us we are his hands and feet, I can confidently say because of the work FH Kenya does, thousands have shaken his hands and seen his footprints at their doorsteps.
I hope you too get positively impacted in a way you will remember.
Good job Mwarv. Thank you for capturing our services with the hood people of Marsabit, Balesa location. God bless you.