Recently there have been stories circling in the news about the drought in Kenya. When I was there in early 2009, everyone talked about the drought, but it wasn't nearly as critical.Now, nearly half the crops farmers planted for harvest this year have dried up. Cows are dying, falling down the hills where they graze. Goats have no water, no grass, nothing. All this trickles down the food chain to humans, who are struggling to find food. When they do, many find it is 3, 4, 5 times as much as it was a year or two ago.
Nairobi, where Sud Academy is, has been without power 50% of the time. The city has rationed tap water even in the most glitzy of neighbourhoods. Taps in the slums have reportedly been running dry for weeks, even months.
Food & water insecurity is a dangerous thing. Violence is expected to rise dramatically as some people will spend 100% of their incomes procuring food and maybe water, leaving them hopeless to pay for anything but. No power + starving, dehydrated, defeated people often = crime; thefts, lies, even murder.
The Kenyan government, who is supposed to keep emergency food supplies in stock, says it only has enough to feed the 3.5 million starving for 6 weeks. The rest it has sold or didn't purchase. As they drive their shiny Mercedes, Audis and Range Rovers through the bumpy & bustling streets of Nairobi, thousands of children and women across the country will walk 10s of kilometers in search of food, water, a puddle.
Given this dire situation, building the rainwater collection device at Sud Academy is imperative. Potable water has skyrocketed in price and they simply cannot afford to buy it. What rain does fall on Sud's roof is a precious commodity and no one can afford to waste it or watch it tumble to the dusty ground.
Here's an article on the CBC about the impacts of Kenya's latest crisis:
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