A long drought lingers on, leaving behind the dying livestocks nothing to eat
2 Februari 2016 17:00
Brilio.net/en - Ekaale Ewoi, whose silhouette contrasted the pink morning sky, stands still at the bow of the boat. He glimpses at Ekai Longolan, who gently unravels a small prize. The fish thuds onto the boat floor, flopping around. Without a word they continue their rhythmic motion, going hand over hand for over thirty minutes, until they reach the bobbing jerry. End of the nets.
For one small fish, the two men have to work with their nets for more than 30 minutes. There are no more catch.
Longolan reveals the fish to be mudfish, whose struggles have ended.
We cant even sell this one, he says. Its very small. Well just use it for consumption.
Along the western shore of Lake Turkana, a shoreline that has continue to move upward as the lakes water lessened over the years, its the same story. A long drought lingers on, leaving behind the dying livestocks nothing to eat.
Great numbers of Turkana herders have been forced to leave their traditional herdsman lifestyles and pick up fishing nets, only to find the fishes are disappearing, too.
As the fish supplies decreased due to overfishing, some fishermen have been using mosquito nets to catch the smallest fish, only to have those nets confiscated by the Department of Fisheries.
When I started fishing I only used a raft, says John Mame. That was 12 years ago. Now he serves as chairman for the Impressa Beach Management Unit, which regulates the fish markets.
Then from there I got a boat, some many nets, I got my crew members. Then from there, I was able to put my children in school. But now, problem. No water, few water, yeah? No fish. You go to the lake, no fish. I dont know where they are.
He laughs, looking downward. Maybe there are thieves, what, I dont know.
From hero to zero
Lake Turkana, a 289 kilometers emerald-blue oasis that extends nearly across northwestern Kenya, is a vital source of life for more than 1.2 million people. It situated in a desolate region bordering Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. The huge lake is also known as the cradle of mankind, because the oldest known fossils of early humans were unearthed there.
But the once so enormous lake (that some people still know it as the Jade Sea) is disappearing. A combination of global warming and water resources projects has doomed the prodigious water to shrink.
And sadly, according to paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey, its already too late to save it.
Its going the way of the Aral Sea, Leakey said at a press conference in Nairobi in November, referring to the dried-up lake that spanned across Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan before the rivers that fed it were diverted for agriculture.
As the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service and the leader of the team that discovered the Turkana Boy skeleton in 1984, Leakey knows the Turkana region well and has been forewarned of this for years.
Its too late to be talking of this now, he said. The dam is built. Its done.
According to a Human Rights Watch report released in October, Lake Turkana is suffering due to two deadly disruptions. The first, climate change which is boiling the temperatures up and increases evaporation and the second, changing sedimentation patterns caused by development projects across the border in Ethiopia. The projects were diverting water from the Omo River, which supplies 90% of the Lake Turkanas water.
The Gibe III hydroelectric dam began generating electricity in October, just days before the reports release, and massive irrigation canals are in the works. The irrigation projects alone could reduce the Omos volume by half.
Suffering neighborhood
What once was a glimmering water of a vast lake is now only miles of cracked earth, with fishing nets and decaying boats lay abandoned a thousand feet from the shore. Its clearly visible, that the neighborhood is suffering. Its in the face of a little boy walking home with a dead small goat slung over his shoulders. Its in the shoulders of the women who have to walk two hours every day under fierce sun, only to fetch small amount of drinkable water for their families.
But what actually happens even more painful that what is seen.
A village stands not far from the waters edge, in an almost lunar landscape, called Namakat. Rows of woven huts are the only protection from the merciless sun. Many of Namakats children have bright ginger hair, bleached from swimming in the lakes alkaline, high-fluoride waters.
Not only in hair, the lake water causes even worse effect when it is drunk, as it is, sometimes, when potable water is nowhere to be found. The water is also used for cooking, even though boiling wont remove the fluoride, which caused disfigure human bones when over-consumed. One of Namakat chiefs 16 children has bowed legs and a noticeably enlarged skull.
A man lived in another village across Fergusons Gulf on the peninsula of Longech, lies prone, is unable to walk, as his limbs twisted and collapses from hunger.
According to Dr. John Ekai, the doctor in charge at the main clinic in Kalokol (a small town on the edge of the gulf), skeletal fluorosis is just one of several climate-related health problems afflicting this region. He also reports that the rate of malnutrition among the clinics patients is between 20% and 30%. They also find significant number of assaults, both violent and sexual.
Most of the people living around here are fishermen, Ekai says. And this idea of selling and buying fish usually brings like a competition. Most of the fights usually come from the lakeside. Its all about fishing business activities, most of them.
It was reported in anecdotal manner that some women are bartering sex for wish of a few coins, as well as increased conflict Turkana County over resources and territory also highlight the desperation many people in these communities feel.
It has only memories left
In every part of the country, from slums to the most desolate areas, people are finding their way to carve out a living for themselves.
The Turkana have done the same. They have adapted time again and again. Its just that everything theyve tried has quickly turned to ash. They have lost their livestocks, then their fish, then their nets. Then some of them are burning any trees they can find to make and sell charcoal.
Many have never even heard the term climate change, but instead put the long drought down to Gods plan.
Charles Ebuunu recalls his childhood around 1950s as an idyllic time when herds were plentiful and the rains came regularly. Now he is an old man whose life depends on fishes provided by his family, and by selling loose cigarettes along the nearby beach on Longech.
We depend on the lake, he says. And if the lake dries up I see that the future of the Turkana people is in danger.
He gazes out at the shore, where a Fisheries vessel has just chugged past on a patrol, drawing a crowd.
I feel people definitely will die, the way that the animals died in the drought. I think even about dying. Its better to die than to see children suffering.
