htr-magazine-may21-web - Flipbook - Page 13
News from Christian Aid: Droughts. Hunger. Pandemic.
Kitu County in Eastern Kenya was already in the grip of a climate emergency.
Severe drought followed by extreme and unpredictable changes in weather
has destroyed crops, killed livestock, and continues to threaten livelihoods.
Then the pandemic hit. We know for ourselves that water and washing
hands has been vital in helping to save lives during the pandemic. But what
if there isn’t any? What if the nearest water source is miles away, by foot?
What then? This climate crisis and the pandemic impacts us all. But people
living in poverty get hit the hardest. This Christian Aid Week, we can make a
stand with people in Kenya.
You may never meet a more determined grandmother than Rose. At 68
years old she makes a six-hour round trip every other day to collect water for
her family so they can farm, drink and wash. She’s hungry and weary but
she goes on. Because she has to. Her grandchildren’s lives depend on it.
However she won’t have the strength to do this journey for ever.
Even before the pandemic hit, unreliable and unpredictable rainfall made life
a struggle.
We can stand against this chaos. Together we can work with communities
like Rose’s to make sure everyone has easy access to reliable water sources.
Every drop of water that falls is precious. So there needs to be a simple,
sustainable and ingenious way to successfully collect it: earth dams can do
just that. These huge basins are dug in the ground to collect and store rain
water. It’s then piped into taps for people like Rose to draw from. £10 for
Christian Aid could buy a pair of taps at a water point. £42 for Christian Aid
could buy 350kg of cement to build an earth dam.