Northern Kenya battling prolonged drought

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Transcript

00:00Marasabit County is located approximately 520 kilometers from the capital Nairobi.

00:12The majority of the people here are pastoralists and for generations their wealth, their culture

00:19and their very survival depended on their livestock.

00:24A relentless drought filled by a climate crisis they did later to cause is affecting their

00:30way of life.

00:31Most of the people are almost starving because for the last three years they have experienced

00:39relentless drought and now they don't have even having the usual livestock, their livelihood

00:48that they are depending on and now they normally sell and buy enough food for the family but

00:56now they don't even possess that livestock because it has now perished.

01:00For months now the sky here has been a mocking expanse of blue offering no relief after four

01:07or five consecutive failed rainy seasons.

01:11Amid the persistent scarcity, we find Salo Debaso, her hands moving in a blur, one weaving

01:18the fibers of a floor mud for a few shillings and another stirring a small pot of corn.

01:24She says the lack of rain has turned prized possessions into burdens.

01:30The drought has made our animals so weak.

01:35When we finally take them to market, the price they offer is nothing.

01:38It's an insult.

01:39With that little bit of money I can't even buy enough food for my children.

01:43How am I supposed to pay for a doctor?

01:45How do I pay hospital bills?

01:47There is nothing left.

01:51Boko Jilo is a mother of three, desperately trying to survive the unforgiving climate in

01:58Marasabit.

01:59With her infant snuggled in the wrap on her back, Jilo strains as she attempts to snap

02:05a thick piece of dry acacia wood, hoping to gather enough firewood to prepare a meal.

02:11She says she is worried about the constant cycle of drought that is destroying a little more

02:17every day.

02:20We are past release and we depend entirely on our livestock.

02:24The drought has depleted them.

02:26Now, selling the few that are left to survive only means our stock, our only wealth gets

02:32less and less.

02:33It is a cycle that is destroying us.

02:40The crisis is currently affecting millions of people in the region.

02:44The latest data from Kenya Red Cross indicates that at least 2.1 million people in

02:49Kenya's arid and semi-arid areas are facing food insecurity.

02:54A number expected to rise sharply without immediate intervention.

02:59But they are hoping for a collective global response to help them resist the devastating impacts

03:05of climate change.

03:06climate change.

03:07.

03:08.

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