Kenya and children impacted by armed conflicts

Parents just have no choice if they hope to save the lives of their children and their livelihood.Īccording to the head teacher at Kulamawe’s primary school, as of September 2022, close to 20% of the pupils had dropped out to migrate with their families in search of pastures and clean water sources. These children are now school drop outs, not of their own volition but forced out by their circumstances.

This migration, however, often causes conflict between the displaced and host communities as there are very little resources to share, even where they are going.Ĭountless boys and girls are forced to uproot their lives and follow their families on these treks while their peers in fairer counties remain settled and in school. They must trek with their remaining livestock to far away parts of the county or into neighbouring counties in the hope of discovering some pasture and water for their dying animals.

Pastoralist families who had been settled are now being forced into a nomadic lifestyle. Camels on the move in search of pasture and water© World Vision / Mary Njeri Such a terrain cannot support the remaining herds, hence triggering migration. Isiolo is one of the 23 counties in Kenya that are drought stricken, with catastrophic levels of food insecurity – a situation that is worsening every day.Ī vast expanse of dusty and rocky rangeland spans the area, with countless dry riverbeds that have not held a drop of water in many months. Kulamawe echoes of countless sights and sounds of despair. However, when I visited Kulamawe village in Isiolo county, Kenya, I found women and children standing in long lines alongside goats and other livestock to collect clean water from the village's only borehole. Most of us stand in long checkout lines at supermarkets to buy foodstuffs or bottled water for our families. Can you imagine standing in this line just for a sip of clean water? Goats at an overcrowded water point waiting to drink © World Vision / Mary Njeri

Kenya and children impacted by armed conflicts