The new expressway has just been inaugurated in Nairobi: a prestige project for the capital’s traffic. At the same time, little has changed in the living conditions in rural areas in the north for years. There are mobile phone networks there too, because it’s logistically simple, but otherwise the people live there like they did 50 or 100 years ago. The Berlin photographer Roland Brockmann visited the shepherds in the north of the country at the invitation of the aid organization miseror. Although the people there live so isolated, they suffer the most from the world situation. In crises caused by others, they bear the consequences. They suffer from drought and climate change and hardly contribute to climate-damaging emissions themselves. Very few have probably ever heard of the Ukraine, and yet the consequences of the war in far-off Eastern Europe affect their lives. Basic food and fuel are becoming unaffordable – also for the international aid organizations.
Mobile phones in the Middle Ages
People use cell phones but live in traditional huts without electricity or water. They cook over three-stone fireplaces, as they have done since time immemorial. Most are shepherds, unable to read or write. The animals are the center of your life, not only as capital. Cattle or goats determine the status of a family, but above all everyday life. Without the cattle, all life here loses its meaning. It is now the third drought in Kenya that the Berlin photographer has documented, within around ten years. He says: “The people I meet along the way impress me. I couldn’t survive like that myself. As a photographer, it’s like looking into another world that has fallen out of modernity.” A world that is becoming increasingly fragile.
Without animals there is no meaningful life
Life there is anything but idyllic. The next drama awaits behind the hunger, the lack of prospects. Without animals there is nothing for the pastoral peoples to do. The drought has climatic, i.e. global, reasons. This time there is also the past locust plague, Corona and the increased food prices due to the war in Ukraine. Since nothing can be grown in the north due to the semi-arid soil, the nomads have to buy flour in order to have at least corn porridge to eat. During the pandemic, however, the markets were closed, so all the day laborer jobs were lost. Nobody could earn anything more.
Donations don’t solve all problems
The population in 17 rural districts in Kenya is now living in acute need. 3.5 million people need humanitarian aid. Laikipia, where the Misereor partner organization IMPACT (Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation) works, is particularly affected. Roland Brockmann considers help through donations to be urgently needed. It is not fair to expect donations to solve all of the country’s problems. “Donations are not an instrument of change, but a sign of solidarity. A way to help others who are less fortunate.” The necessary structural change and future concepts for Kenya cannot be imported from outside. “Kenya as a country has to do that itself. The West can hardly intervene like a gardener.” He cannot confirm the prejudice that the aid is failing. “My clear impression is that the relief supplies that are being distributed are going to the right people. But it’s emergency aid that first of all helps to fill the stomach.” In addition to acute emergency aid, Misereor also supports long-term projects to adapt to the changed climatic conditions.
A country divided
The situation in the country is complicated. In no European country is there a contrast like that between the modern capital and the nomads of the north. Not only in the living conditions, but also in the mentality. The people in the capital see themselves primarily as Kenyans. In the north, tribal structures still play a major role. Distribution struggles are fought along ethnic lines. With the brutal methods of the day before yesterday: Again and again, villages are burned down or cattle are stolen. The country is divided. Only 100 kilometers south of the arid regions begins the green highlands of Kenya – with fertile clay soil. “They’ve just been harvesting well. But the nomads in the north can’t pay for the vegetables from there without money.” Kenya is a relatively stable African country and, contrary to many fears, the change of power after the presidential election in the summer has so far been peaceful. Last but not least, a guarantee for peace and unity is the country’s growing middle class, which would have a lot to lose in the event of unrest. But the north is currently being left behind more and more. In the long run, long-term concepts are needed, but today the greatest need must be alleviated.
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Keywords: famine in Africa