UWT Kenya

Family Life In Rural Kenya

Around 79 per cent of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas and relies on agriculture for most of its income which has been severely affected by the drought. Nearly half the country’s 40 million people are poor, or unable to meet their daily nutritional requirements. The vast majority of poor people live in rural areas. Although in some respects conditions have improved since the early 1980s, the poverty rate has remained steady.

Above: Temporary homes and shelters are typically built from whatever resources are found nearby and have to be re-strengthened or re-built every few months.

This severe drought and famine in the Horn of Africa has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, leaving many women widowed having to take care of their children and attempting to earn an income alone and in other cases, leaving children orphaned without any parents to care for them, forcing some of the elder children, often not yet reached the age of teens to assume the role of parents.

While most of us are blessed enough by Allah (swt) to have clean water flowing from our taps just steps away, many people in the Horn of Africa, often young girls have to travel on foot for miles for this vital resource, sacrificing time and energy.

It is quite common to see people walking for hours on end everyday to a 'nearby' water source, filling up a makeshift jerry can, before making the long journey home, just so they can provide water to their needy families.

Above: A young 5 year old girl, Shamsah, walks several kilometres everyday to provide water for her family. Watch a small video clip depicting her story in a post below.