With drought continuing to wreak havoc on rural communities in Kilifi, the county government has made a passionate appeal to donors, well-wishers, and non-governmental organizations to intervene and help over 148,000 families affected by drought.
County Gender Executive, Dr. Anisa Omar, said the situation is worrying and families are in dire need of food.
The drought has so far left a trail of destruction, with thousands of animals dying while people are surviving on wild fruits. Ganze, Magarini, Kaloleni, and some parts of Malindi have been hardly hit by the drought.
Dr Anisa said out of the 21 counties in Kenya Kilifi is number two in Kenya in terms of drought.
She spoke during handing over the ceremony of wheelchairs, crutches, and other mobility equipment for people with disabilities that were donated by the Rotary Club of Malindi in partnership with other Rotary clubs.
“There are rains in towns and along the coastline but deep inside the county it is very dry. People are suffering because they did not harvest anything and even the short rains will not be adequate,” she said.
She requested Rotary and other organizations to partner with the county government in form of a private-public partnership so as to intervene and help the affected families.
The CEC member said already the county is doing its part but the extent of the disaster is big and requires concerted efforts to address the situation.
“On behalf of the county government of Kilifi I would call for your support to see how best we can support the people as a county government we are doing our part but the numbers are high and it is through the partnership that we can address the problem affected by people who have nothing to eat,” she said.
Rotary Club of Malindi president Conrad Masinde said they were aware of the drought situation in Kilifi and Ganze in particular and promised they would intervene.
Already he said the Rotary club authorities including presidents, governors, and other senior officials are already in talks and soon would come up with a plan to support the victims of drought.
“As I said earlier clubs now are trying to do things together, to cooperate so we will see what it is that we can do given that you have said you want to partner with us in form of private-public partnership and I think that is the way to go,” he said.
Masinde said the wheelchair distribution and other equipment used by people with disabilities was one of their legacy projects as they are passionate to support them considering they feel excluded as members of the community and most time lack the basic equipment to enable them to have mobility.
He said currently the situation is hard due to the drought in Kilifi and it is worse for people living with disabilities that’s why they gave it a priority to support them.
“We did mapping and identified over 200 people living with disability, 70 percent of them are children with cerebral palsy so the type of wheelchairs is not the normal ones, they are specialized,” he said.
The president said they appealed to wellwishers to get the wheelchair and fortunately with their networks of presidents of rotary they reached out to them and donated wheelchairs.
He said the Rotary Club of Nakuru rotary club donated 12 wheelchairs four of them are specialized wheelchairs for cerebral palsy in total nine for children and three for adults.
Masinde said the rotary club of Nairobi Karengata also reached out to them and donated 90 white canes for people who are visually impaired.
The President of the Rotary Club of Nakuru Joab Okelo said they were happy to support the Rotary Club of Malindi with mobility equipment for people living with disabilities.
He said they found the appeal in their social media platform showing a list of 200 pieces of equipment required and got together as a club and donated the mobility equipment which had not got needs in their area.
“We are so happy to see the number of beneficiaries that have been reached, we didn’t just bring wheelchairs, we looked at the cases and were able to give wheelchairs as per their needs, we had cerebral palsy cases and were able to give them special wheelchairs for cerebral palsy and there are some that we gave the normal wheelchairs,” he said.
On his part, the President Rotary club of Karingata Nairobi Dan Munyori said they were happy as Rotarians to change the lives of people by supporting them.
He said it’s through the collaboration with the Rotary Club of Malindi that they managed to come and help.
Munyori said they have a Whassup group not only for Kenya but also includes Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, presidents.
“We have about 200 presidents so if there is a need for any club you can always post and you find that the need is addressed,” he said.
Samson Abadula a visually impaired person from Malindi who got a white cane to enable him to walk with said he was happy for the donation as it will enable him to do his day-to-day activities.
*This article was written by Ramadhan Kambi for Uzalendo News. Email: uzalendonews24@gmail.com to submit your story.
