A mother's pain of losing a child to El Nino floods
The mother of five only recalls how she helplessly watched her son disappear into the floods.
Mwanajuma Islam is a troubled mother, She lost her youngest son to the raging floods.
Her second last child was also rescued she also lost everything, including her farm in Kamuthey location in Garissa.
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The mother of five only recalls how she helplessly watched her son disappear into the floods.
Mwanajuma, 43, is amongst 30 families who are now camping at Kamuthey rescue centre who lack basic necessities such as water accusing the government of abandoning them.
"I couldn't locate my two children and decided to look for them only to see the youngest inside the raging floods," she said while sobbing.
She said she sought the help of well-wishers who came and rescued her other son, later search party was deployed to recover the body of the lastborn.
The government has estimated over 50,000 people have been displaced by the raging floods, warning that residents should move to higher areas.
Habiba Kusow is a mother of 9, she only cooks beans for her children. She said she has nothing as all her belongings have been washed by the floods.
The restored Kona Punda section. (Photo: Courtesy)
"My only source of livelihood is my farms, which are now inaccessible, and I have not gotten any help from the government," she said.
Locals also decried local leadership unconcerned over their plight saying out of all elected leaders no one has come to their rescue.
"It's unfortunate that we have leaders in place but no one has come to our rescue, not even giving us a small portion of food for our children," said Mohamud Ahmed, a resident of Bula Nadhir in Fafi.
The elderly accused the government of ignoring their plight, saying if help doesn't come people might lose lives.
Program coordinator for Action Aid Kenya Zamzam Abdi said they have distributed food items to the victims but it's not sufficient.
She said the communities currently affected by the floods are suffering, considering that they have come from severe drought.
"We are trying to at least distribute food rations, but it's too little, these people need help as they are also at risk of contracting water-borne diseases," she said.
By Abdimalik Hajir
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