By Salim Mohamed /BORESHA Project
Habiba Ibrein Kini is 51 years old mother of 9 living in Tarama village which is 10km travel from Banisa town, the village borders Ethiopia from North West and has an estimated population of 600 households. Habiba is among the few vulnerable whose household benefited In September 2021 BORESHA engaged Habiba for cash for work interventions funded by EUTF in Mandera County, Habiba and her family lived in a tough situation due to the ravaging drought that is experienced in many parts of the ASAL counties.
“I lost 10 out of 30 cattle which we depended on as a source of livelihood for my family. The remaining 20 also reduced milk productivity to worsening drought conditions that manifested in poor vegetation conditions. My family, have embarked on the mission to save the remaining livestock as the situation continues to become unbearable and moved to Ethiopia in a bid to search for water and pasture for the livestock. I remained behind with my 9 children 5boys and 4 girls in the village with little food and no milk now that the animals are far away. In the middle of this crisis CARE came to my village mobilizing and registering community members for cash for work activities to rehabilitate degraded rangeland areas. I was selected as one of the beneficiaries and received 140 $ which I utilized to buy food and other essential household items.”
Habiba’s wish to have the cash for work interventions continue for months in order for her to fully meet the current burgeoning demand of her family needs. Like Habiba, the cash for work interventions has greatly helped many vulnerable households across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. The intervention was termed as timely and communities appreciated the support extended to them by the BORESHA project, which provided income to the vulnerable community members and injected cash into the local market.
Such timely interventions that helps the livelihood of households in critical situation like the current drought experienced in the whole of Northern Kenya and along the border areas will have high impact in saving the life of many vulnerable people dying of hunger. Having contingency funds in such situations can help address the impacts of drought and other natural disasters.The Mandera triangle region is currently experiencing drought coupled with Covid 19 that has exacerbated the situation and put the local economy in limbo.