Dertu, Kenya

The Dertu Millennium Village is located in the Northeastern Province of Kenya, approximately 140 km from the Kenya-Somali border. The village is home to an estimated population of 5,200 residents, predominantly of the Kenyan Auliyahan ethnic Somali community.

Dertu is a low lying area with an altitude of 150-300m above sea level and is situated within the Ewaso Nyiro river basin. The area is covered by sandy clay-loam soils derived from sedimentary rocks. The village is characterized by arid climate with an average annual rainfall of about 350mm. The rains consist of long and short rains received in April-June and October-December respectively. The short rains are usually more reliable. Before the October-December 2006 rains the area had not received sufficient rainfall since the El-Nino rains of 1997.

The village is characterized by high poverty levels and for years there has been a high level of dependency on food aid donated by the Government, World Food Programme (WFP) and Red Cross. The vicious cycle of poverty is due to multiple and complex interwoven problems including acute food shortages as a result of recurrent droughts, unreliable and erratic rainfall, subsequent floods with outbreaks of pests and diseases and isolation from markets. Malnutrition, high maternal and child mortality, illiteracy, overgrazing and poor infrastructure are rampant in the area.

Village Characteristics by Sector

The livelihood system in Dertu is based on nomadic pastoralism coupled with some small scale businesses. The residents of Dertu keep large herds of animals that graze in nearby pastures in rainy periods but move hundreds of kilometers away in dry seasons in search of water. As the intensity of drought increases, the livestock population around the reliable water sources increases, causing overgrazing and environmental degradation. Young and able-bodied men and women mostly do the herding but at times entire families move together, establishing temporary homes called ìmanyattasî wherever they go. An average pastoral farmer keeps eight camels and cattle respectively and 39 goats/sheep.

Since livestock is the only livelihood, there is limited diversification in food production. Despite the high livestock population in the area, milk production is limited due to inadequate pasture/forage. Most of the households are forced to use powdered milk and there is a lack of vegetables and fruits in the area. This raises malnutrition levels in the village, which are estimated at 18% – necessitating a supplementary feeding program for children who are less than five years-old, lactating mothers, pregnant women and the elderly.

There is only one health facility for the entire Dertu location, which is a government dispensary serving 5,000 people. The dispensary is inadequately staffed with two nurses and a village health worker. The facility only operates during normal government working hours. The facility is also poorly equipped as there is no flowing piped water and the solar panel that was fitted is not enough to supply power for refrigeration. In addition, the kerosene and gas powered refrigerators are faulty, which means that no vaccines can be stored at the facility.

Lack of a maternity wing and an observation ward at the dispensary has made it difficult to attend to patients during late hours. As a result the nurses at the dispensary are forced to visit patients at their homes. Most pastoralists come from far away and have nowhere to stay at the centre for medical attention. Furthermore, the dispensary lacks laboratory services and most diagnoses are based on clinical symptoms.

The village has one primary school with only seven rooms, one of which is partitioned into a staff room and a teaching class. The school has six teachers, five of whom are paid by the government and one by the community. A female teacher heads the school. Although most of the teachers are not from the village, accommodations for teachers are minimal and in poor condition. With suitable accomodations, posting teachers to the primary school will be much easier.

The literacy level in Dertu is estimated at about 17% for men and at 8% for women, while that of the pastoralists could be as low as 5%.

There are two boreholes located within a distance of 50m from each other. A fee is charged for domestic and livestock water retrieval. The boreholes and the revenue generated are managed by a water users association. The money generated is used to pay for diesel and maintenance of the borehole and proceeds go to the community. Water is provided to livestock using troughs placed outside the fenced boreholes. Up to 12,000 heads of livestock could be watered in a single day from the boreholes during the dry season. The high livestock population is causing environmental degradation (vegetation and soil) around the boreholes. The borehole water is assumed to be of good quality and is used without any treatment. Currently there is no piped water going to the homesteads at the trading centre and some households draw water from the animal watering troughs illegally.

In most cases it is the women and children who fetch water for domestic use. In terms of sanitation and hygiene there are a few latrines which could be hazardous during an outbreak like cholera. The pastoralists use bush toilets while the sedentary community use both bush and pit latrines. However, almost all the existing latrines either collapsed or were filled during the floods, thereby contaminating the water sources.

Intervention Highlights