JUSTICE OR INJUSTICE

KYUSO- GROWING TOWN

What will be in your mind if you wake up one morning and found the one you love more is no more to be seen in this beautiful world? What will be your step if you noticed that the town that you live in is insecure? Some will be heard saying, it’s the will of God. Some will decide to take a step ahead and seek for explanation from their leaders.

Kyuso community in Eastern Province of Kenya wanted to know why one of their own was murder. They claim that his body was not handled with respect by the police. They wanted to know why the body didn’t have some of its private part. They wanted to know if one of the police officer whose rumor has it that he was among the murderers since his head cape was found in the scene was truly one of them.

The community decided that they will do it their own style by taking part in an unplanned demonstration to be told what was wrong with the security in their area. They opted to move from the town to police station through the districts commissioner's office. This is how their D.C was able to solve their problem. 

coping with the climate change

Long distance travelers

Have you had of the Kamba community in Kenya? They are known as the long distant travelers. Have you ever wondered why? Have you ever visited the community to learn their culture and how they live? I have interacted with the community and the following are what I found about the community:

The Akamba are a community in the eastern province of Kenya. They are one of the communities that are much affected by the change of climate. The community has to travel for a very long in such of water. As you know water is life and therefore people have to travel for very long distance in such of water. The community is also faced with a lot of challenge since most of the seasonal rivers have already dried up. The community is also forced to travel with their animals to find pasture for the animals.

I tend to think that this traveling for long distance has forced them to adapt to travelling for long distance in such of this very vital commodity. Most roads in the area are not in a good condition and therefore travelling means is also a problem. One of the roads that are not in a good condition is for example that connecting Mwingi to Tseikuru through Kyuso District. I tend to think this is because of the hash environmental condition whereby the area always in experiencing hot and dry weather.

To save this community from the harsh weather condition we should always plant more trees and stop cutting the trees for the safety of our environment. Let us all move with the new technology and avoid use of paper to reduce the cutting of trees for the paper industry.

     

Journey to Excell

               Great success

What is success?

There are so many definition of what success is. First success is not circumstances you are in or material or either the outcomes of your did. The following are some of the ways on how to become successful in life;

• Be determined that you will make it.
• Update yourself by moving with technology.
• Have the power of knowledge to start-make one step and you will be there.
• Seek respect by first starting to respect yourself-self mentorship motivation.
• Be an innovator but not an imitator.
• Have confidence in yourself.
• Always be inspired before you expire.
• Be flexible always and not rigid.
• You need to plan yourself and always remember to keep records of yourself.
• Have a goal in life and always look for ways of achieving it.
• Avoid all destructors and those who discourage you.
• Remain focused not to fall wayside.
• Have a dream- a person who does not dream is no person and a dream so strong can destroy a reality so real.
• If you achieve your dream make sure you are safe.
• Have a vision. Visionary men don’t die.
• Take care of your friends that they may not mislead you.
• Use a stabling block to be a stepping stone to you success.
• Let the sky be the beginning of your limit to success.
• Make the right choice-remember every action has a reaction.
•  Though there are many challenges and setback in life make sure you make every opportunity the beginning of your success.
• Do first things first. Do things that add value to your life.
• Analyse yourself using SWOT analysis:

                                                S-strength

                                                W-weakness

                                                O-opportunities

                                                T-threats

Think of everything happening around you. Characterize yourself with the environment and choose anything that you admire its character then compare yourself with it.

All the best as you Strive towards achieving your success.

KYUSO-Putting a smile to their face

Nafula and the Community

The community of Kyuso District has really been affected by the change in the climate change in the area. This has led to their failure in the agricultural sector in the area. It has made the people in the area to have low yield harvest and therefore increasing the rate of hunger and poverty in the region. Different organizations have now come up to aid in the fight against hunger.

The Arid Lands Information Network-East Africa is helping in the passing of information and new technologies to the community on how they may be able to improve in their farming activities. The Action Aid among other NGOs has really helped the community by provide a service they call food for work initiative this is where the community organize themselves into small groups, work in their farms as a group and then they are paid at the end of the month.

This has encouraged the farmers and now they can work in their farms therefore improving their farm products. The new farming technology they use for example the use of terracing as been adapted by many farmers in the area. They are also planting drought resistant crops such as the cassava which helps in ensuring there is no food insecurity. 

Helping Hands

Hope in the face of Kyuso

This is my visit to various farmers in Kyuso district in Eastern province of Kenya. In different farms I was able to meet different farmers whom I was able to share a lot with them. Most farmers in the area are growing millet which does well in the area though water shortage has failed them. They also grow sorghum and cassava. The problem of climate change has made the people in the community to form groups which they help each other in the farm activities. A part from the farm activities they also share different information and technology on how they may improve their farming activity. Most of the group says they get their information from the NGOs for example the Kyuso Maarifa Centre which is hosted by the ALIN and Action Aid among others.

 I was able to visit some groups for example ‘Kiambithi Kya Muthanga’, which means secret of soil group, Kangoongo Dam Group, Mirimani Farmers Group, Upenyo Women Group. In these groups I was very much impressed by the hope that their faces expressed. Beside the luck of rain for a long time in the area they still have the hope of going on with their farming activities and hope that they rains will come soon that no one knows. Due this experienced of luck of rainfall for several months, some of the community groups for example ‘Kiambithi Kya Muthanga group’ has decided to opt to move out of the growing of crops and now are planting trees especially the Mukau(Mellia volkensii) tree which is a deciduous tree that is adapted to the dry areas.

Most of the farmers in the area have adapted to the new technology of farming especially that of water harvesting. The farmers use terraces for water harvesting for their farms. This has enabled them to go on with their farming activity despite the luck of rainfall.

Trip to Kyuso district

The Infrastructure in Kyuso District

Kyuso Districts is one of the Districts in Kenya that is mostly affected by the climate change. This has caused most part of the area to be dry. It has also led to many seasonal rivers to dry up causing failure in the farming sector. I have been able to visit some of the farmers in the area during my stay in Kyuso District. The only means of transport in the area is the use of motorbikes which is very expensive and you really need to have enough money for you even to go for a very short distance of about 15km for example 400 Kenya shillings. I thought may be the cause of the expensive transport is because of the roads that are really in a very bad condition. If you consider the road joining Kyuso and Tseikuru, it’s a tarmac road with a lot of corrugations. While on the motorbike you only pray God that your heart doesn’t pope out of its niche.

my first experience in Kyuso District

MY EXPERIENCE IN KYUSO DISTRICT

How does is it feel on you landing to a new area for your first time? For most people I knew it will be a story to tell. Landing on the land that is miles away from my family, friends and the acquaintances, this is a story I have to tell to different people of this world.

What will come to your mind when you hear Kyuso in Mwingi? Many will think of a dry area or may be a bare land or even may be to some a rocky area. Beside what you may think about this area, this is my experience on my arrival to Kyuso District. Kyuso is a very hot area with an average temperature of about 22^oC. The high temperature of the area was a challenge to me that made me or rather my whole body very weak. This affected me for the first three days but fortunately I was quick to adapt to the weather change.

In my work around the area, saw many reptiles especially the Newton lizards which I got to learn that the male and the females are not the same for example the females are grey in color with a yellow head and the male are blue with an orange head. The animals don’t have any specific mating time time but they do it during the day when there is sun. The females are more than the females in number. I also noticed that the area has more insects and birds. The trees the area are mostly acacia with so many shrubs.

I noticed that the area is very sunny and windy throughout. The community in the area is mixed farmers practicing crop farming such as growing of sorghum, cow peas and fruits such as pawpaw and mangoes. They also raise animals such as cows, goats apart from keeping chicken and bees The farming does not do well in the area due to lack of rainfall and also shortage of water to irrigate their lands. Most water in the area is got from the rock water catchment area in the Kyuso rocks. An example is the Matigani rock water catchment area. This water is not safe for direct human consumption since it contain water borne disease. There is also water from the ministry though safe for human consumption it is not reliable since it is not available everyday and can get lost for even several weeks. The ground available water which is also rear is aid to be salty and not good for crop farming.

The challenges I experience is high cost of items and their availability. The economy of this area is very high as compared to other place. I suppose items are sold at very high prices due to the poor infrastructure of roads making the transportation of commodities very expensive.

Another challenge I experienced is the language barrier. I found out that most people use their local language (Kamba) and very few are literate and are not able to communicate in Kiswahili or English. What surprised me most is that even in their offices they communicate with the local language.

I thank God that I am adapting well to this area and I hope that by the end of my attachment I would have learn more.