Magic Corn Stalks

An abbreviated story I wrote on a monitoring trip of the drought with my colleague, Sam Mutua.

Agnes Nundu watches two children, Ramon and Kasioka, play in freshly turned dirt. Both three years old, children have never seen maize growing from the ground since birth. For three years farmers in Masongaleni area in Kibwezi, in Makueni District of Kenya, have planted seed only to see the rains fail and nothing grow.

A bulldozer roars to life behind the children’s playground, moving the dusty soil to create a large earth dam. If and when the rains do come, the dam will catch over 12,000 m3 of water to be used for irrigation. Surveying the surrounding farmland, the dam’s contractor comments, “I noticed that people haven’t planted yet.”

The people have planted but the crops have failed. While much of Kenya is experiencing the rainy season, this region has only received 1 mm of rainfall. Crops will be planted again in October during the short rainy season, but farmers must wait to harvest until March of next year.

Community Resource Initiative (CRI) and Church World Service have partnered together to secure an emergency relief grant from ACT (Action by Churches Together) for this community to fund the building of the earth dam. An estimated 50 families will use the dam for irrigation.

Ten years ago, CWS successfully funded a water project implemented by CRI. Over 47 km of piping was laid and 16 water points established in the community, reducing person’s distance to fetch water from more than 20 km to less than 4 km. The water comes from Umani Water Springs in Kibwezi and is metered, meaning people have enough for domestic use but not for irrigation.

Agnes says since the dam is built and once the rains come, “We will never suffer again.” For now, the children continue playing in the dust. Little Ramon clutches a baobab fruit in his hand, filled with a powdery substance that nourishes the body while leaving the mouth dry. Hopefully before long, these children will believe the magical stories they hear of maize springing forth from the ground.