Families move ahead of El Nino rains

The sadness on their faces tells it all, even before you talk to them. They are preparing to leave their home of many years and all their earthly possessions for their own safety.

These families residing in a place they call Ngong in Mitheru ward of Maara District have been living dangerously in an area that should have been classified by the government as unsafe for human settlement and they should have been moved long ago.

The topography of the area comprises of steep hills that descend into valleys of up to one kilometre in depth.

They have tales to tell of agonizing falls and grave losses of human and livestock lives. The greatest casualties of these falls are children.

To curb the cases, the residents have resorted to tethering children when they start crawling by tying a leg with a rope to an immoveable object to prevent them from rolling down the hill.

If an animal slips and falls down the valley, the residents go downhill, slaughter it and eat the meat because it cannot climb the hill.

With the El nino rains coming, it is only normal that they have started preparing themselves to move to the chiefs camp for safety, leaving their property with no hope of finding it.

The residents have lamented that politicians only visit the area to solicit for votes but after the election period passes they never come back.

They complained that even after writing numerous letters to the national government to help resettle them, their requests have been ignored.

With barely weeks remaining before the onset of the El Nino rains, the over 100 families have decided to put their hopes in God as they feel abandoned by the government.