Just Add Water

In case you haven't heard, there is a drought going on in the Horn of Africa right now that is affecting roughly 10 million people. The Horn of Africa is that part of the continent that sticks out like a horn on the east side of the continent including the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. eMi has been called to action on many relief and development roles in the last few months and just recently I was called to scope out a potential development project in northern Kenya.

 Flying into Lodwar

I flew into a dusty little airstrip in the town of Lodwar Kenya where goats and barefoot children wandered around the runway. The remnants of a plane engine lay wasting away next to the "terminal". The temperature was over 40 C day and night.

Crossroads Missions from Canada has teamed up with a local Kenyan mission Glory Outreach Ministries that hopes to implement an irrigation project that would water roughly 1,300 acres of land for the Tukana people. There is a river that runs though this dessert but  moving the water inland to where its needed is no easy or inexpensive task.

My first view of the site looked pretty bleak

Benson runs Glory Outreach Ministries in Lodwar with his wife Jennica. He was nicknamed desert boy from his long walks across the desert evangelizing rural tribes across East Africa. He's gone on walks several hundred kilometers long. Sold out for J!

I got to see where irrigation is really working on a small scale. The catholic missionary that has lived in this region for over a decade has built a 3-acre garden of Eden in the dessert. He grows enough food to feed an orphanage down the road.

He was watering his crops with pumps run from wind and solar power.

I was told that the people here have been living on 1 meal a day provided through the world food program. When asked why they are not growing their own food, their answer is, "we just need water!" You might say, "why don't they just carry it from the river". I wondered that myself, until I was there and was kind of able to imagine that not working for everyone. The folks that are closest to the river have the advantage. But imagine working your but off everyday while receiving only one meal. We, the privileged don't understand what it means to be hungry.

Some past irrigation projects have been attempted but failed. This was the makings of a canal system that failed because the river changed course, leaving the canal high and dry.

 This guy had simply dug a hole about 100m from the river, let the water build up in it and was using a treadle pump to irrigate a small garden. A treadle pump is like a stair master. You step, it pumps. Pretty low tech and cool! Chester is the other white guy and is an agricultural specialist with Crossroads Missions.

It was my privilege to fill a few jerry cans at the local well.

It rained one day in September but nobody could tell me when it had rained before that. Some said it has been years! It seems the area used to get to consistent rainy seasons up until about 15 years ago. The people farmed and lived off the land. Now they may see 1 rainfall a year at most. Still some smiles though.

I returned home to my green little refuge in Kampala, counted my blessings and tried to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. My heart aching for these Turkana people, knowing that so many are suffering through this drought. So what can I do? How can God use me to help these people? It can all seem so overwhelming and hopeless.  "We, especially me are certainly not the answer to all their problems. But with soft hearts and able bodies we can answer the call God puts before us, take steps, have faith.

With all large projects, you have to start somewhere and eventually they just lead into a series of small details. I'm helping to mobilize a team of surveyors to map out the potential irrigation project in February. Then in May I plan to lead a team of irrigation and agricultural specialists back to Lodwar to design a plan to efficiently irrigate this land. From there, it will be up to the local people to construct the irrigation system, plant the farms and water the gardens transforming it from dessert to Eden. Seems pretty big, but so is my God.