CLIMATE CHANGE: Putting Children in Harms Way
It is late afternoon and the lone figure of nine-year-old Nancy Chepkemboi trudges home. To keep her head dry from the heavy rains, Chepkemboi has placed her books inside her shirt and used the polythene bag that is her school bag to cover her head.
The little girl cannot have her books wet because her teacher will send her home. But she also does she want to expose her head to the rain. With her teeth cluttering from the cold, she says that for the past few days she has had to walk home in the rain along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway in the Rift Valley.
She is soaked to the bone and this now happens on a regular basis because of the unusually frequent and high rains, placing her at risk of contracting pneumonia. And possibly even malaria. Puddles of standing water are a common feature in these regions, and are responsible for the highest malaria infection rates.
According to the ministry of health, malaria is the number one killer of children under the age of five. Almost 34,000 Kenyan children die from malaria annually. And they are at higher risk for contracting malaria during the rainy seasons.
Climatically Kenya is experiencing two extremes. Due to climate change, there has been no rain in most parts of the country. The drought in the northeastern region has been labeled a national disaster. But in the Rift Valley and in Western Kenya the rains have been heavier than expected. And there is more to come.
The Kenya Meteorological Department has confirmed that the Rift Valley and western parts of the country are set to continue experiencing heavier rainfall than normal until August. The severe weather has exposed thousands of children to potentially dangerous situations. Sometimes just going to school puts them in harms way.
'At the moment, the road from Karandi to Kiambogo primary school is still in bad shape since the bridge was washed away during last year’s rainy season. Efforts to get it repaired have been fruitless,' explains Peter Leseni, a parent in Laikipia West, Rift Valley region.
Charles Mwangi, a primary school pupil from Central Kenya nearly drowned when he tried to cross a flooded river in 2010 when the country began to record the effects of climate change.
'To get home, most of us from school have to cross Kamiti River. On this day the bridge had been submerged, rather than walk an extra two kilometers but be safe, we decided to swim across.'
But the river was deeper than Mwangi anticipated and he began to drown. He was fortunate that a man working nearby farm his friends’ screams and came to his rescue.
Even the camps for internally displaced people are at risk of being swept away by the waters while their inhabitants sleep in their makeshift homes.
'The rains pour and we all huddle into the camp... My three-year-old now has pneumonia. The eldest boy, who is 10 years, has developed chest problems...' explains Nduta Kamau, a resident of Ebenezer camp in Naivasha, Rift Valley region.
John Morris, the country director of Plan International-Kenya, which is part of six organisations that form the Children in a Changing Climate coalition, says in a changing climate children have the right to safety. (The coalition aims for the protection and participation of children and young people in a changing climate.)
'Fundamental rights of children include the rights to protection and to education. This is for all children at all times, even when disasters strike. Regularly, somewhere in Kenya every year children are displaced with their parents and communities because of floods and drought.'
Morris explains that in such circumstances children, already the most vulnerable people in the community, are even more at risk.
'It is therefore vital that everyone - duty bearers such as the local government, law enforcement agencies, parents, relief and development agencies such as Plan International - does all they can to ensure that children remain in a protected environment safe from harm and exploitation.'
Minister for special programs Esther Murugi, who spearheads developing risk-reduction measures and disaster management, has fervently called for the realisation of the importance of effective social protection strategies for children as a vulnerable group.
'For the protection of a child, strategies have to begin today for tomorrow may be too late,' she says speaking of children affected by climate related disasters. However, the country has no formal measures in place to protect children in a changing climate.
In light of the heavy rainfall and flashfloods, various leaders in the Rift Valley region have advised their constituents to take the necessary precautions, particularly in ensuring that children are kept out of harms way.
Member of parliament Maison Leshomo from Laikipia West in the Rift Valley, a region that is prone to flashfloods, has repeatedly urged government to put intervention measures in place to avert a repeat of the disaster witnessed in 2010. An estimated 86 lives were lost in floods when the River Nzoia burst its banks.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service