In 2001, World Vision handed the running of an irrigation project over to a community in the north-east of Kenya. Currently many communities in the north and north-east of Kenya are severely affected by drought. Not so for this community.

For the last decade, the 2,300 farmers who make up the ‘Morulem Water Users Association’ have continued the work of the original project funded by World Vision.  The group is using their training in irrigation and agricultural techniques to grow a variety of crops, buffering them from the effects of drought and increased food prices.

“Before this project we used to eat one meal a day, but now we eat like other people in places like Kitale (a fertile region of Kenya) – three meals a day,” says Philip, chairperson of the association.

The project has provided a secure source of food and income for the farmers and their families. It has also given them the ability to support other Kenyans in times of need. In 2006 the community donated 100 bags of maize to the government’s food relief program.
 
Even now, after prolonged drought, the community has 750 acres of assorted crops ready to harvest, including sorghum, corn, cow peas and watermelon. While in a community nearby, people are waiting for rains that are not forecast to arrive until April 2012.

Morulem is less than an hour’s drive from a World Vision malnutrition program, where hundreds of children are receiving treatment as part of the organisation’s response to the current drought.

In Kenya, the current drought has placed the health and lives of millions at risk. With food and water increasingly scarce, malnutrition and risk of disease increases. Some 3.5 million people are affected, mainly in the northern and north-eastern part of the country.

World Vision is working in a number of areas to improve access to safe water and nutritious food.

In the past few years we have seen an unprecedented number of weather extremes in Australia, including floods, a cyclone, and drought and heatwaves that have hurt farmers and resulted in devastating bushfires. This trend has been reflected in events around the world and while a single disaster cannot be attributed entirely to climate change it is predicted that global warming will increase the severity of cyclones, flooding and droughts.

Programs like the Morulem irrigation project are critical as they strengthen the ability of communities to cope with extreme weather conditions. Children in communities with this resilience have a better chance at a healthy life, good education and secure future.