Last July, Cindy Alexander traveled to Ndathi to begin a research project on mental health issues in the area. While there she made arrangements to return in September to finish her research. Early in September, a few days before her departure, she was told by friends in Ndathi that some 2,000 people living nearby were starving because of the current drought in Kenya. The people were living on land that previously had been privately owned and known as the Solio Ranch.
In 1992, concerned about the environmental impact of people living in the forests of Mt. Kenya, the government decided to relocate this population. Many of these people came to Ndathi and lived in shanties in the village until they received a parcel of land on the former Solio Ranch to farm. The land was rich and fertile but undeveloped, with no source of water or power and no means of transportation to or from it. In spite of this, the displaced people living in Ndathi, as well as others who had been relocated from Mt. Kenya, were happy to have a plot of land to farm, and eventually seven villages of 200–400 people grew up.
The three-year drought in Kenya has made it impossible to grow anything on the land, however, and conditions there have become more and more desperate. When Cindy learned of the critical need for food, she decided to do what she could to help. She contacted friends and family, colleagues at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., where she works, and fellow students in her graduate program at Catholic University. Within days, she collected more than $2,200.
When Cindy arrived in Kenya, she asked her friend Njeri Kaburu to help her figure out what to buy, and they went to Nyeri to purchase the following food and supplies (Cindy covered all transportation costs separately; they are not included in the costs below):
• Cornmeal – 14 50kg bags (cost was 23,520 Kenya shillings or about $322)
• Rice – 14 50kg bags (cost was Ksh 34,300 or about $470)
• Corn – 16 90kg bags (cost was Ksh 41,600 or about $579)
• Beans – 8 90kg bags (cost was Ksh 46,400 or about $636)
• Cooking oil – 28 10kg boxes (cost was Ksh 24,920 or about $341)
• Soap – 35 boxes of 12 bars (each bar is 18 inches long) (cost was Ksh 13,650 or about $187)
Both Njeri and Cindy were taken aback by the sheer quantity (this was nearly 8,000 pounds of food!) and had to hire a large truck to take everything back to Njeri’s house, where they stored it while they worked out distribution logistics. They calculated that they could give about 140 families the following:
• 5 kg of cornmeal
• 5 kg of rice
• 2 kg of cooking oil
• 10 kg of corn
• 5 kg of beans
• 3 bars of soap
Cindy then consulted with other Kenyan friends, Pastors Joseph and Sarah Waweru, who agreed to help organize the distribution effort. Together they chose Village 7 at Solio Ranch to receive the food. They chose Village 7 because its residents had formerly lived in Ndathi, where Njeri, Joseph, and Sarah (and most of the people with whom Burning Bush is associated) live. Joseph suggested they cut the amount of food per family in half in order to feed more families since the need was so great, and Cindy agreed.
Two days later, Cindy hired another truck to take the food to Village 7, where the villagers had been waiting for them all day (getting a truck is not always a simple process in Kenya, and they did not arrive until mid-afternoon). Joseph and Sarah Waweru, as well as Njeri’s mother, Susan Kaburu, accompanied Cindy, and many others met them there to help with the distribution. Cindy was shocked at the desolation of the land, saying, “I can attest that there is not even one green thing in that desolate-looking place.” She later learned that one of the villagers who used to live in Susan’s community came up to her when they first arrived and thanked her profusely, saying “we are actually starving here.”
After their arrival, they met briefly with the leaders in the village, who had made a list of the elderly and infirm people in the village. They wanted those people to be called first in the line and to receive a double portion of food. The leaders then began the requisite ceremony, at which Cindy was introduced and asked to speak to those gathered. She says, “I can’t remember what I said exactly and I’m sure it wasn’t too articulate, but I do remember saying that this food was a gift from people from my school and my work and other friends and family, and I let them know that many people in the U.S. know about their situation and are very concerned, and I said that we hoped that this would be an encouragement to them.”
After the formalities had been observed, the people lined up to receive the food. Later someone observed that this was the most orderly food distribution effort they had ever seen. The process took about 2–3 hours. Many people had brought bags that were too small because they had not expected to receive so much, so the group improvised by giving out the empty soap and cooking oil boxes. Cindy was worried about having to turn people away but was told not to worry because everyone is used to that and understands. But at the end of the day, she was jubilant when she saw that not only had every person in the line received a share of the food, but a small amount was left over (this was delivered to needy people in another village).
In an email to all who had contributed, Cindy wrote, “To be honest, I felt as if I had witnessed a miracle. Thanks to your generosity, an entire village will be fed for at least several weeks. Of course, a few weeks of food for one village will not solve the country’s problems, or even the village’s problems, but it certainly gave 305 families a great measure of hope and encouragement.” She went on to say, “The villagers were extremely grateful and pronounced blessing after blessing upon all of those who contributed to the effort; I only wish that all of you could have been there with me to receive those blessings in person.”
Although there have been a few light rain showers, the drought continues in Kenya, and the villagers on the former Solio Ranch are still desperate for food. Burning Bush is looking into ways to keep helping from afar. If you are interested in contributing to this effort, please email info@burningbushkenya.org.