Today it seems that life in Nairobi, Kenya jolted and grinded along as it always does. The traffic from the airport through the city was a buzz of chaos, and we crawled through early morning rush hour at a paradoxical slow surge. Our delicious and well-portioned breakfast at a popular city café filled our empty stomachs and served well to ease our two-day jetlag. Good Kenyan coffee in hand and laptops connected to the free wireless internet, it was almost too easy to forget why we are here.
As green pastures, tall maize fields, and roadside vendors with potatoes and veggies whizzed by our car, it is no wonder that many even in Kenya know little about the plight of drought-stricken communities in remote Turkana. Our trip north to Turkana takes us through the central regions of Kenya where at least a meaningful harvest is usually expected. With year-round rains, this region is called the breadbasket of Kenya. It is here in the town of Kitale that World Relief buys the food items needed to feed thousands who are suffering from hunger and acute malnutrition just 300km north in Turkana.
Today we drove through verdant forests and rainstorms; tomorrow this will all change. From Kitale the road crumbles away and the landscape changes to harsh desert-scrub terrain. The people will also change – their stories, way of life and the challenges they face, now daily, to stave off hunger.