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TERESOMA KARIMI IS 46 years old and a mother to five children.
About a year ago, her husband had to leave the family to find work as their farm in Kenya could not produce enough food for them to eat and sell. He now makes 4,000 Kenyan shillings a month – about €40 – and sends half to help the family get by.
Back in Ishiara, in Embu county, Teresina essentially does everything for her family. She farms their two acres of land, she helps educate the children and she does manual labour on other farms to earn extra money on top of the cooking, cleaning and other general chores.
She gets paid about €2 for an eight-hour shift on those other farms.
“It’s hard work, because you always have to be bending over, from morning to evening,” she told TheJournal.ie when we visited her at her home.
Twice a day, this 46-year-old woman walks two kilometres and carries 20 litres of water on her back.
Teresina has, for a number of years, also been living with a very painful condition that has left her blind in one eye. She has been told there is nothing doctors can do to restore her full sight.
Bending over causes agonising pain in her eye. She is sometimes crippled by it, forced to take to her bed until it subsides. She cannot always afford medicine to ease the agony.
She described the feeling as being like “having chilli pepper in your eye”.
Climate change
This year, the El Nino phenomenon has meant areas of semi-arid land, prone to severe drought have had more rain and are greener than they have been in years. Even on Teresina’s farm, she has managed to grow a few crops, though not enough to sustain her family.
Previous years were worse. Families like Teresina’s have felt the true impact of climate change in the past 10 years. Droughts have become more frequent, sometimes leaving communities with just a year to recover before the next one. The weather has also become completely unpredictable.
Before, there were dry periods and rainy periods: people knew when to sow their seeds so they would have something to harvest.
Now, no one knows when the rain will come. Some years, they plant their seeds only for them to be washed away by unexpected and unseasonable rains. Poor farmers like Teresina cannot easily afford to replace them.
She described August, September, October and November as “the hungry months”, the most difficult for her.
These are the months during which the family sometimes has to skip meals.
“I do not feel good…it’s painful for me to see my kids go hungry,” she told us.
If we have very little and I can see that it’s not enough for the family, I forego the meal so the children can eat.
Though the economic strain weighed hard on Teresina, she also spoke of how badly she wanted her husband to come back and rejoin the family – and not just because he could help with the farm work.
He comes back every two or three months for just one day. On a personal level I miss the affection and love.
Irrigation scheme
One couple whose lives were changed by help from Irish charity Trócaire, spoke of the positive impact it had on their relationship – to have their burden lifted a little off their shoulders.
On a thriving farm, with livestock and a newly built house, we met Edward Njuki and his wife Nancy. Nancy had herself made the bricks for their beautiful new home, something they were very proud of.
Through a Trocaire-supported irrigation scheme, they have been able to ensure a proportion of their land always has water. Before this, Nancy would walk 10km a day, a five hour round trip with donkeys to carry back the water they needed.
Their well-watered land now yields high protein foods so their family can eat more healthily. They can also grow cash crops to sell at the market, ensuring they are never without school fees for their three children.
With a cheeky laugh, Edward talked about how the changes had “revitalised my marriage”.
Nancy said she had been stressed and sometimes started to lose hope. They had been 80% dependant on livestock, which is not an ideal situation in an area prone to frequent and severe droughts.
Some years, there was not enough pasture for the animals. Without money for decent food, the children were often in poor health.
Edward and Nancy told us they are excited about their future. They plan to plant papaya and passion fruit trees to sell at the market. They will use the money they make from their farm for their children’s education – they want all three to go to college.
“We want the children to get the best out of our hard work,” Edward said.
Reuniting families
Joseph Njue Ireri had to work as a blacksmith in Mumbasa in order to support his family back home as his farm was not yielding enough for them to live on. For eight years he lived away from his wife and two children and could only afford to come home for a short visit every three months.
The irrigation on his farm allowed him to come home to be with his family again.
When we met Joseph, his farm was green and vibrant and full of life. He was harvesting tomatoes to bring to the market the following day.
“I see a bright future for both my boys,” he said. “I am always teaching the older son how to care for the crops so he knows he can also rely on farming to make a good life.”
“My mind is relaxed now,” he added, as he explained how his family can now have nutritious diets and how much happier they are.
At the market the next day, he arrived in a car he rented for the day; juicy tomatoes spilling out of the back. People queued up to buy from him.
Stories like those of Edward, Nancy and Joseph show what a massive impact small changes can have for families affected by climate change.
In just a few months, Teresina will also have irrigation on her land, through a programme supported by Trócaire. She looks forward to being able to avoid that trek to fetch water, to being able to feed her children nutritious meals and to being reunited with her husband.
“When water is here, it will be better, it will save time for me,” she said.
I will be able to grow things to sell, like bananas and kale and have more income for my family.
“My husband would come back and I would be very happy.”
Trocaire’s ‘Fight for Justice’ Lent campaign started today. The money they raise with their annual Trocaire box collection will go towards helping and empowering families like the ones featured in this article.
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If this was any other joe soap he would have been hauled in for questioning at least,hows he getting away with it
@nicknack: Because he’s not Joe Soap
@ApexSnow: Joe Swarfega Jizer Degreaser ?
@nicknack: I’m sure the president will be visiting Buckingham Palace at some stage further on in proceedings. A nice private discussion with the “honourable” Mr Trump will go a long way to settling this.
@Eugene Walsh: reptile people.
@nicknack: is he accused of breaking any laws in the US? I thought he was accused of having sex with the girl in the UK? Unless he is accused of a crime he can’t be extradited, he would have to volunteer. Sorry if I’m wrong, I’m not up to speed on the story.
@Tommy C: And while they are having that discussion, Mr Trump can explain why they are not extraditing Anne Sacoolas in connection with the death of Harry Dunn,you know the saying ‘ You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’.
@nicknack: I’m confused I assumed a person was innocent until proven guilty and as the man is dead i cannot see how he can get a fair trial ? from what I can see he has been found guilty on unproven accusations and looking at the comments I hope I’m never accused of annything and am unable to prove my innocence….
@ApexSnow: No he’s Joe Saxe Coburg Gotha
@Peter donnelly: we are but the rabel getting a smell of fish and assuming the smell is fish
Of course he won’t cooperate he is taking his family to pizza express the day they want to question him. It’s totally believable.
And yet Meghan Markle is supposedly the ‘Black Sheep’ of “The Royal Family”.
@Matt Rogers: well that’s because she’s a blow in, they protect their blood and tarnish everybody else… Diana,Fergie
@Matt Rogers: never met a person in real life who gives a shit about the Meghan markle crap. Just like I’ve never met a person in real life who has anything good to say about Frau Greta. Gets the noggin joggin
@Mr Durka: She as great in suits
@Ollie Egan: You could nearly say young Harry is a blow in too, considering he’s not royal blood!
No point in shaking him down. The man doesn’t sweat ffs.
The top brass protect their paedos. They always do.
What if they tell him he can judge little miss America? Need some leverage to get info out of Uncle Andy.
So he won’t get Epsteined
@RAYZ88: Andrew is a greatly misunderstood gentleman.
Guilty people rarely are cooperative.
Well if it was anything like the TV interview, he would end up doing 20 years. Imagine that dope sitting down with a professional interviewer without having the questions first. He would implicate himself in minutes without even knowing
Could be worse, he could’ve done something really bad like move to Canada.
Epstien didn’t kill himself..
@Tomas: really? jaysus.
@Tomas: Epstein signed signed his Last Will an Testament on August 8th, 2 days before his was found dead in his cell, an clear indication of his intentions. The Will placed his $577 million fortune in an off shore trust, in the US Virgin Islands. Here lawyers explain how the arrangements are designed to place his assets out of reach of his victims:
@David Jordan: so he knew he was going to die. No way! That happens when you can expose very powerful individuals. Having a will in order would be a pertinent thing to do. Considering…
@David Jordan: Prob because he was gonna get life in prison, not rocket science he’d make a will before that is it?
@Dougal67: you can still make it amend a will in jail..
@Fabio Dillon: Yes but could also be because he was gettin sent down for life, not too far of a stretch he wanted to get his affairs in order beforehand, hardly a suicide note is it, if he was thinking that far ahead I’m sure he would’ve left one??
The US diplomats wife that knocked down and killed a young lad isn’t cooperating either. Maybe they could do a prisoner exchange
I don’t think any tears would be shed if Randy Andy decided to leave this world… Royal sc_um…
HOW will we ever unite Ireland if we don’t grow up and revere British royalty?
All right thinking people etc
2 guards were suspended for falsifying records that they were checking on prisoners, WHEN IN ACTUAL FACT THEY WERE ON AUTOTRADER LOOKING UP NEW BMW’s
Fixed it for you…
Harry now sorted, not much more news there… so back to Andy, that story can be stretched.
Shameful prince Andrew should extradition to NY
Probably afraid of getting suicided like Epstein.
Protect the circle at all costs
Swap him with Anna Sacoolas, fair trade
US ‘uncooperative’ in UK’s extradition request on the hit and run driver that killed an innocent young English man… Oh wait the American can do whatever they want and get away with it. My bad.
@Irish Snowden: there is no extradition request by the Americans for Andrew, he would have to volunteer and that’s not going to happen.
@Connoroconner: We know mate, just saying they expect everyone to have it their way
How about an exchange for the Killer Anne Sacoolas
In fairness to Prince Andrew, he has a rare medical condition, acquired during the Falklands war, that prevents him from cooperating with any inquiry.
F**k you I won’t do what you tell me
have your say