Cork-born Concern director in Kenya says Ireland is good at empathy 

In parts of Kenya more than three quarters of the population live below the poverty line, with communities battling disease and malnutrition, exacerbated by severe drought. Amy Campbell visited the country to see the work being done by Irish charity Concern Worldwide to address these issues in the face of dwindling international aid

Recurring droughts have seen malnutrition, food shortages, livelihood loss, illness, attacks and displacement increase in Kenya.

Irish charity Concern Worldwide aims to solve these many problems with a multifaceted approach – but their funding is being dramatically cut.

Turkana county in northwest Kenya has the highest proportion in the country of people living below the poverty line, with an overall poverty rate of more than 75%.

Moses Raminya, Concern Worldwide’s programme manager for the Turkana region, told The Echo that there was a severe drought in 2022, the worst in over 60 years, and after a brief respite, another drought began.

More than half of the population are pastoralists, keeping mainly goats, which they rely on as their main source of income. But, herds are dwindling as the land becomes increasingly barren.

One programme operated by Concern is a cash transfer project, which began in November 2025 and includes 144 households across Turkana.

James Ebongon, emergency response coordinator with Sabcone, an NGO that works with Concern on the project, said: “These days droughts occur regularly. In the past they occurred only occasionally.

“People have had to move quite some distance to access water and pasture, their animals have become emaciated and cannot be sold for a good price, there has been death of livestock and conflict has arisen as a result of migration.”

The cash transfer project, implemented in areas where health data shows high rates of malnutrition among children or pregnant/lactating women, provides funding to be used for food, 5,021ksh per month (around €33.50), based on the average price of a basket of essential goods.

Through the project, Loroo village has seen malnutrition rates go from 36% in 2023/24 to 26% now, though Mr Ebongon says that anything above 15% indicates crisis levels, so the figure is still too high, and the project is set to be wound up soon due to international aid funding cuts.

One of the Loroo project participants, Nakoromwae Lochucht Ejore (46) said that two of her 20 goats have died since the start of this drought. Before the previous drought they had 50 goats, and 45 died.

“When livestock suffers, people suffer,” she said.

Concern also support vaccinating livestock from a range of diseases, so that their immune systems are better able to fight off illness even while weakened by malnutrition.

Isaac Echapan, programme manager for livelihoods, said that in a week, 108,000 goats have been vaccinated in Naoros village against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), an epidemic disease in the region which weakens goats. Animals are also screened and treated for other diseases, such as Brucellosis and Anthrax, which can be passed from livestock to humans.

One shepherd at the vaccination clinic, David Aote Elipa, said that he can be away for up to year with the animals. He misses his family during this time, but the health of the animals is essential to their survival.

He lost a four-year-old son from malnutrition last year, and said: “You have an attachment. You carried the child and saw it grow.”

But he said he cannot let grief stop him working: “I have to be careful so I don’t lose any other children. The death of my son is still emotional but we have to survive.”

INTERVENTIONS

Concern also supports health interventions for children in Turkana, such as mobile health clinics visiting communities every two weeks.

Healthcare is free, funded by the county government, but access to services is difficult. One clinic meets in the somewhat-shaded patch of ground under a large tree located in Nang’olekuruk.

The mobile outreach clinics vaccinate children, offer anti-natal care and treat general illness. They also screen children for malnutrition.

Josephine Kasile, who works with the Turkana government’s ministry of health, said that due to funding cuts from international donors last June, they can no longer provide food supplements for children who are moderately malnourished, only severely.

Instead, they give nutrition counselling to families of moderately malnourished children, but the families often tell them that they do not have enough food at home to follow this advice.

“Most of them now don’t come for screening, because they know at the end they will get nothing. This means the moderately malnourished children come back severely malnourished.”

Joyce Lopua, 20, attended the clinic with her daughter Cynthia, who is one year old and has been in the programme for three months. She had been improving, but last week contracted malaria.

“She is not doing well, she has deteriorated and has not been eating for a week” Joyce said.

After speaking to The Echo, Joyce and Cynthia were brought directly to the doctor, who referred her to the stabilisation facility in Lodwar, which is 20km away. Joyce said that her options were to walk there, or pay to rent a motorbike.

Due to the emergency nature, Concern was able to take them directly to the facility, but later updated: “The child was admitted but still not responding well. She has been diagnosed with severe pneumonia and is still under observation.”

At an uplifting Concern project in Lokumwae, Turkana north, water officer James Koki said that the county government drilled a borehole in 2019, providing access to clean water.

The water had to be pumped by hand, which was time consuming and tiring, and caused congestion around the pump, he said. They also saw sickness due to people and livestock using the same tap.

With support from Concern, last year they upgraded the hand pump to a solar pump, and installed a large tank which can hold 30,000 litres of water, as well as pipes leading to four separate taps in the area.

A trough was created for livestock, while one tap runs directly to a new school. Pipes have also been utilised to create land to sustain farming, and the community, which was previously reliant only on livestock, have now planted crops - maize, sorghum and vegetables.

The rate of diseases being transmitted between livestock and people has dropped from more than 30% to zero.

Through Concern, the residents have been trained in the operation and maintenance of the new system, and a water committee has been set up which collects 100ksh per month from residents to save in case they need to get a technician out.

If there are leftover funds, the committee plans to extend the pipeline, as the government is planning to build a hospital in the area in the next five years.

Mr Koki said: 

“Everyone is willing to pay, and if you don’t have the money you could pay with a goat, which the committee sells, and you would be given a time, maybe you can drink for two years for free.”

The tank takes two to three hours to fill on a sunny day, and they have a chairperson of the water committee whose job is to watch the tank, as the only indication that it is full is overflow. When the tank is full, he switches it off through a control panel. He has trained two people already in his role, and plans to train more.

All these improvements have resulted in the population of the village growing from 500 to 2,500 in six years.

Aktela Adome, who lives in the village, said that prior to the installation of the borehole, they had to make a long walk for water.

“It was taking more than eight hours, and it was on a daily basis. Ladies could not walk alone, they needed to bring a man, because you would be attacked. Sometimes they take the water, sometimes they attack the women or sexually assault them.

“When you had to pump the water you would pump from morning to evening and you could develop chest problems, but we are very happy now,” she said, adding that they were also pleased with the expansion of population, because there was more than enough land.

This community spirit was seen throughout Turkana. In Nang’olekuruk, Joyce Lupua’s husband was doing manual work for the government which the community split between them, so that each family could earn some income.

In Loroo village, participants in the cash transfer programme said that when they have no food, their neighbour will often share some of theirs, even if they have only a little themselves.

Ekiru Moses Amuygen said that he was not part of the cash transfer programme: “I am only just a beggar.”

He had come there that day because when people get support, they share with others.

“People share food with each other because they love each other, they are not selfish,” he said.

This sharing spirit can cause problems though, as Elizabeth Aule, mother of one year old Ivy who is severely malnourished, said at the health clinic in Nang’olekuruk that she is given supplements for Ivy, but shares them with her other children, as they are also hungry. Her family have gone as long as two days without any food.

FISHERMAN

Like many in this village, her husband works as a fisherman, but Lake Turkana is expanding due to climate change meaning there is more shallow water than previously, which is home to crocodiles. A neighbour of theirs lost his leg and hand to a crocodile attack three years ago, and since then many have been “too afraid” to fish.

In some areas, cash transfer participants are provided half with funds to buy food half with items like sanitary products, cans to collect water, tabs to treat water and pellets to feed goats.

Ewoi Lokamar, one of the people receiving this aid in Naoros, told The Echo that they also have a problem with wild animals. He has lost 13 goats in the last six months to hyena attacks.

While the water project in Lokumwae is now owned and managed largely by the community after an initial investment by Concern with US Aid funding, many of the other programmes are at risk as their current funding systems are set to stop very soon.

Asked how she felt when she heard the programme would be stopping due to international aid cuts, Elizabeth Aule in Nang’olekuruk said: “We understood the funding was just a donation, maybe the people supporting us didn’t have the money anymore.”

But Alessandro Bini, Concern’s director for the region, said: “It is not the money that is lacking, it is a lack of priority.”

As well as huge cuts to US foreign aid, there has been cuts across the world from the end of 2024, he said, partly due to an increase in right wing European governments like in The Netherlands and Sweden.

“Even the Labour government in the UK has cut international funding by around 60% to 70%. Each cut is compounded on the other.

“One big exception to this is Ireland, they are maintaining their funding and even increasing it with funds for specific crises.”

Nellie Kingston, Kenya’s Cork-born country director, said that this support is mirrored by the Irish people: “So many people, not wealthy people, donate to us every month.

“Ireland is very good at empathising with others in need. When I was younger, in school doing history, the talk of the famine and war of independence – there were people with a living memory of what it was like to be malnourished. I remember seeing malnourished children in Ireland in the 70s.

“It’s in the DNA of the country, we share a history more with the colonised countries in Africa than the uncolonised countries in Europe.”

Faith is very important across Turkana, and the residents have that same solidarity as the Irish.

In Loroo village, Ewoi Lookapelo Lookamol said: “We pray to God to look after our children, we pray for rain, for our livestock, and for peace.”

This area is peaceful, so when they pray for peace, they’re praying for other countries, she said.

But the future is uncertain in Turkana.

Mr Bini said: “The local government doesn’t have funding for a lot of the vital activity. Everyone is frantically looking around for another donor, but there is no replacement.”

He said that the US government has provided $2bn in aid funding, to be distributed through the United Nations across the entire world for the next six months, and they are unsure if more is coming after that.

He added that the US is spending $1bn a day on the war in Iran.

“An increase spend on defence is taking from international aid, and we are not talking about it enough. Countries are more interested in k

illing people than saving them.”

To learn more about Concern Worldwide’s work and how to help visit www.concern.net.