English 中文网 漫画网 爱新闻iNews 翻译论坛
中国网站品牌栏目(频道)
当前位置: Language Tips > Normal Speed News VOA常速

Drought threatens Turkana way of life in Kenya

[ 2011-09-02 13:18]     字号 [] [] []  
免费订阅30天China Daily双语新闻手机报:移动用户编辑短信CD至106580009009

Drought threatens Turkana way of life in Kenya

The Turkana region of Kenya is one of the areas hit hardest by drought in the Horn of Africa. A relief organization says while indigenous people are receiving emergency supplies to survive, their traditional way of life may be dying.

Livestock are at the heart of the Turkana culture. It's been that way since ancient times. Pastoralists tend their animals in a region that was already dry and hot even before the severe drought took hold.

But the drought has changed their way of life, according to Don Golden of World relief, a Christian-based aid organization.

"That's the story of an indigenous people group that has managed to resist dominance from the Brits and now from the Kenyans and to maintain their pastoral, nomadic, sort of, individualistic way of life. But through many factors, that way of life if fading. And so you have really the demise, not only of women and children in the immediate, but the whole culture. And aid is actually accelerating the process of demise for the Turkana," he said.

No choice

He said it takes something drastic for the Turkana people to give up their pastoralist ways and move into settled communities.

"When their animals are dying and then their people start dying, and they see that one of the major aid agencies or the World Food Program is handing out food somewhere, they can give up - give up their whole way of life and basically just become beggars in these little IDP [internally displaced people] camps. And that's unfortunately what we saw," he said.

Drought threatens Turkana way of life in Kenya

Golden said while emergency aid is needed now, action should be taken to find long-term solutions. Solutions that would allow the Turkana to better cope with drought.

"We could begin right away, looking at boreholes. We could begin looking at irrigation projects. There's a range of things we could do. But absolutely we have to feed hungry mouths today." he said.

Respecting a culture

World Relief is working with Kenyan churches to provide food assistance and health services. It's also working to dig more boreholes, which cost about $20,000 a piece.

"To dig a borehole is to create a community. And will that be a community of disempowerment? Will it be a community that's totally dependent? Or will you have involved the local community in that process? [Will you have] empowered them with solutions about how to integrate their livestock and elements of their nomadic lifestyle into a settled community?" he asked.

Golden said digging a borehole is not simply a matter of drilling for water. It's also a matter of being sensitive to the culture of the Turkana.

"If you just think people need water and you dig a borehole and you end up creating in effect thousands of people gathering and waiting to be fed, then you've got another disaster. Your intervention into one disaster creates a second disaster. Whereas, what needs to happen is a careful conversation with the local leaders, our Kenyan church partners, on solutions that they have. Where would they put a well if they could dig one? How would they manage it? What role would their current livestock play in their community once they are settled? Those are the kind of questions and it's just so much more complex." he said.

The World Relief official said if solutions are not found in Kenya's Turkana region quickly, it could very well become a famine area like parts of Somalia.

Related stories:

Experts link East Africa drought to La Nina in the Pacific

Warnings of Horn drought came early

ONE campaign raises awareness for Somali famine

Emergency meeting held on Horn of Africa famine and drought

(来源:VOA 编辑:崔旭燕)

 
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
 

关注和订阅

人气排行

翻译服务

中国日报网翻译工作室

我们提供:媒体、文化、财经法律等专业领域的中英互译服务
电话:010-84883468
邮件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn