‘All we can do now is pray they continue’: Maasai welcome the first rains but know that drought is far from over

Harsh weather is nothing new in Kenya but the country’s climate is showing clear signs of getting hotter and drier

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he day is hot and dry but the soil underfoot is soft. “After four months of drought, we received the first rains yesterday,” says Maasai elder Abraham Kampalei. “All we can do now is pray that they continue.”

Kampalei has lived for more than 50 of his 70 years with his family and animals in Oldonyonyokie, a hamlet in southern Kenya’s Kajiado county. He has witnessed the slow decline of the pastures. “I came here because of the abundance of grass for my livestock to graze. Today, there is almost nothing left of it,” he says.

In Kenya, drought is nothing new. Every year, communities in the country’s northern and north-eastern arid and semi-arid lands struggle with dwindling rains, leading to livestock deaths. The knock-on effects are life-changing – children drop out of schools as the money for education is diverted to feeding the family, while that poverty can also trigger displacement and early marriages.