Residents of Ulowa village in Yimbo, Siaya county, are a hopeless lot after backflow from Lake Sare disrupted their lives.
They say their forefathers inhabited the land for many years without being disturbed by floods. But today the village is flooded, displacing residents.
The village is tucked between two lakes-Lake Sare to the East and Lake Victoria to the South.
The Star toured Ulowa village on Saturday and came face to face with devastation, destitution and outrage.
The sounds of children playing welcomed us from afar.
Homes and domestic animals that we came across were submerged in water, sea weeds had found new dwelling places in people's compounds.
The homes are abandoned and the whereabouts of the majority of the affected families unknown.
Then we meet the children - four boys.
They were wading through the pools of water, a bucket in tow.
"What are you doing?" we asked the children.
"We are on a fishing expedition," they said excitedly, one of them clutching onto a ball made from plastic bags.
Their boys mother introduced herself, "My name is Roseline Adhiambo and I can see you are a member of the press. Thank you for coming."
Unlike the boys who were all but excited, Adhiambo was distraught.
Apparently, she is the adult here and knows exactly what it means to live inside water, literally.
"I built the house behind us in 2014. At the time, that compound was very dry and there were no signs of flooding here," Adhiambo said.
She said she is a widow and has been forced to abandon her home.
"I am sojourning at another woman's house which is on a higher ground," she said.
But the accommodation is not ideal since she has to stay in a tiny room with all her children.
All her farms are flooded and hunger has become the order of the day.
"We cannot plough our lands. That's why you see my children roaming in water looking for fish," Adhiambo said.
Adhiambo's sister-in-law, Judith Atieno, joined us as the interview progressed.
"I work as a community health volunteer and I can tell you that cases of malaria infections have gone up because now mosquitoes have a fertile breeding ground," Atieno said.
She said in March 2023 alone, 28 people whom she reached out to tested positive for malaria, the majority being children aged 10 and below and expectant mothers.
Atieno urged the Siaya government to better equip CHVs working in Ulowa village to continue rendering health services to the people.
She also wants the government to construct dykes along Lake Sare as a solution to the flooding problem.
The flooding problem has also led to human-wildlife conflicts, putting the lives of locals at risk.
"A hippo and her child nearly killed me last Tuesday," Nelly Onyando narrated.
"I got out of the house at around 8pm and met a hippo and her calf at my doorstep. If not that I wailed and neighbours came running, I would have been dead today," Onyando recalled.
"Apart from mosquitoes, here we are threatened by hippos, pythons and even crocodiles."
Another victim, Jeremiah Oduor, said pythons are now residing in their abandoned houses and on top of nearby vegetation.
The first flooding in Ulowa was reported in 2019. It was caused by backflow from Lake Victoria due to climate change.
"Since then, the water has never fully retreated into the lake four years down the lane," Oduor said.
He told the Star that their current situation was exacerbated by the heavy rains that have been pounding the region since March 2023.
But unlike the initial disruption that came as a result of the backflow from Lake Victoria, this time it is due to the backflow from Lake Sare, Oduor said.
Area MCA Patrick Angule attributed the backflow from Lake Sare to the blockage at Goye Bridge.
It bridges the two lakes, enabling access to Usenge and Got Agulu ridges which lie on the edges of the two natural resources - and south of Got Ramogi, the cradle of the Luo nation.
"The problem of flooding in this area will never end unless we construct the bridge," Angule told Siaya Governor James Orengo, who had toured the village for humanitarian aid.
The current bridge infrastructure is more of a makeshift, with damaged culvets.
Orengo's administration distributed mosquito nets, rice, beans, maize flour, light blankets, chlorine and handwashing buckets to the 47 affected families.
However, Orengo said the Goye Bridge is a project under the national government, thus should be constructed by the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha).
"As an emergency response, my administration has brought you food, mosquito nets, blankets, chlorine and handwashing equipment. However, we are in discussions with Kenha to ensure that the bridge is done," Orengo told the flood victims at Ulowa village market on Saturday.
But Oduor said the items distributed by Orengo were misplaced and cannot give reprieve to the people.
"Our houses are submerged. Where are we going to sleep with those blankets and mosquito nets? Can we cook rice and beans on water?" he posed.
He urged the county government to give the affected families iron sheets to construct houses at Ulowa Market grounds, which is a higher ground.
Speaking on behalf of the Bondo subcounty deputy county commissioner, Michael Too said a team from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was set to tour the village to drive the hippos back into the lake.
"KWS will be here today evening (Saturday) to scare the hippos back into the lake," Too promised.
Also, Too said the national government's disaster committee is aware of the situation in Ulowa and is figuring out how to help the 47 affected families.
