I wrote this article on May 20 2010, Then the grass was green, It was raining heavily even the pastrolists of Turkana in Northern Kenya had taken on farming and that period they had harvested large quantities of millet and maize. What happened between then and now that the same people are dying of hunger. A lesson from Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh's dream was on storing food during seven years of plenty for use during seven years of drought.

"Now is the time for Kenya to store the grain
  It has been raining and our farms are yielding abundant food, let us build silos and fill all the stores we have, with grains. That way, when the famine strikes we will have enough and cheap food.

   It is raining and dams are almost overflowing. The idea of raising the height of walls of our hydro power generating dams sounds enticing. But wait a minute, how will the concrete cure on top of wet walls. 

Consider the long-term and seasonal benefit of the abandoned thermal power plant and revive this project. Then on the dry spell, we can add to the wall. That way we can be assured that there will be no outages in days to come. 

 It is raining, now is the time to replant trees in Mau and other forests we plan to restore; after all we will not need to water them. If we do that and drought comes, our trees will have grown to withstand the scorching sun.

Rainy season in Kenya. Pic courtesy of UN News

And when the dry spell comes, let us cheerfully build our roads for it will be easier to move the equipment we need.

    Let us pledge that on every drought, we will remove the silt from our dams and boreholes. That way, we will have enough water for use at all times." 

Now that it is dry, lets feed those who need our help, then we can remove the silt in our dams, extend walls of our hydro power dams and water the trees we planted in Mau Forest so that they can survive this dry spell.

Caesar Macharia
Analyst Boston