So I ve decided to send her and the children back. The Anyimu family s urban-rural exodus is prompted by severe water and electricity rationing imposed by the Nairobi City Council and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company since June 2000. In July, the Nairobi City Council announced that city residents would only be supplied with water once a week - until the next rains, which meteorologists predict may fail again this year. To cope with the crisis, the city s three million residents have adopted the lifestyles of their rural brethren. Evenings are spent around candles and paraffin lamps.
Meat is bought, cooked and eaten immediately as storage through refrigeration has become impossible.
Those who can afford to do so are buying generators or digging boreholes in their back yards, which is causing water tables to drop further. Meanwhile, Maasai pastoralists from neighbouring districts have moved into the city, bringing their hungry cows with them. It is not just the cows that are hungry. A sudden increase in starvation-related deaths in Kenya s arid northern provinces has prompted the government to appeal for international donor assistance. The impact of the water and electricity rationing has been devastating for the economy.