Turkana

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Is the end of 2011, east Africa faces the worst food crisis of the 21st Century. Across Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, twelve million people are in dire need of food, clean water, and basic sanitation. The province of Turkana, in Kenya, is the largest yet least developed district in north of Kenya, with a population of just fewer than 500 thousand people. Almost 95% of Turkana’s population live below the poverty line.

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Over 80% of people do not have enough water to drink – let alone food to eat. The main water sources are simple wells dug into dry, or contaminated, riverbeds – so water-related illnesses like cholera and diarrhea are common. NGO Oxfam’s gardening and fishing projects are making a big difference as the people of Turkana emerge from the worst drought in decades.

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With their pastoralist way of life under threat, people here are trying to find new ways to feed their families. Six months on from the declaration of famine, photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg traveled to Turkana with an Oxfam team, to portrait pastoralists facing this problematic.

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This project was made in partnership with Oxfam GB and in support of GrOW, a movement of people campaigning for a world where everyone always has enough to eat. For the past 40 years, Oxfam has been working in Turkana, north-west Kenya, to support people who have been let down by the global food system. Thanks to this project photographed by Chaskielberg, Oxfam GB received donations of 150 thousands pounds to continue working in Turkana for three more years.