Earlier this month, illuminAid traveled to the small town of Lodwar, Kenya, to partner with Africare to collaborate on a dietary diversity project.

Lodwar is the largest town in Northwestern Kenya and is located west of Lake Turkana. Lake Turkana is the fourth largest of the Eastern African lakes, measuring at 154 miles long and 10 to 15 miles wide. It is also the largest desert and alkaline lake, meaning it is shallow (240ft deep), very salty, and in pH level (9-12). Due to its geographic, geological and climatic conditions, the lake “provides habitats for maintaining diverse flora and fauna” and has a large crocodile population (1). Furthermore, paleontologists have discovered several human and pre-human fossils that have been critical to the understanding of the evolutionary history of the human species (1).

The first important discovery found at Lake Turkana was in 1972 when Bernard Ngenyeo and his colleagues Richard and Meave Leakey uncovered the fossil of a Homo habilis. Since then, the Leakeys and their team have made at least two other substantial discoveries at Lake Turkana. In 1984, an “almost-complete fossilized skeleton” of a Homo erectus, or “upright human” was found at the lake (2). This skeleton is famously known as the “Turkana Boy.” The most recent discovery at Lake Turkana was in 1995 when Meave Leakey and her team came across the fossils of an Australopithecus anamensis, an extremely old species of primates (2).

Learning healthy vegetable growing practices

In addition to these scientific and historical discoveries, three National Parks have been established within the basin of Lake Turkana. The parks, South Island National Park, Central Island National, and Sibiloi National Park have active volcanoes and are inhabited with an abundance of wildlife including zebras, lions, hyenas, cheetahs, hippopotamus, and several species of bird (3).

However, despite the area’s unique ecology and scientific value, the Turkana district is the poorest of Kenya’s 47 counties (4). In fact, 88% of the county’s population live below the international poverty level. In other words, 815,738 people out of the region’s population of 926,976 live on less than $1.90 a day. In comparison, Austin, Texas has a poverty level of 15.4%. This means that roughly 146,410 people out of 950,715 live below the United States’ poverty level which is about $38.28 a day (5).

Additionally, illiteracy in Lodwar is high and increasing, with only 50% of Turkana children attending school and adult literacy at 20% (6,7). Children in the Turkana area often attend school until they reach adolescence, where girls drop out to marry and boys leave school to help with livestock (8). Furthermore, Lodwar only has 17 schools; for comparison, Austin alone has a total of 207 schools (9).

Health issues such as susceptibility to preventable diseases are rampant due to food insecurity, water shortage, lack of latrines, and low awareness of personal hygiene (10). The infant and maternal mortality rates are also ranked very high at 66 infant deaths per 1,000 and 1,594 maternal deaths per 100,000 in the Turkana area (11,12).

In consideration of the above, why is video needed in Lodwar? Lodwar is primarily an agrarian society, surviving off the cultivation of crops, farm animals, and land, so much of the culture is rooted in long-standing traditions of agricultural society. Using video to change some of the less desirable ingrained behavior, such as eating and growing only a few standard crops, is an effective way to share desired behavior changes. Another advantage of video is that it has the ability to overcome obstacles that would otherwise inhibit change such as language, culture, location, and access to resources such as electricity. Moreover, the information being conveyed through video is consistent and concise. Video as a means to impart nutrition and dietary diversity information, in particular, is extremely effective as a learning tool. It can accurately demonstrate new ways to cook, provide exact instructions on how to cultivate vegetables, or impact testimonials of families changing up their nutrition routines.

When respected community members are the “actors” in a video, such as in the photo above, the engagement and adoption rate of new behaviors often dramatically increases.

Lodwar is a town of kind, warm, and caring people, and despite the challenges of the economy, the population is kind to one another and determined to make the best lives possible with what they have.

SOURCES:

Life in Lodwar Town

illuminAid.org

Life in Lodwar Town

Africare, Kenya: Photo Gallery

What is Social and Behavior Change Communication?

illuminAid.org