On a road that snakes around the Mua hills between Machakos and Mitaboni, there is a place called Kyamwilu. It is a most unusual place, for there, on a small stretch of road, water runs uphill.
It really does. I saw it with my own eyes. I’ve since discovered that there are quite a few places around the world that make similar claims. Most are called ‘magnetic hills’ but their mystery is easily solved. The landscapes surrounding these places give an optical illusion that make things appear to travel uphill when, in fact, they’re going down. Kyamwilu, however, is different. 15 of us watched in absolute amazement as water, poured on the tarmac surface of the road, trickled slowly up hill. And, there was no question - the direction the water was going was most definitely up. I’ve no idea how this happens. I know water shouldn’t run uphill. Water runs downhill. But sometimes a mystery, impossibility, is just what you need in life. 
The real issue about water in Kenya is, however, serious; very serious. In many areas of the country there’s just not enough to sustain life. Kenya is reliant on its annual short and long rains to replenish its water resources and irrigate its crops. The failure of these rains over recent years has brought extreme drought to northern and eastern areas. In the past, drought would occur every ten years or so. Now, it has increased to once every couple of years. This grim statistic stared us in the face as we travelled through the districts east of Nairobi. The red dust, dry earth, the leafless acacia trees, the skeletal cattle all bore witness to years without rain. Each time we stopped to meet a local group we were told the same story – it had not rained properly for two, sometimes three years.
At a Community Based Organisation in Kitui, 71 year-old James, secretary to the group, said, “This is the worst drought I’ve ever seen. Even the mango trees have died and I’ve never seen that before.” He later explained that his father, who had recently passed away aged 107, told him he too had never before seen a drought like the one they had just experienced.
Drought means more than lack of water, it means hunger and even starvation too. Over one and a half million Kenyans are now reliant on food aid. It also means the destruction of culture; the Maasai are being forced to leave their traditional way of life as pastoralists and turn to agricultural farming to survive. Lack of rain means lack of pasture, which means cattle die in large numbers. This scenario has affected not only the Maasai, but also farmers who have also lost their cattle. This is nothing short of a disaster for a people for whom ownership of cattle is central to their culture.
But, just like the water on the Kyamwilu road, the people of Kenya are achieving the impossible. Each group we visited had worked a miracle of transformation in their area. We saw Isaiah’s streams in the desert; parched land turning into places blooming with life - community built dams that capture the precious rain, raise the water table and green the surrounding area. Each dam provides clean drinking water to many hundreds of people and their livestock, and enables the irrigation of their agriculture.
"Drought means more than lack of water, it means hunger and even starvation too. Over one and a half million Kenyans are now reliant on food aid. It also means the destruction of culture..."
We saw tree nurseries with thousands of saplings ready for planting – fruit trees for food and income generation, trees for animal feed, for bio diesel, for timber… all of them improving the environment.
We saw indigenous crops grown to show farmers alternatives to less drought resistant, less nutritious produce. Green grams, pigeon peas, paw paw, sorghum, and the amazing amaranth – a grain that contains the highest quality protein, excellent levels of vitamins and minerals, and healing properties that can help cure many of Kenya’s common diseases.
Yet for all that, it was the people themselves that most impressed us – the strength of their commitment, the pride in their work, the belief in what they could achieve and the willingness to share their success with their community. Their collective spirit in the midst of such cruel adversity humbled and moved us, time after time.
Kenya has an uphill struggle. The frequency and intensity of its droughts are increasing and the very life of this nation is under threat. When the many other challenges the country faces are placed within the context of climate change, the well known statement – ‘Forget about making poverty history, climate change will make poverty permanent’ - becomes stark reality.
But maybe, just maybe, the impending disasters that climate change is bringing to this country are not inevitable. The people of Kenya have shown what can be achieved in the most dire circumstances. If the world’s leaders can show the same bravery and determination that we saw in the people of Kenya, and the water on that Kyamwilu road keeps trickling up hill, then impossible can happen.
Words and photo: David Muir