Today's episode features a family, victims of a landslide from Gitugi village in Mathioya, Murang'a County in central Kenya.

About three years ago, a landslide struck in the middle of the night. Taking away 39-year old mother of four, Mary Wambui, entire livelihood. Her family, still traumatised to return and settle at the affected farm, was evicted from a vocational school they have called home since the landslide. Ever since the landslide, when Red cross offered psycho-social support, her family has never encountered counselling despite contact headache, fainting, and high blood pressure Wambui, her husband, and elder son now struggle with since the ordeal.

Kilifi county in Kenya has three practicing mental health specialists against a population of about 1.4 million. Mental health is allocated less than 0.5% of the general health budget. In Kenya, out of 47 counties, only 22 have a mental health specialist.

“Understanding your mental health, gives you a better standard of life. But though Mental health is part of the general health system, very little funding is made available compared to fields like maternal and child health, reproductive issues, TB, and HIV, including funds for specialist training. Mental health is neglected right from the policy level,” says Leonard Nasoro, a mental health specialist from Kilifi, Kenya.

Late diagnosis heavily impacts service delivery and dealing with mental health. But why are there very few experts?

Elias Fondo, the Kilifi County Mental Health Clinical officerwarns that with the rising mental illness burden, the institutional-based form of managing mental health will not work “but rather investing in community psychiatry to help identify early symptoms of mental illnesses among their communities to and advise them to seek help on time.”

In today's episode, we talk to Elias Fondo, the Kilifi County Mental Health Clinical officer, Leonard Nasoro, a mental health specialist, and a nurse at the Kilifi County Hospital. They tell us that uncertainty due to changing weather leads to anxiety and fear, dragging communities deeper into poverty. How?. In a country where one out four Kenyan's suffers a mental illness once in their lifetime, why is there too much stigma around mental illnesses? Is mental illness an "African" problem?

This week's episode takes you to Kilifi, Kenya - home to Watamu and Malindi's sandy beaches. The only permanent river - River Sabaki - emanating from Kenya's Aberdare Ranges west of Central Kenya floods each time it heavily rains upstream. Now, the 2018 Kilifi County Drought contingency plan notes that the drought return period has reduced to two to three years from every five to seven years in the last decade. Between 2016 to 2020, Kilifi County experienced a devastating drought that leads to massive pasture loss and cattle deaths, with nearly half a million people affected. With the county alternating between droughts and flash floods, what impacts does this have on communities? Listen to their voices. 

In Kenya, one out of every four Kenyans suffer a mental illness in their lifetime. Natural disasters like flooding are becoming prevalent, and, in some counties, communities are struggling with disasters interchanging between flooding and drought, not giving them enough time to recover. How is the changing climate affecting mental health? Listen to Dr. Pamela Kaithuru a counselling psychologist and a meteorologist from Kenya Meteorological Department.

Image by chenspec from Pixabay

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports indicate 2020 was one of the three warmest years on record after 2019 and 2016. In today's episode, Dr. Abubakar Salih Babikier, a climate scientist from IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Center (ICPAC), tells us that since tropical storm Sagar flooded most of Somaliland in 2018, at least a tropical cyclone has hit Somalia once or twice a year. 

How hot are the other parts of the Horn of Africa? What are the impacts?

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said that 2011-2020 was the warmest decade on record, in a persistent long-term climate change trend. 2016, 2019, and 2020 are recorded as the top three warmest years on record. The series explores how the rising global temperature, flooding, increased landslides, rising sea levels, warming oceans, and droughts impacting communities mentally.

We started the podcast journey last year in June 2020. What are some of the issues we have talked about and where are the plans for 2021? 

It is a festive season, though with a difference this time due to COVID19. I do not know how you celebrate during festivals, the many African cultures, and honestly, beyond Africa, food is essential.

But food wasted and dumped in landfills is heat up by the sun. Over time, it emits greenhouse gases that warm up the planet we live in. As a result, contributing to droughts, floods, landslides, warming of the sea becoming frequent and severe.

Today, Maite Guardiola, the co-director of Dudu Dunia, June Kimaiyo, and Catherine Cherop from Dudu Dunia - a Kenyan organization specializing in composting kitchen waste are talking about how to compost our kitchen waste on our balconies, odorless. And, of course, tips to minimize kitchen waste.

It's December, and the holiday season is here. Unfortunately, this year's festive season occurs amid a global crisis that keeps us from coming together with our large extended families. But we will still eat and hence generate a lot of household waste, especially from our kitchens.

Dudu Dunia, a Kenyan based organisation specialising in composting kitchen waste says 60 percent of Nairobi waste could be transformed into rich fertiliser.  But how does this waste we generate and dump on landfills end up hurting our environment and the planet we live on? How can we reduce our kitchen waste?