Thata Buba is a Borana pastoralist living at Thaya, in the Bor Bor Pastoral Association of Southern Ethiopia (150km north of Kenya). Thata’s extended family of twelve households is reliant on his livestock but the recent drought has decimated his cattle herd.

“I used to have many animals, but now I have very few left,” explains Thata. "I have lost over two hundred cattle. The ones I have left are small and emaciated. I have little hope for them. This drought is particularly severe. Many people migrated away but I decided to stay.”

Thata supsects that his cattle are now dying from disease as well as drought. “They cannot urinate properly. I have seen some of my cattle urinate then drop dead.”

The rains arrived in southern Ethiopia at the end of March, but after severe drought heavy rain brings its own problems. Some cattle will drink too much water and collapse. The grass will take time to grow, so the cattle will not get fat overnight or produce more milk.

“We are reliant on relief food”
Pastoralists rely almost entirely upon their cattle as a source of food. Milk, blood and meat are their staple diet. Thata has tried to grow crops but year after year the rains have failed, and his crops have withered and died.
He continues: “The animals we have left are so weak that we cannot rely on them for milk. We are totally reliant on relief food. I have sent someone to get us relief food. If they do not return I think we will all die.”

Restoring livelihoods
HelpAge International, with support from partner organisation Help the Aged, is helping to restore livelihoods of older people like Thata. We are restocking cattle and goats, strengthening breeding stock and improving access to water.
Working through local partners, we are distributing fodder to cattle and collecting milking cows and calves together at central feeding points. We are using water tankers to reach villages, and using camels for the remoter areas where there are older people who cannot walk to distribution points.