Nicholas Okeya
8 February 2007
Nairobi — Bare-chested and without any diving gear, the two youths take deep breaths and plunge noisily into the water. They want to beat their previous record of an amazing 1,800 seconds (30 minutes) stint underwater. Or so it seems.
But No, it is not a swimming competition. It's a race for survival. They are sand harvesters - not snorkellers or sport swimmers.
Stay inside the river any less and they will earn just a fraction of the measly Sh60 on offer. Yet stay inside any longer and they could suffer bodily harm, owing to prolonged exposure to water-borne pathogens and lack of oxygen. Still, they keep trying to surpass themselves ... and nature.
Omondi Otieno, 18, and William Otieno, 19, are members of Nyadorera Quarry Youth Group. Their daily mission is to scoop as much sand as possible from the river bed, irrespective of the risks. They are standard eight drop-outs, but are not unfamiliar with specialised terms like asphyxia, water-logged and sub-terranean. They feel and fear these expressions every second at work.
Eat 'ugali' and 'omena'
Each day, they earn Sh300 for working underwater for a total 9,000 seconds (one hour and 15 minutes).
Harvesting sand is energy-consuming, so they maintain their strength by eating ugali (stiff porridge) and sardines (omena) for lunch and supper, washed down with millet porridge from ancient-looking gourds.
Because of staying too long in the deep, their complexion has changed from light brown to sinewy grey. Their skin seems to cry out for oil whenever they land on the shore.
Sand harvesting is a major economic activity along River Nzoia. The water snakes through key trading centres in Western and Nyanza provinces to Lake Victoria.
In some areas, sand is harvested along the river banks only, owing to persistent risk of being attacked by dangerous reptiles like crocodiles.
A major gamble
But in Nyadorera area of Uranga division, Siaya district, where Omondi and Otieno harvest sand together with about 200 youths, the work is concentrated in the middle of the river.
It's a major gamble, not just to life and limb but to the environment. But it's better than degrading the river banks, as happens elsewhere.
The youths use specially modified canoes to carry sand to the shore. They row to the middle of the river, where water is neck-deep, to harvest sand for sale to building contractors.
Each canoe carries about 20 buckets of sand. To fill one vessel, the boys spend 1,800 seconds (30 minutes) diving into the river. Once a canoe is full, it's rowed to the shore and off-loaded. Another set of people in the work chain earns its livelihood by ferrying the sand on wheelbarrows to the nearest possible place where lorries can park.
Each of the seven-tonne lorries pays the harvesters Sh1,000 for one load. The lorries make several trips to the quarry - one of the most popular in the district for its quality sand.
Over the past two years, the youths have been constant features of the river. There are no crocodiles here, but there is the occasional snake, the floating log, or the dead human or animal body from upstream.
"As long as River Nzoia exists, I shall earn my living from this work. From my sweat, I will put up a decent house and marry the girl of my dreams in two years," says Omondi, steering the rickety canoe to the bank.
Otieno laments that he did not reach the level of education he had hoped for, due to lack of fees.
"This work is giving me some financial independence, but it is not the best one for me. I should have gone up to Form Four, for then I would be doing something else to earn a living. Diving into the water every day is very risky."
Nyadorera Quarry Youth Group chairman Joseph Ouma Ondaro, 56, says the group was started 20 years ago and had generated about Sh48 million from sale of sand.
"Practically, we earn about Sh200,000 a month," Ondaro says. He has a wife and two children.
The group has 41 members and about 18 special canoes. In total, there are about 200 youths employed by the quarry - popularly called "Industrial Area."
During school holidays and weekends, students flock to the place for manual work like pulling (and pushing) wheelbarrows. They earn a few, badly-needed shillings for their families.
But local assistant chief Sylvanus Amuok, 43, whose office is near the quarry, discourages school children from working there as it could interfere with their education.
The administrator said sand-harvesting contributed about 10 per cent of the economic growth of Nyadorera trading centre.
"This is the busiest and most stable market in Uranga division, especially on Sundays. Because of its unceasing activities, there are very few idlers in the trading centre. The crime rate is low"
Other economic activities include fishing (50 per cent), cereal sale (20 per cent) and farming (10 per cent).
Road virtually impassable
Many buses that ply the Nairobi-Alego-Usonga route use Nyadorera as their termini. But many buses now stop in Siaya town, owing to the poor condition of the Siaya-Nyadorera road. For years, this key route has been neglected, rendering it virtually impassable.
The area, Alego-Usonga, was for a long time represented in Parliament by Peter Castro Oloo Aringo (now nominated). The current MP is Mr Sammy Arthur Weya. He rarely uses the road as his constituency office is in Siaya town, while legislative duties in Nairobi take the greater part of his time.
Currently, there is not a single good road in South West, West, Central, and South East Alego. During rainy seasons, many businessmen who rely on bicycles for transport have difficulties reaching the trading centres.
Meanwhile, quarry group chairman Ondaro said about 10 lorries collect sand from the site every day during the high season (November to March).
He explained that during rainy seasons, sand harvesting is put on hold along River Nzoia until the floods subside.
Besides drowning, the are many risks associated with harvesting sand in the middle of the river. They include contracting malaria, diarrhoea, water-borne diseases and skin and eye infections.
"We educate the youth on these dangers. On diving into the water, one should not stay for too long inside as chances of contrasting diseases will rise," he said.
Other dangers include hitting underlying rocks and being bitten by snakes and other creatures.
Quarry workers are regularly educated on the danger of HIV/Aids, and on how to spend their hard-earned money wisely.
"Over the past six years, we have lost four members of our group to Aids. We are now encouraging our colleagues to marry early and to be faithful to their partners," said the chairman, who is a trained home-based care-giver.
The group plans to buy its own lorry to supply sand to building contractors in the district and surrounding areas. "We also hope to buy a piece of land to put up rental houses for our members. That way, our group will get additional income."
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