The scorching sun burns over the village of Kambinye in northern Kenya. From early morning, 34-year-old Dukano Kelle has been searching for water. She has not eaten anything since morning, yet she must whip her donkey forward with thorny branches to reach a borehole several kilometers away. Even there, the water level has dropped significantly—disappointment is her constant companion.
Since getting married at 15, Dukano has been making this arduous journey twice a week. Like thousands of women in this northern Kenyan region, she fights daily to survive. Their homes are nothing more than makeshift tents made from dry grass and sticks, scattered among the black volcanic rocks.
Climate Change and the Rise in Child Marriages
Climate change is not only intensifying and prolonging droughts but also increasing social inequality in invisible ways. One of its most devastating impacts is the rise in child marriages. The region has gone nine months without rain, leading to massive livestock deaths due to lack of food and water. Desperate families are exchanging their daughters for camels and goats, which can sustain them for a few months.
On the road from Marsabit town towards the Ethiopian border, countless stories like Dukano’s emerge. Many girls are married off in childhood, only to later struggle to feed their own children.
“The Drought Has Made Us Even Poorer”
After nearly two hours, Dukano finally reaches the well. Six yellow jerrycans are strapped to her donkey’s back. Under the shade of a lone tree, other women wait their turn. The men remain in the village, spared from this grueling task.
The well is three meters deep, but only 10 centimeters of water has collected at the bottom. Villagers reveal that they borrowed money to bring this water by truck, repaying the debt with goats—their only currency.
After an hour of waiting, Dukano’s turn comes. Carefully, she draws up the water, making sure not to waste a single drop. “In the last drought, we lost all our livestock. My youngest son became severely malnourished, and I was terrified he would die,” she says. “Now another drought has started, and it might be worse than before.”
Dukano is responsible for keeping her three sons and two daughters—ranging from 14 years to nine months old—alive. A journey to Marsabit town takes her several days. “The water crisis is worsening,” she says. “I am afraid I won’t be able to feed my children. If they fall sick, I won’t have money for medicine. We have nothing—only our goats and barter trade.”
“I Was Completely Unsafe”
Local organization Iremo reports that climate change has not only increased child marriage but also incidents of sexual violence and rape in Marsabit County. Women are forced to travel far to graze livestock, where they become easy prey for violent men.
Watto Gato, a 20-year-old from Bubisa village, recalls how she was raped at 15 while tending animals alone. “I screamed, but no one heard me,” she says. Weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant, and her family abandoned her.
Today, Watto supports her two children by selling phone recharge cards and camel milk on the roadside. What happened to her attacker? She shrugs. “He disappeared into the desert. I had no way to file a complaint.”
“There Was No Choice”
Alice Nalbandian, an advocacy advisor at Oxfam, says that women and teenage girls in Kenya’s arid regions bear the brunt of climate change.
Bok Molluk was married off at 15 to a stranger in exchange for three camels and three goats. Now 19, she recalls, “Of course, I blamed my parents. But I know they wouldn’t have done it if the drought wasn’t so severe. They had no choice.”
After marriage, her husband became abusive. “He raped me many times,” Bok says. “But I stayed—what else could I do? My family wouldn’t take me back because my husband had paid the dowry.”
Bok’s story is just one among many shaped by 40 years of relentless drought. Outside Kambinye village, piles of animal bones stand as grim evidence of the crisis. Each skull once belonged to a camel, cow, or goat—livestock that was once the region’s lifeline.