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  • 2019-03-21 (xsd:date)
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  • Kenya: Be careful, old photos are being used to illustrate the drought in Turkana County (en)
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  • Images claiming to show the current drought in northern Kenya have been shared widely on social media. Turkana County and other parts of Kenya are indeed suffering a drought, and reports suggest that some residents are on the brink of starvation. But some of the images purporting to show the current situation are old pictures, taken both in Kenya and in other African countries. Last week this article in The Star newspaper, reporting that two people had starved to death in Turkana, sparked an online debate among Kenyans over the drought. Various images showing men, women and children in dreadful situations were shared alongside posts castigating the government for allowing its people to die from hunger. But at least five widely shared photos being used to illustrate the current drought are actually old images, in one case dating back as long ago as 1993. A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 showing a Facebook post purporting to show man affected by the current drought in Turkana, Kenya. The first photo, showing an emaciated man outside his hut, was shared on this Facebook group with more than 950,000 followers. But a reverse image search revealed it was used in a video about Turkana, published on YouTube by the radio station Capital FM on September 2, 2011. The same image can also be seen in recent tweets that use the hashtag #TurkanaDrought or include the phrase Turkana hunger . A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 showing a tweet claiming to show ongoing drought situation in Turkana county, Kenya In the Capital FM video, the man is identified as Kaler Uyereng, one of the millions of people affected by the 2011 drought which severely hit Kenya, forcing the then president Mwai Kibaki to declare a national emergency. The second image shows a boy surrounded by the carcasses of dead animals. Similarly, some posts have suggested that it shows the current situation in northern Kenya. A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 showing a tweet purporting to show a little boy on the brink of the current starvation in Turkana county, Kenya However, a reverse image search showed that the picture had been posted on the website of the charity World Vision in 2017. It was accompanied by the caption: 9-year-old Ejiem sits with the carcass of his favorite sheep, Merireng, in Turkana, Kenya. The East Africa drought has caused the death of many animals like Merireng. (©2017 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren). A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 of the World Vision website Similarly, a photo of a woman and two children feeding on dry bones, which is being used in social media posts to illustrate the current drought, is also a photograph from the World Vision website . It does show a drought in Turkana county, but it was again taken in 2017. A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 showing tweet that uses a 2011 photo from Turkana A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 of the World Vision website The fourth image shows a little boy lying on his stomach and drinking from a pool of muddy water. A screenshot taken on March 21, 2019 showing tweet showing a boy lying on his stomach and drinking from a pool of muddy water But a reverse image search on Google revealed the image was in fact taken in 2009 by a photographer for Reuters news agency in Ethiopia, during a severe drought which also hit Uganda, Somalia, and Kenya. A caption on it read: A boy drinks water from a pond in Bule Duba village in the outskirts of Moyale, near the edge of Oroma and Somali regions of Ethiopia, June 12, 2009. A screenshot taken on March 20, 2019 showing image of boy drinking from a pool of dirty water on Reuter new agency's website Finally, a fifth image shows a distraught mother carrying her starving child, whose ribs are protruding and can easily be counted. The image was shared on this Facebook group , which has more than 350,000 members. A screenshot taken on March 20, 2019 showing a Facebook post claiming to show woman carrying a baby suffering from starvation in the ongoing drought in Turkana county, Kenya This image was in fact taken by an AFP photographer in 1993 in Kongor, in what is today South Sudan. A screenshot taken on March 20, 2019 showing AFP's photo dated 1993 WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKANA? BBC reporter Roncliffe Odit has been in Turkana this week and has been documenting the effects of the drought in photos posted on Twitter. Speaking to AFP by telephone, Odit confirmed that he met many people suffering from desperate hunger. We landed in Turkana on Friday, March 15, 2019, to do a totally different story but changed our course when we saw the drought conversation trending on social media. Our editor asked us to go into the villages to find out if it was indeed true what was being reported online. We headed to a village outside Lodwar town where we were met by faces that speak of severe starvation, Odit told us. I met a blind woman in her 80s living alone as her two sons have moved away with the livestock to look for pasture. She had not eaten for three days, and her neighbours told me that they strived to bring her at least some porridge when they could. On Sunday, I personally captured this photo of Mama Mariam Loolio, 85, and blind. She had done 3 days without food... At Kakwanyang’ Village in Turkana County... #WeCannotIgnore #BeyondPressConfrences https://t.co/uVPtexvZM9 — Roncliffe Odit (@RoncliffeOdit) March 18, 2019 Odit also reported that he had met a man so weakened by hunger that he could barely lift himself from the ground. It’s barely 12 hours since I met this great Mzee Lomoni Lewan, who is around 70 years old, from Lotukumo Village in Nakuruo Sub-Location, Turkana County... #WeCannotIgnore #BeyondPressConfrences https://t.co/2R42VYQeAZ — Roncliffe Odit (@RoncliffeOdit) March 18, 2019 Other photos posted by Odit on Twitter also show the desperate state of affairs in some parts of Turkana County. This is Mama Audan Loteng' Takwa; she’s 63, and a widow... #WeCannotIgnore #BeyondPressConfrences https://t.co/vFmxxXLu9Y — Roncliffe Odit (@RoncliffeOdit) March 18, 2019 Selina is due in the next 3 months, but she has done 2 days without a meal... #WeCannotIgnore #BeyondPressConfrences https://t.co/7ZLIkRKco0 — Roncliffe Odit (@RoncliffeOdit) March 18, 2019 Odit told AFP that sources who spoke to him confirmed that two people had died from starvation in the area. The government has so far said it is unaware of any deaths caused by starvation in Turkana since the reports hit local media last week. (en)
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