Some months ago aid agencies began ringing alarm bells about the drought spreading across East Africa. The human and environmental toll of this year's prolonged dry season is now very apparent. Less known, however, is the impact the drought has had on women and children. Farah Mihlar, media officer with Minority Rights Group International, recently visited a tiny remote pastoralist village in Uganda's Koboga district, to find out how the drought is affecting people's lives.

The rains have finally begun to trickle down but they are late and still unpredictable. The prolonged dry season this year has already begun to affect this small cow-herding community in Kyarubangu village. Many families have lost their cows and faced food shortages. But these pastoralists, women in particular, tell me about the other less foreseen and far-reaching consequences of the drought.

"Schools had to close because of the drought. We had to send our children to find water. They have to take the cows far away to search for water. So they couldn't go to school," the residents of Kyarubangu told me on my recent trip. "People have lost their cows and are getting poorer. They have no money to pay for school fees and to buy books."

"There has also been a high spread of disease. Children go out to fetch water and when they find it, they drink wherever it is. It is causing diseases to spread," Ophaz Funzi, a pastoralist told me.

This is a particular problem because pastoralist children already have very limited access to education. Because they live in remote villages the schools are neglected and short of teachers, who refuse to travel so far out. They also face discrimination in schools which affects their educational attainment.

And according to Olivia Mugabi, a pastoralist activist, girls are also under greater threat.

"They have to go further to find water and this puts them under more threat of being abducted," Mugabt tells me.

Pastoralist women themselves face rights violations both from outside their community and from within. Women are discriminated against by the non-pastoralist communities and are often last to gain access to resources.

They also face violence from within their own community. The women tell me about the challenges they face because of customs such as sharing wives with the husband's male relatives and the abduction of young girls for marriage. During situations of drought security concerns of women become exacerbated.

"When it is dry the men have to travel very far in search of grazing land and water for the animals. Old women and pregnant women are left at home and they become vulnerable. They don't have food because the cows are not there to produce milk. When the water is found - they are the last to get it," the women explained to me.

"Women don't have any security, they stay in God's mercy," Kalagwa Jovia, an elderly pastoralist said.

Pastoralists are amongst the poorest and most deprived communities in East Africa. They have little or no access to basic health and education facilities and often face discrimination.

"When we go outside, they consider us ignorant, dirty, they discriminate against us and call us all kinds of names," says Olivia Mugabi.

This year's drought has brought about food shortages, forcing some families to, on occasion, go hungry or limit themselves to one meal a day.

"We lost seven cows. The neighbours also lost many. When cows die you become poorer. The cows produce milk that feeds the whole family," Funzi told me.

"There are food shortages now. Usually in June- August when it is dry people may sell their cows, knowing they can buy it back later in the year. But now they have to keep selling and it is leading to poverty," he adds.

"In the early days, in January and February it rains, March - May rain decreases, June- August there is sunshine and then the rest of the year it rains. This was the pattern. Now there is no specific pattern, it rains when you don't expect it," Funzi explains to me.

"This year has not been so good. It has shined most of the year. Even the small dams we have, fill up quickly when it rains but it also dries up fast in the drought."

Now with the rains here the community seems a little less anxious. They know, however, that it may not last long. They say they need long-term solutions to conserve water through building dams and other water conservation systems. For the moment most of the people can think of only where their next meal will come from and hope the weather Gods will be kind to them.

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