Kenya’s marginal landscapes predominantly occupied by pastoralists are detached and far removed from the center. Reeling from the peripheral effects of underdevelopment, the pastoral woes are further compounded by the evolving climatic changes, cyclic conflicts and perennial famines. It is against these underlying conditions that this paper examines, from the community’s perspectives, the net effect of COVID-19 and the extent to which it has exacerbated the already fragile social-economic conditions. Through the community’s lenses, this paper will further attempt to localize a global problem, making sense of what it means to the community’s daily lived experiences. Was the pandemic ‘seen’ as a unique scary ‘attack’ or was it just among the many challenges experienced by the community? To what extent has the pandemic disrupted their routines for good or for bad? Lessons will be drawn from the adaptation strategies devised during and after the pandemic that helped in building resilience and coping strategies, not only for COVID-19 but other forms of ‘pandemics’ being experienced on daily basis. Hopefully, this paper, will trigger the consciousness of duty bearers to anticipate and initiate disaster reduction mechanism that would cushion marginal communities from crisis, including but not limited to pandemics, drought and conflicts.
