An aircraft tyre punctures on the very hot and stony runway en route to Mandera in northern Kenya. It’s the first time I’ve seen the pilots, cheerful ones at that, get out, jack up the plane, pull out the spare wheel and root through the toolbox for the right spanners to fix it. They assure us it happens all the time!

After a seven hour journey we land in Mandera. Water vendors are driving donkey carts through dusty streets, carrying water from the river. Less than one per cent of the population of approximately 40,000 here has piped water. A water truck serves institutions with sufficiently large water tanks and those able to afford its services. The rest of the population rely on donkey carts bringing water for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing clothes. Those donkeys are certainly providing a critical service to a very large number of people!

I’m visiting a livelihoods and donkey welfare project, jointly supported by the Brooke and Practical Action since 2006. This year it aims to improve the welfare of more than 45,000 donkeys in four areas.