School children walk through the shallows past submerged and abandoned school buildings at the El Molo Bay primary school in Komote, Kenya. Teachers at the school say the buildings have become a breeding ground for crocodiles. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption toggle caption Tommy Trenchard for NPR As a scorching wind tears across the barren, rocky slopes of Komote Island off the shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, Alfred Lenkutuk sits in the meager shelter of his hut, gazing out over the village where he was born and remembering better times. As little as 10 years ago, the village wasn’t on an island at all. But the lake has steadily expanded, swallowing homes, grazing lands, schools, roads and the burial grounds where Lenkutuk’s ancestors were laid to rest. Today, the village is separated from the mainland by about 660 yards of shimmering turquoise water where fishermen paddle on homemade rafts. Growing up, the 71-year-old remembers going on regular communal hippo hunts around the lakeshore, and fishermen coming home with catches of more than …
