27 April 2023 , 19:18
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The figures are simply unbelievable. One person is dying from hunger in East Africa every single 30 seconds.
The drought is killing people by the tens of thousands. Around 120 million people in northern Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan are struggling without the food they need to survive.
That’s twice the population of the UK.
Last year 43,000 people died in Somalia alone. Over 22,000 of them were babies and children under five.
In the first six months of 2023 another 34,000 are expected to die in Somalia.
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Elderly Masai lady Rantilei, 90 pictured at home in Lengesaka (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)This year latest figures show 22.6 million people in Ethiopia, ten million in Sudan, ten million in South Sudan, 7.5 million in Somalia, and 7.5million in Kenya facing emergency conditions.
Over 11 million animals have died across the region.
The famine in 1983-85 affected eight million people and up to one million died.
The scenes were so horrific they led to Bob Geldof and Midge Ure setting up Band Aid to record “Do they know it’s Christmas” in 1984.
Sorobi Lesurmaat, 45, and her son one-year-old Paulo sat on the parched earth near her house in Lengesaka (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)The following summer the Live Aid gigs in London and Philadelphia drew huge worldwide audiences and raised It was estimated over £150m was raised from the concerts alone.
Speaking to the Mirror, Ekibo says she lost her daughter and son-in-law as a result of the drought.
She died from starvation and he was killed as he tried to protect his family’s remaining livestock.
Cows and goats have become so valuable now armed gangs ambush shepherds and farmers shooting them to steal their animals.
The death of so many millions of animals has meant there just isn’t enough food for people to eat any more.
Each family used to have their own prized herds of cows and goats.
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Whole families are dying, as well as livestock due to the extreme conditions (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)But with no pasture for the livestock to graze on almost all of them have died leading to a desperate lack of food which they would kill and sell.
“It’s been a terrible time for my own family,” said Ekibo.
“Before the drought we had 30 cows, now we have none - they all died.
“We used to have 200 goats, now we have two. They all died because there was not enough to eat.”
She watched as the other women in the village, which sits on the dusty El Baratheon plains, joined in a traditional tribal dance.
As they swayed they adapted the conventional words of the song by chanting: “If it wasn’t for the Red Cross we’d be dead like the cows and the goats.”
Loripo, 57, said softly: “I have lost six members of my family including my beloved daughter Nateen. She was just 14.”
He then slowly repeats her age: “Just 14 years old.”
14-month-old Philippo who weighs half the typical weight of the 14-month old in the UK (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)He added: “She is buried far away but I cannot visit her grave as I have had to move many miles away just to survive.
“My brother Eglan also died - he was 62. They both died because they did not have enough to eat.
“This drought and famine has destroyed my family. How can this be happening in today’s world?”
Loripo invited us into his new “home”. It is made of twigs and sticks.
There he told us he used to be the head of a happy and healthy family but the drought had killed all of his 40 goats, 20 cows and six donkeys.
His friend Jackson Namulen, 54, lost his two wives, which is allowed under Kenya culture.
Echankan, 46 and Kobie, 49, both passed away within three months of each other.
He said: “They both died of hunger. They died of hunger in a country like Kenya.
“I had to bury them both in the ground.
“I feel very emotional about it. My life will never be the same again.”