WE ARE DYING

Desperate drought victims in plea for help. Red Cross: Worst crisis so far

- ANDY LINES

SOROBI Lesurmaat starving son Paulo and tells of her fears for him as they try to survive on just rice and maize.

Weak from hunger herself, the 45-year-old has to work making charcoal as soon as the day breaks, with the one-year-old on her back.

Sorobi's harrowing story is just one of many across East Africa as the region suffers its worst drought since the 1984 one that sparked the worldwide Live Aid relief appeal.

One person is dying every 30 seconds as climate change has left the area without a rainy season for six years. It is also killing the animals they rely on for food or to sell.

The United Nations has yet to formally declare an official famine, which means the killer drought is not getting the attention it should.

But everyone on the ground is desperately crying out for help.

And the Red Cross said: "The crisis is a catastrophic, deadly emergency on a scale we haven't seen in recent history. Right now, more than 140 million people are without food."

I meet Sorobi in northern Kenyan village Lengesaka, near the town of Baragoi. She said: "I'm very worried about my son.

He has been severely malnourished.

I'm very weak. As soon as the sun rises I head out to make charcoal.

"I have the baby on my back. It's hard work. I have one meal a day.

I'm so hungry. We have no meat, no milk, just rice and maize. This is terrible. It's the worst I've ever seen.

"We used to have seven cows and 40 goats. The drought has killed them all." Sorobi's situation is all too familiar here. Rantilei doesn't know her real age but said she is "around 90". Four of her sons are dead through drought.