‘It is truly harrowing’

An Irish team which included Cork’s Donncha O’Callaghan spent a week in Somalian camps observing what may be one of the world’s first climate change-induced famines.

These devastating droughts have caused heart-breaking scenes, which were witnessed by Donncha and the team.

The Unicef ambassador told how streams of desperate people are walking up to 100km to reach aid camps – but some mothers have been found sitting by the gravesides of children who did not make it.

The Cork man, who visited 3 camps for displaced people in the Dollow region, said: “It is truly harrowing. It has taken me days at home to finds the words for how I feel.”

Unicef estimates Somalia’s first famine since 2011 could be declared within weeks and already more than 7 million Somalis have been affected by drought.

He said: “I’ve never seen anything like the camps in Somalia. It is not just one case. It is hundreds. It is thousands. I met mothers and you could see they were starving and weak when they arrived. The look in the eyes of the kids left me speechless. When you see a child suffering from hunger so close up, it really shakes you to the core.”

Unexpectedly, when rain arrives, it also presents a lethal danger to children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a scenario witnessed by O’Callaghan.

He explained: “On one of the days, we had a brief shower of rain. You could see the delight and relief in the children’s faces. However, we later heard from the Unicef team that when a child is malnourished, being outside in the rain, when their system is weak, can actually put their life at risk from hypothermia. Where we were in Somalia, some of the locals called it death rain.

“Famine is not new to us in Ireland and we need to be there for the children of Somalia now amid the dangers they face, so we’re asking anyone in a position to support the relief effort to do so at unicef.ie,” Donncha added.

Unicef Ireland Executive Director, Peter Power, told how the “needless deaths” of children demands a response: “The scale of this drought and the devastation it is wreaking on children, must demand that we do more to tackle climate change,” he said.

“If declared, this will be a famine fuelled in large part by climate change. But already children are dying. They are dying because of the excesses and lifestyles of others far from their home.

"Children in Somalia are the early casualties of a potentially global disaster. It is not of their making, and it is our duty to do more and stand by their side.”

You can help Unicef's relief effort at unicef.ie.