Children of Somalia's famine flood hospital

(CBS News) 

DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP, Kenya - U.S. officials are warning that hundreds of thousands of children face death from starvation and thirst. The people at the world's largest refugee camp have survived a journey that has taken weeks or even months.

They brought their families through the desert, carried the children, left those who died, and willed themselves through the pain of hunger. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley reports a quarter-inch of wire was all that stood between them and survival.

Abdey Adan said she'd been waiting four days to get into the overwhelmed Dadaab Camp. Adan left Somalia on foot with five children 22 days ago. She said two of her children, ages four and two died "because there was no water there was no food."

How to help

The fence catches broken pieces of families. Mahmood is 15 and alone. His mother, still in Somalia, sent him to the camps because she couldn't feed him. The U.N. tells us more than three and a half million are in danger of starvation.

Complete Coverage: East Africa Famine

Once they're called through the wire they're registered, tagged and examined. If their arms are determined to be too slender for their age, the children are sent to something called the stabilization center.

The hospital for the children of the famine is run by New York-based humanitarian relief organization the International Rescue Committee.

According to Humphrey Musyoka, the IRC's doctor here, the hospital is set up for 20 patients. "We are currently holding 28 as you can see we have more beds in the corridors."

Musyoka told us the treatment is often simple - fortified milk or nutrition through a feeding tube.

"These children that we've seen in the hospital that look so critical, you can save them," Pelley said.

"All of them are generally salvageable cases," Musyoka replied. "I think our biggest challenge has been the late arrivals and at that particular point there is only so much you can do."

By late arrivals he means kids who have been without food for 30 days or more. He loses one or two of them a week. Its estimated 29,000 children under the age of five have died in the famine already.

Here, mothers or grandmothers lie all day with children who have wasted to the minimum that life requires. The sickest child was Hammad. He's six months old. His mother, Abdia Ali, told us there is no hope for him but God.

Hawa Hassan fled the famine and walked 21 days in the desert with 11 children - five of her own and six others. She told us her girl is getting better. Her name is Faiza - which means "victory."

"I wonder, after hearing the stories of what these people have been through, as a medical doctor, are you surprised," Pelley asked.

"Very much, Musyoka replied. "I think what I have seen here is the resilience of the human body and the capacity to take that kind of battering in terms of hunger and still be able to make it. I regard that as a miracle."

[cmixxx]

President Obama promised 100M in U.S. aide yesterday...some have suggested sending condoms vs. money/aide. The problem is the children can not eat condoms. To those who say the women should practice abstainance; who says the women are being impregnated by choice.

[Eishan88]

We have been supporting these people for decades and you would think that they would be able to better themselves by now. They need to stop breeding like rabbits and take responsibility for themselves or join the dinosaurs. We have bigger problems in our own country. I would much rather see how we are helping our own that have lost their jobs and been evicted from their forclosed homes than this same old sob story. Oh, but wait, nobody cares about Americans because there's no money to be made from it. CBS is just perpetuating the propaganda machine created by unicef and these other supposed hunger organizations. You are being screwed people!!! When will you wake up and realize it?

[Jaylah54]

Oh yes, I'm sure they're 100% responsible for the 4-year drought that hit their country.

Actually, there's some pretty good scientific proof that says that climate change may be what's behind the endless drought in their country. And guess which nation is contributing to all the CO2 in our atmosphere the most? That's right. The country you live in a$$hole.

You need to be neutered. You're polluting the human gene pool.

[wpmtc]

What a cruel statement. Have some compassion.
Noone deserves to starve to death. They need our help - how can we stand by and watch children waste away and die?

[ak1145]

If you see anything wrong with people donating a little bit of money to help these children who are dying by the second, than leave. Your cruel comments only make generous people want to donate more because we fear that we may be the only ones who care. No one is forcing you to donate, watch the news stories, or follow this online. It's a pretty amazing thing to have the freedom we do in America... so use it and go.

[Jaylah54]

danielbeatya and littleredtop, please move (immediately) to another country (after you've been neutered to prevent any futher pollution to the world's genetic pool) as true Americans don't want you running around acting like you're one of us.

[Jaylah54]

Just imagine if we were to give the billions of dollars we've been giving Pakistan every year (to buy weapons that are ultimately used against us) to feed people in drought-and-famine stricken countries? How would the world-opinion of the US be different?

We spend billions of dollars EVERY DAY in Afghanistan and Iraq to "win the hearts and minds" of folks in those countries. How many more hearts and minds might we win if we were drilling wells and building schools instead of attempting to bomb their countries into oblivion?

How many Somali pirates would be highjacking ships off the coast of that country if the majority of the population wasn't starving and looking for ANY way to make a buck to feed their children?

[gatovato]

I'm really grateful that CBS news is devoting resources to showing the famine. We're donating to Unicef to help those poor people.

[littleredtop]

The grossly exaggerated reports that we're now seeing are pure advertizing hype intended to raise more money to fund the charities claiming to participate in Somalian relief. With 90 to 98 cents from every dollar going to cover overhead, including multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses, its going to take billions in contributions to make a dent. Speaking of which; I wonder what ever happened to the money earmarked for Haiti. Recent photos would indicate that not one dime ever made it over there. In the case of Haiti someone walked with nearly $10 billion. If we really want to stop future disasters of this kind we have to prevent those people from reproducing.

[warsux]

Funny, why aren't we providing them with freedom and healthcare? Oh right. They dont have oil.