tunnelling near key sites. those are the top stories this error. —— this hour. now on bbc news... africa eye — sickle cell: the enemy within. my name is lea. i may look like a normal twentysomething... ..but my life is often consumed by illness.

approximately 1000 people are born every day in africa with sickle cell. i have sickle cell disease. up to 90% of us die before the age of five. 0ur government did little to help us. and i'm advocating to those empowered to change that. even in our own communities, people with sickle cell are often treated like outcasts because of misconception and stigma surrounding the disease. i'm putting my life on the line to fight this deadly disease.

and to dispel the myths that surround it. sickle cell is not witchcraft. it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve. gentle guitar music plays. damn! the abnormal sickle shaped red blood cells in my body affect my oxygen levels. one of the biggest problems with sickle cell is oxygen. like, if you don't have sufficient oxygen, you can only push your body for a good number of days before

you need to rest. i was telling people this guy has sickle cell. i've been raising awareness about the devastating impact of sickle cell on patients and families for years. we will have this conversation again. thank you. i try to help my fellow survivors. fresh vegetables for people with sickle cell like myself. and advocates to the authorities to act. it's also a way for the government, the ministry, to see that these people are a forgotten demographic in this country and they need to set up help and support infrastructure to be able to manage their disease. when i was younger, i never knew what sickle cell was.

i just knew like sometimes, my sisters would just wake up in pain at night. throughout my battle with sickle cell, my brother paul has always been my rock. now, he is at my side again as i take on my biggest challenge yet. with my brother's help, i plan to fight through my illness and run the nairobi half marathon.

when it comes to sickle cell, they are encouraged against getting tired. i also knew that when she bites into something, she doesn't let go. the marathon idea came — came into my mind when i was like, "i need to do something. "i need to do something to physically show that "i can do "i can do "it, like, someone with sickle cell can do it." my doctor has cautioned against running the marathon. it could trigger a crisis and bring on severe complications. but i'm determined to do it. notjust for me.

80 million of us suffer with this disease across africa. we have to believe. the other day, i was telling one of my sickle cell advocates in nigeria that i am doing the marathon and she was like, she was like, she was very upset. she was like, "no. "no, sickle cell patients have this thing of saying they can do this. "you cannot do a marathon. "please, no, you cannot." of course i can. and i will, so... i want to do that. not to show her because yes, i have a chip on my shoulder, but i want to live a normal life and want to do these things that i want to do and i want to see these things that my body can stretch to without snapping, of course.

for my training, i'm going back to my hometown. it's also the place where i think i can make the biggest difference for thousands of people living with the disease. in taveta, almost a quarter of the population have the sickle cell gene. but those living with the disease receive very little support. ijoined a local group as they prepare to march on a nearby hospital. and demand better services for sickle cell patients.

we go to the local hospital to protest.

albert is the leader of this group. like so many other parents of children with sickle cell, he has suffered from the stigma and poverty that surrounds the disease but he is determined to find a solution. singing. albert was one of the first people i met and he was one of the few who spoke to me. like, the passion — like, this was one of the parents i saw who did not feel the shame or the stigma of sickle cell.

i know how destructive sickle cell can be, especially in rural areas. a lot of communities, we actually link sickle cell with ancestral curses, witchcraft. this is ok, this is people forming their own stories around them. so i had to go and tell people that sickle cell is not witchcraft. it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve. but slowly, things are beginning to change. i organised a meeting, hoping the community might come out.

i needn't have worried. with the community behind us, albert and i decide to join forces and up our game.

albert and i scour the community. finding more and more people that

have sickle cell in their families. many of them in dire need of medicine. i soon realised the true scale of the problem. and how desperately the people in taveta need access to quality, affordable care. majority of people who earn less than a dollar a day or $2 a day will not sacrifice their meal or their home to buy this expensive medicine. it's either the meal or the medicine. i am getting my community to help it needs. but it is tiring work and the marathon is only four weeks away. so this is the tavern. today i was able to run but only for approximately 20 seconds,

and had to stop, take a breath, relax, walk, then run again for 20 seconds, and yeah, it was... it showed how unfit i am, i am extremely unfit, but i am working on that. my family has always been there to help me through my most difficult times, but they too have their challenges. all my sisters have sickle cell. my oldest sister succumbed to sickle cell. magdalena.

the sister who i lost, i never met her. she died before i was born. this is the way, sickle cell is just the way we live. it affected my parents, my sisters, i could see that kind of environment.

sickle cell has made me and my family stronger. but as i prepare for the marathon, the warnings from my doctor keep playing on my mind. the doctors disagree with me about what i am doing the marathon, essentially i will be reducing the oxygen circulating to my body, the functionality of my organs, and risking things like strokes, or something is obstructed somewhere and ijust collapse, and yeah... as the day approaches i'm excited and determined. ladies and gentlemen, i'd like to welcome you to the 2018 nairobi international marathon! i'm feeling good at the starting line.

the adrenaline kicks in and i'm all set. cheering. after two kilometres, my body starts to give out. the sun is so hot, my breathing becomes laboured. ifeel like i have changed to a boiler. man, i have to keep going. my brother and friend both rush to support me, but i can't give up now. i have to reach the end.

i tapped into my energy deep down. and somehow managed to push through. but as i crossed the finish line, my body simply gave out. i felt faint, ijust could not catch my breath, this was everything my doctor and friends had warned me about. the end of the marathon was scary, and could have cost me my life.

but it showed me that once i set my mind on something, there is nothing on earth that can stop me. i head back to taveta with renewed energy. i am determined to get sickle cell patients and families the support they deserve, and i decide to confront a member of county assembly. the governor promises his support and i speak to as many officials

as i can, hoping to drum up support what is your mission? finally, after years of advocating, a special clinic for sickle cell patients is unveiled. all the battles, all the obstacles, finally we are here.

how many sickle cell clinics are in taveta, and having you all come together for the entire country is not a force to joke with. having passed through this trouble, these people here showed me that we're not alone. i am not alone, not walking alone, we are creating this path, however long it will take, however hard the struggle, the lives lost, maybe some of us will not be here to see the future but we must walk. thank you so much.

for me, this new clinic isjust the beginning of my mission to improve the lives of all sickle cell patients and families, notjust in kenya, but all over africa. we're just getting started, this is a marathon. it is not the one who is the winner who runs the furthest, or who runs the fastest will be in, this is a relay race, and me, i know that i realise that this problem, i will not solve its entirety in my lifetime, and the person coming after me will be, will have it easier and be able to take it even further. it's a beautiful morning in taveta,

kenya, and we are doing ten kilometres with my mum, she is running ahead, so we will be doing ten, ten, so 20 kilometres today, and i'm so excited! look at that sunrise! it has been a rainy experience, we are all wet! my my brother here is like he was dipped in water. neverfelt so much rain in my life, and that was an amazing experience!

so tired, we have just finally finished ten kilometres, and now we are doing ten more. hello. it has not been too bad a weekend across seven parts, mostly dry with seven spells, but cooler.

much cooler and fresher further north, windy with outbreaks of rain. that is how the week will remain, cool and fresh with wet and windy spells but towards the end of the week it could worm for a time, especially across the south. low pressure across scandinavia, bringing arctic winds down, you can see the yellows and even the and blues indicating temperatures will remain below par for the time of year. although most of the showers will fade away there will be some across northern and western areas, northern scotland states windy with outbreaks of rain and thicker cloud. this could be a bit lower still across rural places. a fresh start to monday, good spells of sunshine across england and wales but there will be thicker cloud and showery bursts of rain to wales and much of england. the northern half of scotland stays quite cloudy and breezy. quite a messy picture and a

cool feel two things, mid to high teens across the north, high teens, just about 20, in the south—east. this could impact the south—east and affect the first day of wimbledon with temperatures reaching highs of 18 to 20 degrees and sunshine that the chance of showers increasing later in the day. through monday night further showery rain pushes across the south, the weather front will continue to bring further rain for the northern half of scotland and temperatures on the cool side for the time of year. another messy picture into tuesday, bruce weather front will bring wet weather to the south of the country, it will lie across scotland and northern ireland —— though weather front will bring. showery bursts of rain, some heavy across south wales and south—west england. the winds were the strongest across the south of the country so it will feel pretty cool for the time of year, 13 to 19

across the south. factor in the wind and the rain, feeling cooler. unsettled through the week even into next weekend but there is a chance of that warming up for a time across the south into the southerly winds.

live from london, this is bbc news. president macron is meeting ministers to discuss the unrest. extra police are expected to be deployed nationwide once again. a warning from nhs england — patients are paying the price for strike action and the disruption could get worse. hello, welcome to the programme. the relative of the teenager shot dead by french police after being stopped in a car has told the bbc the family did not want hate or riots, but that the law around the use of lethal force at such stops must change. president macron has called

an urgent government meeting tonight after the shooting led to five nights of