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 do little to help us. and i'm advocating to those in power 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 — it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve. gentle guitar music plays. speaks swahili.

0h, 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, so you can only push your body far for a good number of days before you need to really rest. now, he's telling people, "this guy has sickle cell," and they don't even know i have sickle cell. i've been raising awareness about the devastating impact of sickle cell on patients and families for years. ..some of us have not accepted sickle cell... ..subscribe and... we'll have this conversation again. thank you! i try to help my fellow survivors. fresh, green leafy vegetables for people living with sickle

cell, like myself. and advocate 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 health and support infrastructure to be able to manage their disease. when i was younger, i never knew what sickle cell was. ijust 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's at my side again and 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're 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 — to physically show that i can "— 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, very upset. she was like, "no! no! "sickle cell patients have this thing of saying "they can do this. "you cannot do a marathon. lea, please! "you cannot." so, of course i can. of course i can.

and i will, so... yeah, 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. i want to do these things that i want to do. i want to see where my body can — can — can stretch to, yeah? without snapping, of course. for my training, i'm going back to my home town, taveta. 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. ijoin 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 that i saw who did not feel the shame or the stigma of sickle cell. all sing.

i know how destructive the myths surrounding sickle cell can be, especially in rural areas. a lot of communities, we attribute sickle cell to ancestral curses, witchcraft. this is — ok, this is a situation for any unknown thing in the community. people form their own stories around them.

so, i had to go and tell people that sickle cell is — is not witchcraft. it's not — 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 $1 a day or $2 a day will not sacrifice the meal of their home to buy this expensive medicine. it's either the meal or the medicine.

i'm 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 i ran 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 — like, 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 magdalein succumbed to sickle cell. the sister who i lost,

i never met her. she died before i was born. death's on the way — sickle cell and just the way we live in our house, how it affected my parents, my sisters. i could say that that created, like, a 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 my 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 neuroretinopathy or, like, something just obstructs somewhere and it'lljust collapse, and, yeah...

as the day approaches, i'm excited and determined. emcee: ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to welcome you to the 2018 nairobi standard chartered international marathon! i'm feeling good at the starting line. the adrenaline kicks in and i'm all set. cheering and applause starter's gun fires cheering and applause continues after 2km, my body starts to give out. the sun is so hot, my breathing becomes laboured.

ifeel like i'm chained 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've cost me my life. but it showed me that once i set my mind on something, there's nothing on earth that can stop me. i head back to taveta with an renewed energy! i'm determined to get sickle cell patients and families the support they deserve. and i decide to confront our member of county assembly.

the governor promises his support and i speak to as many officials as i can, hoping to drum up support for a specialist centre. thank you so much, mama.

finally, after years of advocating, a special clinic for sickle cell patients in taveta is unveiled. all the battles, all the obstacles — finally, we are here. having a sickle cell clinic in taita—taveta is not easily done. having you of all come together for the entire country is not a force to joke with and... applause having passed through this trouble with us, now fearless, these people here show me that we are not alone, i am not alone, we are 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. 0k? thank you so much. applause 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 not a marathon. it is — it is not the one who — who is the — who is the winner, who runs the farthest or who runs the fastest will win.

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 — you know, will have it easier and be able to take it even further. it's a beautiful morning in taveta, kenya, and we are doing 10km to holili with my mum — she's right ahead, she's a rummer — and, yes, so we'll be doing ten, ten, so 20km today, so i'm so excited, guys! look at that sunrise!

so, it has been a rainy experience. chuckles we are all wet! wet! 0ur brother here, it's like he was dipped in water! in a swimming pool! 0h! neverfelt so much rain in my life, and that was an amazing experience! and, yeah, so tired. we've just finally finished 10km. now, we are doing ten more.

hello there. the first week of september is looking a lot more summery than what we had throughout most ofjuly and indeed august. this weekend, high pressure is building in. it will turn drier and sunnier and warmer across the board. however, there will be a fly in the ointment that comes with this area of low pressure in its weather from which will push close to the north—west of scotland at times, certainly on sunday. but high pressure is building in — it's killing off the showers, the clouds. early on saturday we should see any rain fizzling out, but there will be a legacy of clouds and mist and fog, particularly across central southern england, wales, northern ireland. here it's going to be mild, but again, the north—east corner of scotland will be quite chilly with temperatures in low single digits. so we start off, plenty of sunshine in the north. further south, mist and fog through the morning which will tend to lift and burn.

into the afternoon, could see the odd isolated shower developing, but most places will stay dry and it'll feel a lot warmer for most — low to mid 20s across the board. as we head through saturday night again we'll see the mist and fog develop pretty much anywhere but especially across parts of england and wales. gradually, this weather front will start to push into the north—west of scotland to bring stronger winds, outbreaks of rain. a much milder night to come across north—east scotland, 13 degrees for aberdeen. and elsewhere, temperatures will be in double figures. sunday high pressure still with us, but this weather front will be influencing the weather across north—west scotland. so for the highlands and islands, it'll be quite cloudy, breezy with outbreaks of rain here. but southern and eastern scotland, northern ireland, england and wales, once any early mist and fog clears away, then it'll be a lovely, sunny, dry day. light winds for most quite gusty, though, for the north—west of scotland. temperature wise, for the highlands and islands, 15 to 17 degrees.

but the rest of scotland, northern ireland, england and wales, it's the low to mid 20s. as we head into monday we hold on to this wetter, cloudier, breezier weather across north—west scotland. but the rest of scotland, northern ireland, england and wales again, once any morning mist and fog clears away, it'll be dry, sunny and very warm with temperatures ranging from 22 to 26 celsius. much warmer there for eastern scotland, too. and we hold on to those temperatures mid to maybe high 20s for england and wales. could see close to 30 degrees in one or two spots, otherwise they'll be turning more unsettled by the end of the week.

live from washington, this is bbc news. this month, children across the globe are headed back to school. but it doesn't come without mounting challenges for both students and teachers. hello, i'm caitriona perry, and you're very welcome. the school year is already off to a rough start for some.

in england, more than 100 schools were ordered to close thursday due to concerns they were built using unsafe concrete. the concrete which was used between the 1950s and mid—1990s is prone to failures and crumbling. concerns about the concrete had been known for years. the uk's education department said it would work with affected schools on "individual solutions." two schools in the us state of kentucky announced they had to close for in—person classes this week, due to a rise in illnesses among staff and students. school officials said the drop—off in attendance was due to a mixture of viruses including covid—19 and influenza. hundreds of millions of students across the globe are returning to the classroom. but instead of concerns about making friends or getting the best marks — some are dealing with crumbling school buildings, an increase in school violence, a shocking rise in depression and anxiety among children, along with disputes over what can actually be taught.

over this next half hour special we will take a closer