to kenya was huge. defined him and defined his ambitions. lastly, both of them had in common and absent parent. which i think is quite profound certainly for a bomb at jr., the president. he has written about his father and his struggles with identity and what did it mean to not have a father. what did it mean to have this particular father was very important to him. obama sr. was abandoned by his mother when he was nine or 10 years old. she fled from hussein who was quite abusive. and i tell the story if you would like to hear. i feel it is a very defining moment. hussein and young guy was cruel to his multiple wives of which he had a number and one day he threatened to kill his wife, the mother of obama sr.. he takes out his huge sword and he dugger graves out behind their home and he starts to slit her throat and a neighbor comes by and says you can do this. this is also told to me by one of their daughters. and she is so afraid of so tired of being abused that she decides to leave. so one night she

combine never went to kenya, didn't have that piece of the story. we decided this was a very compelling story, very little known about him. obama jr. wrote about him in his book but he only goes so far and tells what his experience at his father it seemed this was a book that needed to be written. >> host: in the process of working on the book he said he went to kenya and you describe that in the book itself. tell us a little of what i was like. did you get a lot of access to people, was there suspicion of an outsider for a racial dimension talking about an african family? >> sure. all of those were true. i went to kenya five times and found many wonderful people who helped me who knew obama senior many well. many family members. some people were eager to talk because this was such a high-profile presidency they were proud of obama jr they wanted to tell a positive story. obama sr. is a complex character as you know since you read the book. a very passionate person, also very self-destructive. because of that there were people who didn't want the st

he was always waiting to go back to kenya. he did care enough about her to marry her but he also told her i have to marry a candid woman back there and have these cold-blooded children. i think in his way he was discouraging hurt and abercrombie observed she had her on ambitions she did not want to go to kenya because she knew she would be in second place she had her own career. they come together for a few months and then began to part and have some rough third favor not even living together when he was born. >> host: then she was 18. went to the grandparents come into the picture? >> guest: they were part of the picture from a number one. i think they were somewhat anxious but they took this in stride when she came back married in were 100% president. i interviewed family members about her putting the baby up for adoption and she was deeply committed as were her parents and they were a team. >> host: a lot has been made of the white grandmother and grandfather from kansas but they moved around. >> guest: texas, seattle texas

he just returned from a refugee camp in kenya. i began by asking him what is most urgently needed. >> this is an emergency situation. we have a massive influx of new arrivals in the camps. first, they need water. they need food. they need sanitation. we need to prevent outbreaks of diarrhea, for example. the second step is what we are currently planning is emergency education, so that children can go to school and do not waste their time, so they can learn something. of course, the biggest problem is that there is basically no perspective for the people living there. the cannot go to kenya. they cannot go to niobe. due to the security situation and their government in somalia, they cannot go back to somalia. they are stuck in the camps for almost more than 20 years. >> this situation sounds much worse in somalia. with the aid flight be enough to help pple there? "aid flights will help. that is for sure. the problem is how to target beneficiaries. it is very difficult for a organizations to work in south somalia due to the security

>>kenya is now a country connected. >>an astounding 99% of the internet traffic in kenya is done through mobile operators. >>there are 22 million mobile subscribers and although only 15% have mobile internet, en the humble text message is having a dramaticeffect. >>if i want to maybe get the raw materials or maybe manure i can order them via my phone and i'll get them supplied. i can also pay whatever i have purchased, if it is the fertilisers, or the pesticides all of them. >>reporter: 31 million kenyans have no bank account, so the ability to buy and sell goods in even the most remote are through person-to-person sms money transfers has made a huge difference to theirlives. >>and it's something even providers didn't anticipate. >>when mpesa was first launched in safaricom it was going to be positioned as a value-added service so it was never really supposed to obtain any major revenues or, you know, even contribute to the bottom line but the way it's grown it's now become quite an important factor. >>reporter: so far

the world is being asked to help kenya.ueen elizabeth has paid tribute to the code breakers who worked at let me park in england during world war ii. they cracked the german code. >> there were some of the darkest days of the second world war, but britain's survival was in the balance. out in the a plan to, and -- in the atlantic on shipping convoys were bringing the supplies and munitions, but they were being sought by german submarines. it off heather's nottie germany threatening to win. this is blechly park. seven years ago, these were some of britain's most vital establishments. it was here that they broke the code of the german military. the most brilliant mathematician, crossword lynn was and others were brought together. -- crossword linguists and others were brought together. the british built this to help break the code. it was called colossus. it is generally considered to be the world's first computer. with its coats, which had taken the codebreakers six days to crack by hand, it could not happen in a matter of h

one out of three a riding in kenya is acutely malnourished. unfortunately, in somalia we have significant challenges in providing humanitarian assistance primarily in the south and central parts due to the presence of armed groups especially al-shabaab which is a u.s. decimated foreign terrorist organization. the general insecurity and lawlessness prevents aid workers from reliably reaching more than 60% of the people in somalia primarily in the south. in january, 2010, the world food program suspended the operation in southern somalia because of threats and an accepted conditions created by these armed groups particularly al-shabaab. many other international and ngos are also unable to operate safely in southern somalia, and this lack of access created a severe and they did humanitarian crisis and contributed to the significant outflow of refugees. in order to deliver assistance to these areas where possible, we developed a risk mitigation strategy with an emphasis on assuring our assistance most in need. we have put into place basic risk mit

many more continue to cross each kenya -- east kenya in hopes of reaching the camp complex. >> i spent on the road with my 12 children. thank god we made it. i have just been given a tent by an organization here. >> additional emergency shelters are being set up around the main facilities. the main camps are terribly overcrowded. the kenyan government finally yielded to international pressure and opened a third can -- camp. kenyans have also fled to the camps. some city government in nairobi could do more. >> [inaudible] i would like the government at possible to bring in a relief group. [inaudible] >> complications at the customs office in kenya have also delayed the airlift to mogadishu. united nations officials say the bureaucratic issues have now been resolved. >> i spoke with our correspondent in nairobi. he has been covering the famine and the relief efforts. i asked him about the difficulty of distributing food to people on the ground in mogadishu. >> we talk to the people of the world food program today, and they told us it was actually no problem for them to distribute the loa

i want to show you a headline in the standard, a major paper in kenya, it says shame of kenya, a national embarrassment. what the local media is going on in a big way, they say hunger in this region could have been avo avoided, not just in somalia but the region as a whole. in many ways this is a man-made famine. children like noria are the face of this famine. she struggled for days to escape somalia and hunger. it's a hunger blamed on drought, a land parched of water and food. the reality is more complex. >> is this a man-made crisis? >> yes, to a large extent. it's been -- the crisis has been caused by the poor raines. we've had two successive poor rains across the region but to a large extent that's also exacerbated by poor policies. >> reporter: most obviously in somalia where al shabab has flip-flopped to feed starving people but also in the other end of the region, where food is always around, consumers struggle to support it. the high prices affecting retailers when they buy bulk they have to pay almost double because of the high fuel prices and the high food prices. so when peopl

students and laboratory assistants from kenya and nairobi. they're hoping that they will be able to help the entire region. >> it is rational to fight the diseases where they occur then go somewhere else. the institute has the basic equipment it needs. >> the team also hopes to lay the groundwork for similar tests for diseases affecting animals in europe. german and european researchers can also profit from the research done in kenya. >> thank you so much for joining us. hi, i'm janice edwards, inviting you to join us for bay area vista. as you probably know, bay area vista is your show. we're talking about your community, talking about what's important to all of us, here in the bay area. i always thank you for the great job that you do in our bay area. so, that's what tuesdays at 6:30(pm), here on kcsm, are all about. please join us then.

this village is typical of many communities in this part of rural northeastern kenya.y rely on livestock for every thing. if the animals are sold, income. normally this area would be teeming with cattle and goats. as you can see, it is completely empty. dusty roads twist through a land that has not seen rain in close to three years. we found an outreach clinic in one village. they are hot, tired, and underfed. >> is severely malnourished. >> with the right food supplements, he and others can survive. >> already the generosity of the british public means we're saving children's lives. we can also address the underlying causes. we can help the community rebuild their lives, restock animals. we can make sure they managed to harvest the water and rebuild the reservoirs' when the rain comes. >> this baby was. it just 20 days old. the sticks are to stop the hyenas from digging up the body. it is not too late to help others if the world acts together. >> a woman has spent her career stumping us all. you may not know her name, but if you do cross words, if you have probably pi

students and laboratory assistants from kenya and nairobi. they're hoping that they will be able to help the entire region. >> it is rational to fight the diseases where they occur then go somewhere else. the institute has the basic equipment it needs. >> the team also hopes to lay the groundwork for similar tests for diseases affecting animals in europe. german and european researchers can also profit from the research done in kenya. >> thank you so much for joining us. ow! of course. thank you. i'd call her honeydew goodbody, not lisa. the very fact that she is called lisa proves that she exists.

nbc news on the kenya-somalia border. >> what's sadly common about this is that it's been going on for some time, but the world is just taking note, and before long there will be camera crews and journalists there. we'll continue to cover this story in the coming days, and we know a lot of our generous viewers will want to help the people in the horn of africa. there is a list of charities who are doing just that on our website tonight, that's nightly.msnbc.com. >>> in washington tonight, the clock keeps ticking away towards the treasury department deadline on the debt ceiling, and as far as progress towards a solution is concerned, the situation remains, as they say, fluid. next's kelly o'donnell watching it all with us tonight. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: hi there, brian. well, there was a hurry up and get here phone call from the white house to democratic leaders here in congress late today with less than an hour's notice to meet with the president. now this came after a day of anxiety and griping with democrats worried that the president might be about to strike a deal with s

more than 300,000 people have walked days to get to the refugee camp in kenya. ben brown has been there for a week. >> among the refugees at this camp, there are hundreds of lost children and orphans. some got separated from their families on the long walk from somalia. others, like abdi and his sister, no longer have parents. their father died in somalia's civil war. last month, their mother was killed as well. >> it is better here. back in somalia, there was war. we have no relatives there, so we fled here. we now have a foster mother to look after us. >> in the camp hospital, these children have parents, but little else. drought and war mean their bodies have been horribly weakened by malnutrition. by the time they reach this clinic, it can be too late. the doctors in this clinic are working frantically to save as many lives as they can. too often, they have to register the names of their patience in this, the "death book." inside, the names of the children who have died recently are registered by date. on some days, two or three children here have lost their

we have more from the border with kenya. >> this is a place where life hangs in the balance. every single day. this child is just six months of age, and now feverish. and this is another child, who is older and weaker. as well as malnutrition, he has diarrhea and a chest infection, but if he dies, it will be the drought that kills him. july 2011, and once again, this part of that is cursed, teetering on the brink of disaster. one person is fighting a constant battle to save life year, and he does not always win. >> they come in very bad shape. sometimes the children just die, slipping away through your fingers, but we do not stop there. you have to look at the next one and tell a mother what has happened. you have done your best and go ahead to the next one. >> the drug is killing the livestock, too. the animals that for many are there only assets are simply dropping dead. to escape this drought, hungry, thirsty, desperate somalis are going to the refugee camps. already the biggest in the world, getting bigger all the time. 1000 new arrivals every day. united nations say this

many of the people affected across the border to the refugee camp in kenya. correspondent reports from there. >> and still they come. the weary exodus of somalia. 1500 a day every day arriving at this refugee camps in kenya. there are empty water containers. this two-year-old has diarrhea and a fever. she says she has been walking with him for three weeks. as the drought continues in somalia, the conditions of those escaping is much worse. that is putting extra pressure on the aid operation across the border. more are on the danger list at this hospital, and the numbers have doubled. this person is three. his mother died on the way here. >> they are struggling. the numbers change quickly. we are trying to mobilize resources and by more medical commodities. >> and where to house everyone? the camps are bursting. kenya does not want refugees to move into this permanent settlement and case they stay for good. thousands of these tents have been put up by the united nations. each family is here and these tents are filling up fast. showing me around is a young soma

it's a partnership with the government of kenya. and the main purpose is to improve the livelihood of people and the situation of people and the infrastructure of slums. so many institutions, small organizations or big organizations, go in there and do these small projects, but at the end the impact is very low. i mean, you need to go there with a big project, working together with the community, to have a big impact. now, the challenge is a lot of people need to be relocated. and the strategy to move people and to bring them back is still not clear. so i prefer not to-- you know, i can give you my opinion, but maybe it's better if i don't. you know, it's like this, when you work with people, it's not easy, never easy. you know, the infrastructure is the soft work. the hard work is dealing with people, is dealing with the governments, dealing with the communities, dealing with the all the institutions, all the interests. so it's dealing with people is, like, the hard work. >> ( translated ): can't you see the government is lying to

>> reporter: dan, good evening from kenya. and as you know, we've been reporting all week, on that long, perilous journey from somalia, to the refugee camps in kenya. for so many of those families, walking on foot, more than 100 miles, to get here. and what we discovered, that once they get to the camps, they're in for another excruciating wait. we pulled up shortly after daybreak. but could already see the line forming in the distance. refugees by the hundreds gathering in front of the large red gate, for the first food. we notice that emerging from the tinder dry desert, more families, finishing the punishing journey from somalia. a mother balancing all of her belongings and her baby, too. the camp has now swollen to 400,000 refugees, the population of cleveland, minneapolis. and not far off, fresh mounds of dirt. the nameless graves for the refugees that didn't survive. this mother just got here. we asked how long it's been since she and her children had anything to eat. six days. once they get through that gate, they wait

rohit kachroo is with us from kenya. a center of the refugee crisis.d evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the famine and the drought took another heavy toll today. not just here at the giant refugee camp, but among soldiers across the border in somalia trying to secure a safe route for aide workers. a sign of the dangers facing those trying to help the desperate. five brothers and sisters, together yet very alone, with a father feared dead and a mother they'll probably never see again. she sent them from somalia to kenya to seek refuge at dadaab, knowing that had they stayed, things might have been much worse. across the border in somalia, help is finally getting in. aid flights were received in mogadishu with gratitude. >> there's quite a lot -- a total of 100 tons of this special ready to use food. 80 of it for mogadishu. >> reporter: but that's nowhere near enough. today government troops advanced on fighters from the militant group al shabab. it has blocked foreign help from getting to the neediest areas. six people were killed in a gun batt

kenya, one of the poorest parts of the country.he landscape is parched. the lives of these people are affected by drought. in one hospital, we found three -- this three-month old. she weighs barely more than a bag of sugar, less than half the weight of a healthy newborn child care in malnourished mother was week. my daughter is alive now, she told me. but i have to worry about when i have to take for home. in the bed opposite, another mother is consumed by malnutrition. she gave birth just before we arrived at the hospital. she is breathing. her son was buried an hour ago. she clings to life. she is a source of pride and worry for her father. later, he took us to his village and explained how the drought has taken lives. all of our animals are dead. there is no grazing pasture, he says, because there is no rain. so we have nothing. a short walk away, passing animal carcasses baking in the sun. this is so typical in committees in rural northeastern kenya who relied on livestock for everyone, formal, for food. -- for milk, for food.

our correspondent has been traveling through some of the worst affected area from north eastern kenya from where he reports. >> this is north eastern kenya, one of the poorest part of the country, the landscape parched, the lives of its people blighted by drought. in one hospital in the district of hobaswain we found three-month old umi. she weighs barely less than a bag of sugar. less than the weight of a healthy children. umi was weak at birth. >> my daughter is alive now, she told me. but i worry about when i have to take her home. we have so little. in the opposite, another mother consumed by malnutrition, she gave birth just before we arrived at the hospital, but she's grieving, her son was buried an hour ago. as zumi clings to life, she is a source of pride and worry for her father. later, he took us to his village and explained how the drought had wrecked lives. [speaking foreign language] >> all our animals are dead. there's no grazing pasture he said because there's no rain, so we have nothing. a short walk away, animal carcasses bake in the sun. >> this village is typical of

-- kenya completely empty? when it americans, the system as blood quantum helped them to identify their tribes. could be time for a change? welcome to our viewers on pbs in america. another day and a more a extraordinary revelations in the hacking scandal surrounding rupert murdoch's empire. a reporter tried to buy top secret information about the royal family from one of its protection officers. another murdoch paper, "the sunday times," was alleged to try to get personal information on gordon brown when he was prime minister. >> the head of state, the royal family, their security is the duty of the police. the integrity of those officers must surely be beyond a doubt. this morning, the news of the world e-mail uncovered recently contained evidence that they were paying the royal protection officers for private information about the royal family. it also emerged that the phones of prince charles and the duchess of cornwall might have been hacked. the former royal editor was requesting cash from the newspaper's

this has been particularly cruel to parts of kenya, somalia, ethiopia. more than 300,000 people have walked days to get to a refugee camp in kenya. our correspondent has been there all week and he reports for us tonight. >> among the refugees at this camp, there are hundreds of lost children and orphans. some got separated from their families on the long walk from somalia. others like these children, no longer have any parents. their father died in the civil war. their mother was killed last month. >> it is better here because back in somalia there was war. we have no relatives there so we fled here. we now have a foster mother to look after us. >> in the hospital, these children have parents but precious little else. drought and war mean that their bodies have been horribly weakened by malnutrition. by the time they reach this clinic, it can be too late. the doctors are working frantically to save as many lives as they can but too often, they have to register the names of the patients here in the clini's death book. the children who died have been enter

one in three are arriving in kenya is acutely malnourished. unfortunately in somalia, we have a significant challenges in providing humanitarian assistance. to to the presence of armed groups, especially, a u.s.- designated foreign terrorist organization. general insecurity and lawlessness prevents aids workers from reliably reaching more than 60% of the people in somalia that need assistance. in january 2010, the world food program suspended operations in southern somalia because of threats and an accepted conditions created by these groups. many other international and non-governmental organizations are unable to operate safely and this lack of access has created a severe unabated humanitarian crisis and contributed to be significant outflow of refugees. in order to deliver assistance to these areas, we have developed a risk mitigation strategy with an emphasis on assuring assistance reaches those most in need. we have put into place basic procedures and special conditions for our grant agreements and continue to work to ensure our programs

a triangle of hunger along the borders of somalia, kenya and ethiopia. the u.n. says more than 11 million people urgently need help. in somalia alone, tens of thousands may have already died from famine. nbc has traveled to the region and filed this report from a refugee camp in dadaab in northeast kenya. >> reporter: new graves are being dug in dadaab for those who made it here but made it too late. hunger and disease are killing many people, even within the camp. 1,000 new refugees arrived today. zana and her family were amongst them. with her uncle and two sick children, she's walked for 15 days from somalia. having made it to the edge of the camp, they struggle to find shelter, food and water. they seem helpless and they leave us to search the outskirts for a place to stay. dadaab is turning into a city. that's the fastest growing city in the world. and every few days on the outskirts, a new settlement springs up just like this one on land that was previously uninhabited. across the border in somalia, distributing food is difficult and dangerous. in the town

millions of people have walked nor days to get to a refugee camp in kenya. ben brown has this report. >> among the refugees of this camp, there are hundreds of lost children and orphans. some got separated from their families on the long walk from somalia. others, like abdi salam and his sister, isha, no longer have parents. their father died in somalia's civil war and last month their mother was killed as well. >> it's better here because back in somalia, there was war. we have no relatives there. so we fled here. we now have a foster mother to look after us. >> and the camp's hospital, these children have parents but precious little else. drought and war mean that their bodies have been horribly weakened by malnutrition. and by the time they reached this clinic, it can be too late. the doctors in this kline rick working frantically -- in this clinic are working frantically as they can but they have to register the names in this clinic death book and inside the names of the children who've died recently are registered by date. and on some days, two or even

rohit kachroo, nbc news, on the kenya/somalia border. >>> and a reminder for all those of you who wishhelp the people of east africa, we have a growing list of organizations doing just that. keeping it on our website nightly.msnbc.com. >>> on wall street, stocks fell and in the last hour of trading the dow finished down more than 91 points at the end of the day. >>> up next here tonight, the sad farewell today in london. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using sta

>> you know, i've been on the phone all day with colleagues here and in kenya. and there are things you can do. giving money is actually the most effective way to give support. and it doesn't take a lot to make a difference to people who arrive in these camps. if your big focus is on food, and that has to be the number one problem here, you can give money to the world food program. they're feeding people in these camps right now. if your focus is on medical support and people arriving with common infections and things like measles, you can give money to doctors without borders. and they're vaccinating, providing care, in the camps. and if you just want to make sure these camps survive, you can give money to the international rescue committee. they're working in the camp that we just saw. >> and you have vetted these organizations for the amount of money they send to the region and the amount they give to nd organizations? >> that's so important. you want to make sure they have low overhead. and these all do. these camps are doiningreat work. the problem's not go

in search of food, they have arrived at this refugee camp in kenya. mary robinson, the former irish president, would like the world to see the plight of this woman and the tens of thousands like her. >> i have never been able to get somalia out of my skin, if you like, since i was here in 1992. i look around and see that these are very resilient people. they just want food and water initially for their families. >> aid organizations said that thing should never have been allowed to get this bad. -- say that this should have never been allowed to get this bad. >> they have done about this for months. we have been working on this since last october. it is only now that it has reached a critical tipping point. >> aid groups say that a billion dollars is needed to avoid a catastrophe. so far, 1/5 has been made available. oxfam calls that willful negligence. this family has survived the arduous trek. many of the refugees that are right are so weakened by the attorneys that they can only watch them die. -- weakened by the journey that the aid workers can on

the food airlift was supposed to begin today to somalia and kenya. now it will fly on wednesday. 11 million people are threatened by famine, hundreds of thousands are waiting for food in camps all along the horn of africa. >> they keep on streaming into kenya even of the camp is bursting at the scenes. there are 400,000 people here and much more are arrive every day. many are in a desperate state. the international community is planning to deliver aid directly to somalia. >> we have to make every effort possible to bring help inside somalia both to prevent people from having to take the long walk to assistance across borders and then potentially create a refugee problem. also, because time is not our friend. >> the situation in somalia is dire. at this makeshift camp in mogadishu, the islamist rebels on not as strong here in the capital as in the south here. -- are not as strong here in the capital as in the south. here, there is fertile food, drinking water, or medicine. >> we have been displaced by a terrible drought. we need help. >> supplies need

it's estimated up to 1,500 people make that journey from somalia into kenya every day. the vast majority of whom are mothers and their children. and today, when we landed with the u.n., we discovered doctors, nurses, entire teams here, literally feeding the children back to life. we boarded the u.n. plane in nairobi, kenya, this morning. and the view out the window, the parched landscape. we were about to land where hundreds of thousands have already arrived, by foot. some walking more than 100 miles, barefoot in blistering heat, carrying their children to food and freedom. the dust couldn't hide the dire need here. but this is what they are walking to. hope for their children. can you see a difference, though? in some cases, you can see it almost immediately? >> oh, yeah, you can see within a day or two sometimes you see some of the children are sitting up. >> reporter: today, doctors without borders allowed our cameras into their intensive care unit. extraordinarily rare that it's actually raining right now as we walk through the hospital. and around the corner here a

the worst drought for 60 years has affected ethiopia, somalia, and kenya. we are in kenya on the largest refugee camp of its kind in the world. >> it is a place where life hangs in the balance. every single day. this is -- this baby is six months of age. she is malnourished and feverish. he is older and weaker, as well as managers in, he has diarrhea and a chest infection and. if he dies, it will be the drought that kills them. july 2011 and once again, this corner of africa is cursed. here on the -- teetering on the brink of disaster. they are fighting a constant battle to save lives here. he does not always win. >> you see life going through your fingers. you have to look at the next one. you have done your best, so you go ahead to the next time. >> the drought is killing people's livestock, too. the animals are dropping dead. to escape this drought, hungry, thirsty, desperate to are pouring in to the refugee camp. already the biggest in the world, and getting bigger all the time. a thousand new arrivals every day. the united nations say this is not a fan

she writes for several websites and she's one of ten selected by nonprofit one.org to go to kenya and moms handle raising kids in a developing nation. >> people are so honest and real and raw. >> for one week she'll follow kenya moms who are trying to raise their children while dealing with the the hardships of hunger and disease. >> i don't think anything can prepare you for seeing a child who hasn't, you know, eaten in a few days or he was suffering from a's or malaria. >> but amy is opening to see the other side, the help that kenya families are getting from u.s. government aid programs. >> we really want to help bring those stories alive and let other people know about the successes that are going on in africa. >> the goal, organizers say, is to motivate moms to reach out to their lawmakers about protecting the one percent of the federal budget that goes to those programs. >> that's vaccinating your kids against pneumonia and diarrhea. if they have diarrhea here you go to walgreens and buy some pedialite. in kenya, that can be a death sentence for them. >> for amy, she has to spen

nbc's rohit kachroo has the report tonight from nairobi, kenya, and a reminder that some of what youbout to see will be tough. rohit? >> reporter: lester, this crisis has been caused by years of civil war, months of dry weather, and every day it seems to get much worse. people around the world are trying to help, but today insurgents in somalia said that they would do their best to prevent them that help from getting through to those who need it the most. his name is ahmed, 8 months old and desperately ill at a camp near mogadishu. not far behind him, 1-year-old twins arrive, seriously malnourished. here it is the children who are most at risk. >> the mothers and the children. i'm not sure many of them will be alive in the next week or two. >> reporter: in somalia, a crisis made by nature has been made worse by man. the islamist militant group al shabab, which controls many of the worst affected areas, said today we'll continue to block foreign aid, claiming there is no famine, and calling the united nations' declaration to the contrary "pure propaganda." the wrenching images being s

she writes for several websites and she's one of ten selected by oneprofit.org to go to kenya and seeds in a develop nation. >> people are so honest and real and raw. >> for one week she'll follow kenya moms who are trying to raise their children while dealing with the the hardships of hunger and disease. >> i don't think anything can prepare you for seeing a child who hasn't, you know, eaten in a few days or he was suffering from a's or malaria. >> but amy is opening to see the other side, the help that kenya families are getting from u.s. government aid programs. >> we want to help bring those stories alive and let other people know about the successes that are going on in africa. >> the goal organizers say, is to motivate moms to reach out to their lawmakers about protecting the one percent of the federal budget that goes to those programs. >> that's kids against pneumonia and diarrhea. if they have diarrhea here you go to walgreens and buy some pedialite. in kenya, that can be a death sentence for them. >> for amy, she has to spend a week away from her own kids. >> i think it will

but here in northern kenya, it's part of a downward spiral.ins are becoming less frequent, the droughts more often. this is a chronic emergency. tony lake, the head of unicef, says we need to focus on the big picture. >> while there are a lot of lives that are endangered here, there's a way of life that's endangered here as well. >> reporter: it would seem to me this is an extremely vulnerable population when compared, say, with the world's population. how would you assess the situation? >> this is the most fragile situation i've seen anywhere. >> reporter: the dry season will last here for several more months at least. and the longer-term view is also grim. so the people of this village are asking one thing -- don't forget them. david mckenzie, cnn, kenya. >>> straight ahead, the very latest on the investigation into yesterday's carnage in norway. maybe, it's something you haven't seen yet. the 2nd generation of intel core processors. this is visibly smart. but it's our job to make them say something interesting. so how about this weekend we