15 August, 2011 1:07PM AWST

WA journalist comes face-to-face with East Africa famine

It's a story that is flashed on our TV screens every night at dinner time and can leave you feeling guilty and helpless. One WA journalist describes what it's like to come face-to-face with the East Africa famine in the largest refugee camp in the world.

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Steve Pennells has covered the Asian tsunami, earthquakes and other natural disasters but nothing prepared him for the ongoing human suffering he faced in Dadaab refugee camp in North East Kenya.

"I think until you actually go there, you don't get a sense of the scale," Steve told ABC's Russell Woolf.

"There's no infrastructure, there's no electricity, there's no water."

Around 1,400 people reach Dadaab refugee camp everyday but their hopes turn to desperation when they are forced to camp on the outside of the swelling camps.

The Dadaab camp is made up of three separate camps which were established in 1992 to house 90,000 refugees fleeing war and famine. 20 years later and 30,000 original refugees remain in Dadaab and the camps have grown to over 440,000 refugees.

"So there are 19 year-olds who have been born into the camp; they know nothing about getting food except for their fortnightly rations, they have no electricity, no water and no indication of when, or if, they'll ever get out there," Steve said.

"That puts our refugee problem in some sort of context... The camp now has a bigger population than Canberra."

Steve said one of the interesting things about the camp is the cleanliness, "There's just no rubbish because there's nothing to throw away."

"They use everything on their structures, on their houses and they recycle everything."

It's hard to imagine being faced with the decision to leave a weak child to die to save the rest of the family but that's just one of the many desperate stories Steve reported on.

"If you ask me, 'what's the solution?' I don't know because I can't see the situation getting better before the end of the year or even the next few years. It's heartbreaking."

You can help, donate to the ABC's East Africa Appeal.


You can read Steve Pennell's story 'Africa's desperate cry for help' on The West online.