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Running On Empty

Life 6 - Running On Empty

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In this film, Life highlights the plight of two young mothers living in two very different societies. Dawn lives in South Wales, in one of the poorest districts in the European Union, where over a quarter of all children live in poverty. She has a partner and three children. Her youngest child is David who is one year old. Asemu lives in northern Ethiopia where most of the people are farmers who cannot produce enough food to live on. She has a partner and two children; the youngest Mikiray is eight months old. Both Dawn and Asemu are 22 years old.

David and Mikiray are both at a crucial stage in their development where a healthy diet is fundamental to preventing lifelong problems linked to malnutrition. Both women are aware that their children's diets are poor and that their health is suffering because of this. Asemu's eldest child Bayou is small and seriously underweight with chronic health issues. Dawn's youngest child David is not too small or underweight, but she recognises that she feeds him fatty foods because they are cheaper.

The international community has made a commitment to halve hunger by 2015. Asemu and Debru will tell you it's failing.