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The effect was that staple crops, such as sweet potato and maize, were devastated, affecting vast numbers of Ethiopia’s 80 million population who rely on them.

Although Ethiopia is now in the main rainy season, many farmers do not have seeds to plant and for those that have planted, their new crops won’t be ready till later in the year and millions are struggling to bridge this current food gap.

There are also fears that if the current rains fail, leading to another poor harvest, the current disaster could become catastrophic.

So while the Ethiopian countryside is at the moment verdant and lush, this greenery is deceptive and masks a real food crisis affecting millions of people.

You may be thinking you have heard this all before about Ethiopia because who can forget the 1984 famine?

But this is no time to give Ethiopians a compassion fatigued brush-off. Demisse and his family are not passive victims in this dire situation.

They are showing incredible resilience and determination to survive in the face of circumstances beyond their control while receiving no government or outside help. Demisse’s dad Matheus explained: “The rain stopped back in September and we’ve had hardly any rain since then, so we lost our crops.

“We used to have an ox and two cows but they died because of the drought.

“There was some rain in April so we planted maize, but the yield will be low. The rainfall has not been good. Although it may look green and that there’s a lot of growth, it’s not uniform.

“We’re not sure whether we will get a good harvest for the coming season. It’s only God that knows what will happen.”

To try and make ends meet, Matheus works as a labourer six days a week. His ageing mother Malaka and his wife Matuke make pots which they sell.

They make some sales in their village, Gale Wargo which has a population of 6,000, but they also walk up to five hours to sell at towns. This income all combines to enable the family to buy cassava and enset from the market, two plants that are both lacking in high nutritional value.

On occasional weeks, when the family finances are better than normal, they buy maize but the global hike in food prices has made this a luxury, as maize prices in Ethiopia have more than doubled over the last year.

For months now, the family have been living on one meal a day and the impact on the family’s health is clear to see.

Grandmother Malaka said, “Look at us. This is the outcome of the food shortage. We are not in a position to give the children enough to eat.”

Geographically isolated, materially poor and devoid of outside support - it’s not easy to find hope in Gale Wargo. But the church is trying to step into the breach.

The Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church covers the area where Demisse lives. This week it brought its food-for-work programme to his village and the boy’s family were one of 1,100 to benefit.

Grandmother Malaka was at the front of the queue for 60 kilos of maize. In return for this monthly supply, dad Matheus will do work in the village. Malaka, her face so stark previously, now beamed a smile: “I am so happy. I will treat this day as my wedding day,” she said.

Demisse remained impassive. The arrival of a sack of grain was a new sight for him to take in.

Many more sacks will be needed before this little boy is fit enough to enjoy a normal childhood. Today the church is helping him take a step in the right direction.

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