"This Is A Story Of A Failed System."

BIRGI DANGOTCHO, Niger -- In a clearing among the millet fields of this starving village, tiny red-earthen graves are sprouting in a row.

Yet what perplexes village chief Issufu Ibrahim, who can count 24 mounds from the past few months alone, is not the tragedy of so many children dying but the apparent unwillingness of anyone to help alleviate the worst spell of hunger in local memory.

Aside from three sacks of grain that arrived from neighboring Nigeria, Ibrahim said, his village of 500 families has seen no evidence that a massive international aid effort is underway.

"We always are hearing, 'They have given something, they have given something.' But on the ground, we have not seen it yet," said Ibrahim, his words tumbling out in a rush of frustration. "We are crying, 'Why are they not giving to us? Why are they not giving to us? Our children are dying.'

Craig Timberg "Global Aid System Stalled as Niger's Crisis Deepened" Washington Post August 17, 2005

See the Washington Post's harrowing photo gallery of Starvation in Niger:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601353.html

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Heaven and Hell, Carpathian Mountain Village of Mshanets, Lviv Region, Western Ukraine, ca. 1600
National Museum of Ukrainian Art - Lviv