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 DAN MALLAM, Niger (AP) - The thatched-roof huts where villagers store grain for the lean season are empty. The only meal of the day is acacia leaves boiled into a thick paste, eaten in the evening in hopes it will lull the children to sleep. After months of repeated pleas from the United Nations, international aid is starting to trickle into this West African nation ravaged by drought and locusts. But it has yet to reach villages like Dan Mallam, where the hungry can do little but wait for help and the next harvest.
"Everything that the stomach can contain, we eat ... anything that can calm the hunger," said Ibrahim Koini, whose gray beard and emaciated frame make him look much older than his 45 years. "We've come to eat the same leaves we give our cows."
The diet of acacia and other leaves is taking a toll on children, whose malnourished state is clear from their swollen bellies and heads that appear too big for skeletal bodies.
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