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Photo by Madalena Veloso on Unsplash |
By Chiamaka Mbah
Zainab sat quietly under the neem tree near her family’s hut. Her arms were thin, her belly slightly swollen, and her eyes carried a tired glow no child should bear. At three years old, she weighed what an average one-year-old should. Her mother, Mariam, tried to feed her from the bowl of watery porridge they shared, but she knew it was not enough. It never was.