The story about to be told is about a subject that is impacting our civilization even today. A subject that is surprising to Americans, considering our resources are more than abundant. This subject is world hunger. The story takes place in Liberia, a harsh and withered country in Africa. The lands are dry, the crops unfertile, and the livestock is affected by the malnourishment as well. The land is dead, and its people are dying. The protagonist is a young Liberian boy by the name of (roughly translated) Riliay. He is five years old and is terribly malnourished. The story begins when it seemed that all hope was lost, there was no reason for holding on. But then, hope came in the form of a rifle-wielding gun-squad.
It was a normal day in Liberia, the painful cries from what was left of the already scarce livestock as well as the people echoed throughout the lands, and the heat was beating down on its inhabitants.
A seated, listless child, who was among many kwash...
These students in Bong County, Liberia, study by c...
English: Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger...Little Riliay clung to his mother's side. He could always find solace in her presence; she was all he had left. His father and two older brothers had already died from starvation, and his mother's time was almost up. She was once a woman who stood up straight and tall, beaming with what seemed as perpetual satisfaction; a beacon of happiness. Now she was struggling to get every breath through her lungs, and Riliay noticed throughout the days how her grip on his hand had become weaker. They walked with their fellow villagers, who had abandoned their homeland due to diseases that were spreading amongst them. Day by day, villagers fell to starvation, and roasted in the merciless severity of the sun. Riliay could sense by the weakness in his mother's...