Niger.

Niger is not an isolated island of desperation - it lies within a sea of problems across Africa, says Nobel Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.

meanwhile in the motherland:
In the wake of Niger's food crisis, we must question the right of charities to have a monopoly on "calling famines", says Simon Harrigan, a freelance anthropologist with experience of famine relief in Sudan.

staying with the Guardian:
It's up to African writers to provide positive alternatives to the global media's preoccupation with hunger, war and catastrophe, says Doreen Baingana, Ugandan poet and novelist.

Starvation in Niger is not only an inevitable consequence of poverty, drought and locusts but also the result of applying free market policies to try to lift the country out of poverty.

over to the NYT:
It is shocking that the crisis in Niger developed in a year heralded as a year for Africa, says this editorial.

no pictures, the emotional effect is enough in words alone.

As part of semester II, alongside the history of Christianity, synoptic gospels, Australian Theologies, we are studying Practical Theology. It all becomes rather academic in the light of pondering Niger.

To pinch a line from JCSuperstar "what's it all about", indeed. weep and know no answers...