THE CHILDREN WITH THE SWOLLEN BELLIES

THE CHILDREN WITH THE SWOLLEN BELLIES
Hands tiny as the yellow wooden rulers they used to draw in school.
Legs sickly and a stomach that looks full and pregnant of much food.
It's an irony that there is a war in their country and there is no meat.
Why then are their bellies so heavy, that they can't be lifted on feet?
The mothers cry when the big white man in the big white coat comes.
He either charges them so much or announces when their baby is gone.

The children with the swollen bellies don't play in the streets like before.
Shrapnel lies about and the men fighting fight each other with their guns.
Takwe was the best in his class and he still talks about being a doctor.
Mama says he better focus on staying alive as he is the first born son.
The children scramble and fight over the tiny sticks of poverty cassava.
The bigger ones have been harvested by the enemies and other soldiers.

The children with the swollen bellies die in their numbers everyday.
Baba Nakiu says it's because there are no sacrifices for Ologobiera.
Everyone knows that it is an insult to give a calabash without meat.
Even the fowls are dead trampled upon by the boots of defeat.
Dr Green believes that the people need more foreign assistance.
The opportunistic country wants their leader to sign over the gold.

The children with the swollen bellies still suffer as it was before.
They hunt lizards for meat while other children live in squalor.
The children with the swollen bellies are the hope of the future.
They must be kept alive to save the future generation.
Big man remember the children with the swollen bellies.
Your children must not die because of your offences.

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