Every two seconds, somewhere in the world, a girl becomes a child bride. Every two seconds, girls just like Amanda, Gina and Michelle are effectively being abducted, but their stories don't ever make the news.

Her family is badly affected by the Sahel Food Crisis and her father has gone to Lagos, Nigeria, in search of work after successive years of crop failures. Aissa knows all about poverty and her chances of lifting herself from it were dashed last year when she was forced to leave school.

Severe flooding has reached the capital Niamey over the holy Islamic Ramadan holiday weekend of Eid-ul-Fitr displacing thousands of people and destroying numerous homes. Just over 161mmrain fell overnight Saturday 19 August 2012.

I want to tell you the stories of the two strong women we met recently in Niger. But I'm finding it very difficult.

I've long thought that the editors of our international media (and the British media is a particular culprit) needs to start noticing Africa. Not just the coups and the food crises and the droughts, but also the positive stories, the African success stories that are putting, for example, Ghana amid the fast growing nations in the world.

Each day millions of children wake up with an empty belly and a head aching with hunger. Many will eat just one unappetising meal whilst some will have nothing at all.

There can't be many countries who face famine as their GDP rises by 14%. Yet that is the situation in the West African state of Niger, where appeals launched this week to help some 400,000 people now at risk from severe malnutrition. At the same time as an oil boom kicks in and IMF analysis predicts a rise in government income of 30% in 2012.

When I wrote back in January that we need to talk about the risk of famine in Niger, I had no idea then that an already very complex situation was about to see yet another twist in the tale develop.

This week, my colleagues and I participated on a sweepstake where we each contributed money and picked a team that is participating at Africa Cup Of nations. The winner will donate collected money to one of our child development projects either in Asia or Africa.

This week Save the Children and Oxfam released a damning report about the failure of the international community to heed the warnings of the spreading nutritional crisis in East Africa quickly enough. This "dangerous delay" they say, cost lives.

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