PLATEAU STATE, Nigeria — Dirt tracks slice through rivulets of trash. Stagnant water pools in open gutters and bakes in the sun. The stench is thick in the air, both sour and sickly sweet. It catches in the back of my throat, making me gag.
And everywhere you look, there are the children: playing in the dirt, kicking half-deflated soccer balls, laughing in groups, and begging for food. Women carry babies in their arms or strap them to their backs, their bellies swollen with yet more children, or malnutrition, citizens of a young country that is itself swelling and growing.
This is Mangu in Nigeria’s Plateau State, and with its bustle, poverty, and endless human drama, it is a typical sub-Saharan African town. But it’s also something else: a front line of one of the world’s bloodiest religious conflicts. Just beyond its edges lies a countryside where Christian communities are being destroyed and driven from their land.
