As world leaders from nearly 50 nations meet in Rome to address the food crisis at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization summit, thousands of miles away in southern Ethiopia, the inhabitants of Alem Tena, a tiny village, are facing a food shortage.

The isolated village is two kilometers from any major thoroughfare. Aid workers sent to the area have set up free clinics for the villagers and attempt to respond to their needs.

The lack of food has weakened the children, who are at the mercy of myriad diseases. The mother of a sick girl laments, "the government said they would distribute food, so I waited, but nothing came of it. Today, I get help wherever I can. I just want to care for my daughter."

The village has only two nurses, barely adequate to handle the amount of care needed in the village. One of them claims they were initially overwhelmed by the magnitude of the crisis. "It's beyond our means to assist all these people. We're in over our heads. I've never seen anything like it."

Despite the presence of humanitarian aid workers, the situation in Alem Tena remains critical. The Paris-based NGO Doctors Without Borders announced that it has given emergency medical aid to 600 Ethiopican children in 10 days.