. >> dandala is a typical village in the koure region. most of the children don't go to school -- they have to work in the fields. life is hard, and whatever the soil yields has to be shared with the livestock. all they have is some corn, legumes and grain. seyni seydou (haussa) -- dorfchef dandala: we have less rain nowadays. it's too dry now, and it's become much harder for us in the villages. harvests have declined. we just don't have enough anymore. >> at night they have unwelcome visitors - giraffes. they're also suffering from the lack of food. so they come into the villages and steal the crops. the villagers have been forced to do more to protect their harvest. seyni seydou now stores his beans in his yard, rather than on the outskirts of the village. he's also put up a fence to keep the giraffes out. in the past, the villagers used to shoot the giraffes. two years ago, authorities began punishing that severely. two staff members from a local organization called aven are also helping to protect the endangered west african giraffe.