The horrific truth behind Sudan's gold rush is that many of the newborns have serious health problems

Awadya Ahmed, a mother from Sudan, has long pondered why Talab, her youngest child, was born blind and immobile; today, she fears the gold miners' heaps of hazardous waste.

Traditional miners have been flocking to her hamlet in recent years to hit it rich.

However, they leave behind dangerous white-powder waste that is contaminated with hazardous substances, such as mercury used in the gold extraction process.