TV personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi recently made her 20th journey overseas as a special ambassador for UNICEF. This time she went to Somalia and, as always, a TV Asahi crew followed her as she looked into the plight of children in the war-torn country. An account of her trip will be broadcast Sunday at 2 p.m.

Somalia has existed in a state of protracted anarchy for many years, plagued by ongoing civil war, drought and an acute lack of infrastructure, medical services and educational opportunity. One of the most serious outcomes of the country's troubles is the large number of abandoned children. Because parents cannot feed or otherwise take care of their children, they often leave them in front of orphanages, public toilets and village wells. Many of these children grow up with severe disabilities owing to malnutrition and lack of sufficient sanitation.

Kuroyanagi will look into a practice that rarely gets discussed on television: female genital mutilation. Sometimes referred to as "female circumcision," this very painful custom (it is performed on young girls without anesthetic) is still widespread in Somalia, where the acknowledged untouchable caste (or, more precisely, tribe) makes its living carrying out the operation. It is the only work available to them.