The premise of your story has promise. However, you tackle the telling in an overly broad manner that results in reader-disconnection. To formulate a good, hard-hitting short story, not only do you need to incorporate the holy trio of dialogue, narrative and action, but you need to “show” (more) rather than” tell”. It’s always best to focus your story on a cameo event, say on the events of the evening after Marai leaves the village. Perhaps she meets a traveler who recounts the misfortunes of the village. In this setting you’d have opportunity to include snippets of the backstory, such as the child’s suffering. The reader fails to connect with the characters if they can’t “feel” the protagonist’s emotions. Saying that character suffered is not enough, you need to “show” us by describing her feelings and, perhaps, bring it out in a conversation she had with her mother.
Each time I read your comment on my post of another post like this, I learn valuable lessons. Thank you, @theinkwell