What if we had been born in the middle of a war, and instead of focusing on school and our hobbies, we were worried about not having a safe place to sleep in or not having anything to eat? This is the story of many children and teens our age in Yemen.
Yemen is located in the border of Asia closest to Africa, between Saudi Arabia and Somalia, and its capital is Sana’a (San-eye-ah). The country is currently going through the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world as said by Unicef.
During the ongoing war, schools and hospitals have closed, families have been displaced, and food insecurity has increased to the point where the UN said that Yemen’s famine is close to becoming the world’s worst famine in the last 100 years. The contaminated water and the lack of food have weakened Yemenis immune systems and have made them more likely to get diseases, like Cholera, a terrible digestive disease that can cause death within hours if not carefully treated. Please watch the following video (only 5 minutes long). It may be hard to watch but it truly shows the unimaginable reality Yemeni people are facing-> https://www.youube.com/watch?v=J_6fDCo1REI
If you want to read more about Yemen’s war, this is a great article to go to https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423
I really hope this has moved you and motivated you to take action, if so, here are two ways to help the Yemenis in these very difficult times.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
- Spread awareness
-Share with friends who might not know what’s going on
-Sign a petition (ex: change.org)
- Donating
By giving up one drive to Tim Horton’s, Pizza Pizza, Harvey’s, or whatever other places you usually go to, those $11 or so we’d spend there, could help Unicef purchase 21 packets of therapeutic food (Plumpy’Nut®) which could feed 7 Yemeni children suffering from malnutrition. If we could all do this, We would have a great impact.
Organizations like the following are helping Yemen through donations:
We often take for granted the things we are used to having, but once you can see that not everybody has access to these basic things, they become a privilege rather than a given. Having a warm home to get to after school, having food for each meal, having access to free education, having the freedom to express our beliefs, and living in a country with peace. We should let these things bring up a smile in our faces and hearts more often.
If you have any creative initiative to help Yemen please dm me to sofi.guzman18, and follow @yemen_cantwait