“I want this war to end so we can return”

Yemen
Conflicts and Disasters

“After four months, my children couldn’t tolerate the traumatic sound of missiles and airstrikes any longer. On our last night at home, I felt death was upon us. Thank God, we saw the sun rise and we immediately left.”

Aisha, 50, fled the airstrikes in Haradh, northern Yemen and moved with her family of 12 to Shafar, about 70 kilometres away. They escaped the continuous bombardment in haste and left all their belongings behind. Now the family lives in a makeshift hut – or ‘usha’ – made out of straw, sticks and old pieces of cloth.

“People in Shafar helped us with blankets, mattresses, clothes and a bed made from hay for my youngest child, Amir, who is two. When we arrived in Shafar, we had to drink from a well which provided unsafe water and which I boiled before we drank. Even after boiling, it wasn’t clean but we had no other option. But now, Oxfam is providing us with the clean water we so desperately need through the installation of a communal water tank and the distribution of jerry cans to store water. We have also received containers for washing clothes, soap, water bins and mats to sleep and sit on”.

In response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, Oxfam, with support from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) is providing clean water and building latrines in communities affected by the conflict, who are cut-off from basic services and supplies. The project is reaching vulnerable families, like Aisha’s.

Since the escalation in fighting in late March, more than 1.3 million people like Aisha and her family have been forced to flee their homes and have been displaced to other parts of Yemen. Almost two thirds of the population is now without clean water, and half do not have enough food to eat.

“Oxfam has offered us immense support, but in our condition, we still need many other things like milk for my son Amir.” For Aisha, the one thing they need above all is to go back home to rebuild their lives. “When we sleep, we hide in the darkness but in the early morning we find ourselves without any privacy. I want this war to end so we can return.”

Take action!

Sign Oxfam’s petition to demand an end to the violence in Yemen. Read more here: https://act.oxfam.org/international/yemen-crisis

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“I want this war to end so we can return”

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