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Yemen: Desire to live and hope for a better tomorrow.

Hope did not disappear for this displaced Yemeni family. Instead, their desire for life and hope for a better tomorrow emerged.

After over six years of a devastating and unrelenting conflict, around20 million Yemenis depend urgently on humanitarian assistance to survive. This includes four million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Yemen is now one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

 

Mr Ayad, who lives with his wife in an IDP camp in Al Dhale Governate in Yemen, is an example of hope.

 

He  introduced his family to the Medair staff and shared their story. They fled from their house in north of Al Dhale back in 2015, seeking safety from the escalating crisis in their village, which had become a battlefield.  Ayad was injured during the clashes and sadly, got disabled, and lost his leg. The family also lost their farm and house, which were destroyed.  Over 50 families lost their houses and fled from the district and still cannot go back. “It was a horrible. We did nothing and still we lost everything. I don’t want to go back again,”camp.

 

 

After fleeing for their lives, Mr Ayad and his family found it difficult to find a safe place.

 

It has been six years since the conflict started and Mr Ayad’s family and his community live in an IDP camp. They get support from organisations and some local people , but their living conditions are poor. They can’t work as farmers or place their children in school.

 

 

Mr Ayad is a community leader in the camp, responsible for the community as he is educated. He used to have a farming business, Collage  graduated, and was the first person in his village to place his children in school before the conflict started. However, as is disabled,  and can’t do a heavy duty work, he cannot pay for his children to go to school. His children began doing odd jobs, contributing to supporting the family.

 

Mr Ayad started teaching his children ““It’s my responsibility to bring hope to my kids during this crisis. One day, the war will be over and they will have to rebuild our country. It’s my duty to give them education and I feel really proud that I can help my people. I want them to help themselves also by getting educated. I am not doing a major thing. I am just teaching people how to read. One day my dream is to see my children studying in university,” says Ayad

 

The country has the fourth largest IDP population due to conflict in the world. Raging clashes continue to deteriorate the protection space for civilians and force thousands of families to seek refuge elsewhere. There are over 50 active front lines across the country, with over 50,000 individuals forcibly displaced this year.

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