In search of life that is pegged to 20 liters of water, Yemenis are forced to put their lives at risk as a result of ongoing conflict and exacerbation of water crisis. To have water become a dream of millions of Yemeni people and a nightmare that haunts their sleep.
Recently, United Nations report has mentioned that nearly 11 million Yemenis don’t have the basic water supplies which they need to still alive
Children Die
Taiz city which located in south of Yemen considered to be most affected area because of war, whereas the water crisis in Taiz has diverted young children to work in fetching water to their houses, hundreds of children are scattered in the neighborhood and streets of the city despite of the armed confrontation and they start to fetch water from nearby mosques or from water tanks which put by charity doers and civil or organizations in the neighborhoods known as Sabeel Water. Children were killed and injured on their way to fetch water;
In April of this year Saber Abdo Quaid Al-Samadhi (11years old) was shot in the head by a sniper bullet which killing him immediately whereas his younger brother Mohammad (9 years old) was shot in the left rib while they were going to get water for their mother, then they come across a tree called(Myrobalan) in Yemen known as Dayman so they climbed over the tree to pick some fruits that children loved, but the sniper targeted them, killing one and wounding the other.
Also on 20 August of this year, 10 years’ girl Rwaida Saleh was killed by a sniper shot that hit her head while she was on her way to fetch water for her family in AL Rwaida zoon north of Taiz.
The local and international media has circulated a picture of the child Rwaida while she was lying on the ground after she hit by a sniper bullet and next to her was a 30-liter water bottle, and another photo showing the girl and her 8 years old brother while he was rescuing his injured sister.
Death or life Matter
In July 2018 the united nation children’s fund (UNICEF) had denounced in the strongest terms that a vital water and saving live projects in Yemen were attacked again, according to what was stated in a statement attributed to the UNICEF regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa kheert kanalari
Mr. kanalari has stated that the attacks on water networks in Yemen has caused water shortage and cut off for children and families which increases the possibility of speared diseases through water in this war torn country
He added (and for families in Yemen theses basic services considered to be at the point of collapse are a matter of life or death, to have these services means survival for girls and boys in Yemen, and if these facilities continue to be attacked it will lead to loss more lives and many children without reason.
There is no solution
The scenes of children working hard and miserably in transporting water to their houses have become familiar scenes in everywhere which effects on the normal way of life for them
Ahmed 12 years old says to the Middle East (I am fetching water daily even after school I still transfer water because we can’t buy water.
AS for the 15-years old boy who is displaced from Al -Hodidah governorate exactly from Hays he says
I was studying but now I stopped studying , we live here as displaced persons , And as I used to bring water to our house in Hays ,here I still doing the same task in Sanaa . I hate this work, but there is no solution)
Efforts:
The conflict also exacerbates the suffering of Yemeni people from the shortage of drinking water and pushes them to use rainwater which contaminated with germs and soil remnants, despite to organizations and other Good Doer to reduce this problem that causes diseases but without any hope to succeed.
In march 2020 the international Red Cross committee has tweeted on twitter it has said that washing hands frequently is the most powerful way to prevent Corona virus so what can half of Yemeni people do who need water, and in a joint message from the working sides in water and environmental correction field in Yemen in 2020
The message stated that Yemen is still one of the countries which suffers from water scarcity in the world, through the five years of conflict the water networks have been destroyed and left the health sector on the edge of collapse and that created the speared of diseases including Cholera. It is estimated that there are 70 percent of Yemeni people who in need of soap for hand washing and personal care
Since of the mounting of the conflict in 2015 the common humanitarian response has managed to rehabilitate thousands of damaged water networks and construct huge electricity networks which powered by solar energy to address the fuel shortage for water pumps and provide 12,6 million people with clean water daily .
Without this humanitarian aids, water institution and environmental correction in Yemen will completely damage
The working committee in the field of water and environmental correction has indicated in its message that its facing a financing crisis, as only 4 percent of its requirements have been achieved,
That if the lack of funding continues until July 6,3 million will be affected, as a result of this the fast response teams that help to prevent the spread of the disease will have to stop working as will water services which it provided to displaced people cause of the war.
