20 million people don’t know where or when their next meal is coming. 2 million people no longer have a home to return to. 1 million are infected with severe cases of Cholera. Damage, disease, and starvation are all caused in Yemen by the country’s conflict beginning in 2014. The Houthis rebels allied with Yemen military forces, and later raided the capital.

The raid forced the government to flee for their lives. This in turn, created economic turmoil for Yemen’s people. Saudi Arabia launched a military program whose purpose was to suppress the Houthis rebels and restore Yemen’s proper government.

Bombings have crumbled Yemen’s bridges, hospitals and factories. Citizen’s have gone unpaid for years in the poorest country of the Middle East. Due to Yemen’s conditions, malnutrition and unsanitary living situations are incredibly common. Thousands of families are forced to dig through landfills to find food to survive. The destitute environment is vulnerable to many diseases and viruses.  

Cholera has re-emerged in the daily lives of the Yemeni people. The disease arises from water contaminated with feces and other bacteria ridden garbage. 1 million people have/had in some form of cholera. The treatment for cholera includes an IV that replenishes the body with liquids. Out of the hundreds of thousand cases, “only a few thousand people have died”.

The hardest part about the disease is the fact the Yemeni people need clean water, something that is incredibly rare to come by. There is no fuel coming into the country to make the water pumps work. This lack of clean supply forces starved and dehydrated citizens to drink filthy, contaminated water.

Malnourished children, and elders are most likely to be susceptible to the disease and fall fatally ill and not recover. The side effects of the disease is too hard on the bodies of the people who are already fighting for survival.

“It’s heartbreaking that they have to live like this. I wish I was able to help out in some way,” said Annika Gelenaw(‘19).

Aid organizations are struggling to provide the whole country with the treatment and care it needs to succeed and overcome. They cannot issue the care that the government was supposed to. There is minimal chance that the conditions will improve unless the war ends.

If you are interested in donating money, the following organizations are assisting Yemen in its state of dire need:

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Save the Children (Yemen)

Islamic Relief USA