As I sat across the dinner table from my boyfriend last night, he delivered me the most astounding news, that punctured the ignorance inside of me. He said to me,
“You know what no one is talking about?”
“What?” I asked, casually.
“Remember that picture of the starving child you posted on your Instagram, asking for donations?”
“Yeah…” I said, unsure of where he was going.
“That child is/was part of the Yemen crisis,” his tone turned into anger, “No one wants to acknowledge that millions are dying in Yemen. It’s not being covered by the media at all!”
I agreed with him, I hadn’t heard much from peers or the media about the Saudi war happening in Yemen. Although I had seen a post from the New York Times, and proceeded to repost a horrifying picture of a starving child, in efforts to gather donations from my following, there wasn’t talk about it at my dinner tables, or my classrooms, or anywhere I looked on the media.
Above: Amal Hussain, 7 years old. Photo by Tyler Hicks
As I turn now to search for the NYTimes post that opened my awareness to the crisis, an update on the story reads,
“On Thursday, Amal’s family said she had died at a ragged refugee camp four miles from the hospital.”
My heart breaks for Amal’s family and for all the families and children suffering right now. I want to give my deepest apologies on the behalf of myself who should have written sooner, of my university for not sharing knowledge that is more necessary to share than their own agendas, and on the behalf of my country for not doing what we should have done sooner and for having a President that supports and enables the Saudi War in Yemen. For not doing more. For not speaking up, for turning our eyes. Amal, I am so so sorry. Yemen, I am sorry.
Mint Press News reported, “Mark Lowcock, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, expressed his concern regarding the “recent decline of commercial food imports through the Red Sea ports” — adding that, if conditions do not improve, the number of Yemenis at the brink of starvation would rise from the current figure of 8.4 million to 18.4 million by this December. Given that there are approximately 28 million people in Yemen, a continuation of the Saudi-led blockade would mean that nearly two-thirds of the entire country’s population will soon face starvation.”
By Jugal K. Patel and Troy Griggs
Note: Hunger severity data projected for next three months | Source: Famine Early Warning Systems Network
28 million people are about to starve to death, 8.4 million already have. These numbers are abominable. Though the conflict may be hard to outline clearly for us to understand what is going on, we don’t need all the facts to know that there is a horrific tragedy occurring right at this very minute that you are reading this.
How can you help? Here’s how:
1. Educate & Raise Awareness:
You may wonder how, but ask yourself, what is your platform? If you don’t have an online publication, we all have social media. Start there.
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Post where people can donate, make organizations that are helping more visible to your communities.
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Bring up the Yemen crisis in your classroom, at your meetups, at your office.
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Use your medium to create awareness (i.e. art, writing, music etc)
2. Donate to these Organizations:
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https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/how-you-can-help/emergencies/yemen-crisis
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For more charities go here.
The Yemen crisis has become the “forgotten war”, and it is our duty as humans to rewrite the script. UN News has claimed that the Yemen crisis has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, about to face the world’s worst famine in 100 years if the war continues. The number of people in need right now is staggering, we all must ask ourselves what can we do on a personal level. Change starts with the little acts that we take upon ourselves, we cannot wait for others. Yemenis cannot wait.