Moving for the people of Yemen
Donation protected
Why do we want to raise awareness and funds?
For most of us, life will return to some sort of normality once the pandemic passes, but for the Yemeni people, they haven’t experienced anything resembling normal life for a long time, certainly for over a decade. Back in 2011, during the "Arab Spring", Yemen was one of the first countries to experience mass protests against corrupt governance, poor standards of living and state oppression. However, there was no victory for democracy and the rebel Shi'ite group known as the Huthis took advantage of the political chaos and seized the capital Sana'a. The resulting civil war has been raging since between the Huthis and a Saudi Arabian led coalition who support the ousted government. It is a war that has had a catastrophic effect on the countries infrastructure and economy and of course, as is so often the case in these situations, it’s the general population that has suffered the most - by 2017 the humanitarian crisis had reached an alarming point.
There’s a lot that could be said about the international politics going on behind the scenes, and I've (Roger) put together a little article here which you can read if you would like to find out more. A group of us, belonging to the Harbour Church in Falmouth Cornwall have been thinking about how we can contribute in some small way towards alleviating the plight of the Yemeni people by raising awareness and by supporting an aid organisation which is working to help on the ground, in Yemen.
Here is a short overview of some of the big problems facing this country:
Because the main port Al Hodeida is being blockaded by the Saudi led coalition, vital supplies cannot reach the people. Only a very small part of Yemen has arable land, it has severe problems with water supply and 90% of its staple, wheat, is supplied from outside. This means that starvation and severe malnutrition are commonplace. Most of the 31 million people living in Yemen are in need of urgent assistance, 24 million – and 5 million face starvation every day.
Disease is also a major problem, and a disease that most of us thought was confined to the history books, cholera has run rampant in all but one of the Yemeni governates. Cases of cholera commonly occur in children under 5 (23% of suspected cases). Things like diptheria are on the increase, and of course, for a country like Yemen, it has little hope of an orchestrated national strategy against covid.
The war itself has of course led to the deaths of over 100,000 people, and a far greater number of wounded. Children are a major victim of violence and human rights groups are deeply concerned about the use of landmines, child soldiers, sexual crimes against children and women. Airstrikes are still being carried out by coalition troops and Western Powers including the UK have been selling billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia – which is spending billions every month on this war.
How are we going to raise awareness and funds?
One of the ways we are seeking to raise awareness and funds for the people of Yemen, is by "virtually" walking the distance from the Yemeni captial, Sana'a to the port at Al Hodeida - a distance of 137 miles. Using Strava as a way of recording the miles travelled, individuals (or groups), will be aiming to walk the whole distance. We've also created a pack that helps people know what part of the virtual journey they are on, and how to use Strava. So be in touch if you'd like to join our team of fund and awareness raisers!
Who are we raising money for?
We have chosen to support an organisation called ZOA, who have an established work in Yemen. What attracted us to this charity is that they are working in particular to help restore basic human needs, such as running water and to improve santiary conditions, for example, by working to provide toilets. They are also working to tackle food insecurity. You can read more about the work of this organisation here or pasting the following link into your browser: https://www.zoa-international.com/files/yemen/.
Thank you for taking time to read about our effort to reach out in some way to the Yemeni people. Any gifts are gratfully received and all will be passed on directly to ZOA. As ZOA are a charity based in the Netherlands, and we were unaware that we couldn't transfer directly to them from GoFundMe this will now be transferred via a personal bank account in the UK - I will publish confirmation of the transfer once it has been made so you know that your money has safely reached ZOA.
Roger Wyatt - March 2021
For most of us, life will return to some sort of normality once the pandemic passes, but for the Yemeni people, they haven’t experienced anything resembling normal life for a long time, certainly for over a decade. Back in 2011, during the "Arab Spring", Yemen was one of the first countries to experience mass protests against corrupt governance, poor standards of living and state oppression. However, there was no victory for democracy and the rebel Shi'ite group known as the Huthis took advantage of the political chaos and seized the capital Sana'a. The resulting civil war has been raging since between the Huthis and a Saudi Arabian led coalition who support the ousted government. It is a war that has had a catastrophic effect on the countries infrastructure and economy and of course, as is so often the case in these situations, it’s the general population that has suffered the most - by 2017 the humanitarian crisis had reached an alarming point.
There’s a lot that could be said about the international politics going on behind the scenes, and I've (Roger) put together a little article here which you can read if you would like to find out more. A group of us, belonging to the Harbour Church in Falmouth Cornwall have been thinking about how we can contribute in some small way towards alleviating the plight of the Yemeni people by raising awareness and by supporting an aid organisation which is working to help on the ground, in Yemen.
Here is a short overview of some of the big problems facing this country:
Because the main port Al Hodeida is being blockaded by the Saudi led coalition, vital supplies cannot reach the people. Only a very small part of Yemen has arable land, it has severe problems with water supply and 90% of its staple, wheat, is supplied from outside. This means that starvation and severe malnutrition are commonplace. Most of the 31 million people living in Yemen are in need of urgent assistance, 24 million – and 5 million face starvation every day.
Disease is also a major problem, and a disease that most of us thought was confined to the history books, cholera has run rampant in all but one of the Yemeni governates. Cases of cholera commonly occur in children under 5 (23% of suspected cases). Things like diptheria are on the increase, and of course, for a country like Yemen, it has little hope of an orchestrated national strategy against covid.
The war itself has of course led to the deaths of over 100,000 people, and a far greater number of wounded. Children are a major victim of violence and human rights groups are deeply concerned about the use of landmines, child soldiers, sexual crimes against children and women. Airstrikes are still being carried out by coalition troops and Western Powers including the UK have been selling billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia – which is spending billions every month on this war.
How are we going to raise awareness and funds?
One of the ways we are seeking to raise awareness and funds for the people of Yemen, is by "virtually" walking the distance from the Yemeni captial, Sana'a to the port at Al Hodeida - a distance of 137 miles. Using Strava as a way of recording the miles travelled, individuals (or groups), will be aiming to walk the whole distance. We've also created a pack that helps people know what part of the virtual journey they are on, and how to use Strava. So be in touch if you'd like to join our team of fund and awareness raisers!
Who are we raising money for?
We have chosen to support an organisation called ZOA, who have an established work in Yemen. What attracted us to this charity is that they are working in particular to help restore basic human needs, such as running water and to improve santiary conditions, for example, by working to provide toilets. They are also working to tackle food insecurity. You can read more about the work of this organisation here or pasting the following link into your browser: https://www.zoa-international.com/files/yemen/.
Thank you for taking time to read about our effort to reach out in some way to the Yemeni people. Any gifts are gratfully received and all will be passed on directly to ZOA. As ZOA are a charity based in the Netherlands, and we were unaware that we couldn't transfer directly to them from GoFundMe this will now be transferred via a personal bank account in the UK - I will publish confirmation of the transfer once it has been made so you know that your money has safely reached ZOA.
Roger Wyatt - March 2021
Co-organizers (4)
Roger Wyatt
Organizer
Teegan Egerton
Co-organizer
Lucy Logan
Co-organizer
Ian Guyver
Co-organizer