Saturday, January 14, 2012

Save Yemen's Children

The children are our future and in Yemen children represent more than 50% of the population, which is 24 million, thus amounting to more than 12 million. They are the victims of poverty, political instability and malnutrition. According to the WFP " half of Yemen's children are chronically malnourished and 1 out of 10 does not live to reach the age of five".

A survey by Yemen's Ministry of public Health and Population supported by UNICEF in the coastal town of Hodeida found a global acute malnutrition (GAM) rate of 31.7 percent, nearly 60 percent of children were underweight and 54.5 percent stunted, meaning their height was too low for their age, a sign of longer-term malnutrition.

In the southern Abyan Governorate, a battleground with ongoing fights, a UNICEF survey in September found a GAM rate of 18.6 percent, of which 3.9 percent were severe cases. Nearly half of the children surveyed in northern Hajjah were underweight and 43.6 percent were stunted. In short, according to a recent report by Oxfam more than one in three children in Yemen are severely stunted.

"Widespread poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, unemployement, low levels of education, high gender disparities, rapid population growth and insufficient access to safe water and land", is what characterizes Yemen according to the WFP, conditions which have been further aggravated by the current political crisis, taking a toll on Yemeni children and impacting their psycosocial well being.

Listen to the children's own words

According to Geert Cappelaere, director of UNICEF in Yemen, in a recent interview with Willam Lambers an author who wrote numerous books and articles about hunger, "one in three children reported feeling unsafe, sad, or frustrated, and suffered from diminshed hope, fear, anger and hatred as well as experiencing difficulty sleeping. One in four experienced difficulties concentrating, and establishing trustful relationships."

This video shows children role playing the recent violence in Yemen:

At least 94 children have been killed and 240 others wounded by gunshots or shelling in Yemen since civil unrest began in February 2011, according to UNICEF.

UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported over 170 schools were damaged or destroyed as a result of six rounds of conflict in Saada. In a more recent report by UNICEF "nearly a quarter of a million of children across Yemen have difficulties attending schools" due to the fact that "more than 180 schools in different parts of the country have been occupied or attacked by armed forces and groups or by displaced communities." A survey conducted by Oxfam concluded that "one in five said they had taken their children out of school to help the family earn their daily bread and nearly two-thirds were skipping meals."

One of many heart breaking stories of Yemeni children suffering published in the Global Post reads as follows:

"Amry’s eldest son, 9-year-old Majd, walks the five kilometers to school each morning. But his two younger sisters Naema and Salama no longer join him.

“Our Dad withdrew us because we didn't have any clothes or books,” Naema said, leading a donkey down to the well to fetch water.

“We wash dishes, bake, cook and clean. We would love to be studying in school instead of staying at home,” Naema said. “With school you can be a doctor, but without school you cannot.”

And so, uneducated through lack of food, Naema and Salama will join the 70 percent of Yemeni women who are illiterate in the nation that has consistently ranked lowest in the Global Gender Gap index.

With no classes to occupy them, Amry said he would soon be searching for husbands for Naema and Salama, eager to earn the best dowry possible for marrying off his daughters, around $1,000 each if they married into another poor family."

Children growing in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, have little opportunity for education and development, traumatized by the violence sadly do not know when their next meal will be.

Some of you are parents and do our best to protect and provide for your children, many parents in Yemen don't have the ability to even do so. Children in Yemen need your help, please spread the word, donate and make a difference in their lives.

Yemen: Hungering for better

In Yemen's political crisis, children pay the highest price

Escalating violence affects children attending school in Yemen

Displace youth in South Yemen cope with the effects of war
Yemen in crisis: Njwed's story

Children vunerable in Damaj

Take Action:

Help Protect Yemen's Children
Support WFP's Hunger Relief Mission in Yemen
Support Hunger Relief for Yemen
Yemen - Save the Children

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Qat: Yemen's Epidemic

Whoever knows Yemen, certainly knows about Qat. In case you don't know what it is, Qat is a green leafy plant that many Yemeni chew for hours, almost daily. Many who visited Yemen are familiar with the image of Yemenis with swelling cheeks, picking the plant leaves, filling it into their mouths and chewing it. Qat contains an amphetamine like stimulant which triggers a mild euphoria and a state of excitement which makes people become talkative and more relaxed. The World Health Organization classified it as a drug of abuse with possible psychological dependence, however it does not consider it to be seriously addictive. Qat is rather an addictive social habit, and a rather expensive one considering that 45% of the population live below the poverty line.

Unfortunately Qat chewing has become an embedded social activity in Yemen and part of it's culture. It is a nationwide habit, a basic form of social interaction among men, women and now even some children consume it. Yemeni gather everyday in the afternoons to chew Qat. It is also consumed in every wedding, funeral and even in business and political meetings. The social sessions of Qat chewing usually start at the end of the work day around 3 pm and lasts till the late hours of the evening. Qat has become an epidemic in every Yemeni household and has detrimental effects on Yemen's agriculture, economy, health and society. Massive time and resources are wasted to chewing this cursed plant, paralyzing Yemenis to think or work towards building Yemen.

Although the plant itself originally came from Ethiopia, Qat has become the largest source of rural income and employment in Yemen since it's cultivation occupies a huge portion of agricultural land, almost 65% according to some figures. Farmers stopped growing fruits and crops, such as coffee and grapes which Yemen had been historically famous for, and replaced it with Qat instead, which is easily cultivated, highly demanded, sold daily in local markets all over Yemen and yields immediate and unparalleled profits making it a lucrative business.

Qat cultivation is depleting Yemen scarce water resources, since it's cultivation requires almost half of Yemen's water supply. In Sanaa alone, Yemen's capital which according to experts will be the first city in the world to run out of water in 2025, "Qat plant consumes 60 million cubic meters of water per year - twice the amount consumed by it's citizens".

The average Yemeni spends a substantial percentage of his income on Qat, while low income families spend almost half of their budget on Qat, more than on the purchase of food, which causes widespread malnutrition, the underlying cause of 50% of child death in Yemen according to UNICEF. Qat is also believed to cause an increased number of mouth and throat cancer, due to the chemicals and pesticides used to grow it. Kidney failure, gastritis, constipation, loss of apetite, insomnia, tooth decay and discoloration are just a few among a long list of health related problems caused by Qat.

Efforts have been made to counter this addiction which infected Yemen for centuries. An anti-qat initiative launched by Prime Minister Muhsin al-Ayni in 1972 was massively opposed and unfortunately led to his downfall after a few months. The World Bank also helped in fighting the Qat addiction in Yemen. A law passed by the government in 2002 prohibiting Qat chewing in government facilities was and still is ignored. In 2010 the World Bank Civil Society Fund awarded six Yemeni Non-Governemntal Organzations (NGO's) financial support for civic engagement in the fight against Qat. In March 2011 the government raised Qat taxes to 200% and reportedly prohibited Qat markets from major cities, yet in reality Yemen's government has been mostly passive about combating it since Qat sales taxes constitutes the main local revenue source. Ironically it allowed Qat be farmed in state agricultural lands and also subsidiezes the diesel required to pump water for it, and by doing so depleting it's own resources.

Yemen's Revolution for Change should add Qat elimination to it's long agenda. Attempts to do so historically have been greatly resisted, making it a challenging and strenuous process and requiring a level of political leadership and commitment. Qat can not be banned or eliminated overnight, it should be a gradual weaning process which will require a lot of time and effort. Governmental subsidies encouraging growth of fruits, vegetables and crops in place of Qat, awareness campaigns, about the hazards of Qat, with the assistance of the civic society through the media, at schools and among farmers, promoting alternative ideas and venues for entertainment and social interaction, are necessary steps among many which could lead to the gradual elimination of Qat. Hopefully the determined people of Yemen, the second most armed nation in the world, who amazed everyone with their peaceful Revolution, impressed them with the 264 km Life March, and are currently uprising widely against corruption will make the right choices and take the gradual and necessary steps to eliminate this epidemic form Yemeni society.

Social media campaigns on Facebook and twitter aim to create awareness about the detrimental effects of Qat on the individual and on Yemen at large. These initiative needs to be supported by people in Yemen and endorsed by state and private Yemeni media channels, news papers, NGOs, governmental and public figures in order for it to succeed and become a step amongst many to bring about the desired, and ultimate goal of "No Qat in Yemen".

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. -George Bernard Shaw