[Original written by ITO Tokiko and IMANAKA Ko for the project fundraised by READYFOR (October 30, 2023); Translated by J. Tsuchiya/K. Tanimoto and A. Taguchi]
Once called “Happy Arabia”, Yemen used to be prosperous through trade. Situated in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula, the country is now facing the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” This is due to the “forgotten war” that has continued for eight years since the aggravation of conflicts in 2015. Even children have been affected.
•Two-thirds of the nation’s population, about 32 million people, are in need of some kind of support.
•About 4.5 million are internally displaced persons (domestic refugees).
•More than 2.7 million out of 10.76 million school-age children are unable to go to school.
In Yemen, traumatized children should be urgently protected and cared for. To protect the children from violence, we are planning to build a “Children’s Place” where they can spend time peacefully. Would you help us make such a place?
Hello. We are ITO Tokiko and IMANAKA Ko from the Yemen division team of JVC.
My Encounter with Yemen
The Charm of Yemen
I, Imanaka, first visited Yemen about 13 years ago. I studied at a university located in the Old City of Sanaa and majored in Arabic.
Those whom I met there were exceptionally large-hearted. For instance, when I arrived at the airport at midnight, I was stuck there since the person who was to pick me up didn’t show up. Suddenly, a total stranger came to me and invited me to stay at his home! Or, even when I was shocked by the devastating images of the Great East Japan Earthquake on television, people around me gave me hugs and cried together with me.
Yemen was ranked as “the poorest nation in the Arabic world” even at that time. On the other hand, the country has a unique culture full of pride with a severe but abundant nature, persuadable to be called “Happy Arabia.”
However, while I was there, the “Arab Spring” reached Yemen, and the country turned into a chaotic mess. The president was almost killed by a bomb and the biggest tribe rebelled against the government. I could hear gunfire distantly and see tracer bullets in the night sky every day. “What will Yemen be like?” I remember the days when I ended my studies with a painful reluctance to leave.
A wedding ceremony in the Old City. It was like a parallel world beyond my imagination.
Yemen’s collapsing livelihood and sad news
A few years later, when I graduated from university and started to work, Yemen was in worsening political turmoil. In 2014, Ansar Allah (The Houthi group) seized Sanaa under control, and the Arab coalition troops including Saudi Arabia and UAE started airstrikes. Gradually the number of casualties from the battle increased and millions of people had to evacuate, losing their jobs and hopes.
During this time, I got a lot of sad news. My friends with whom I played volleyball in a sports club, a son of my friend who always brought me a cup of tea, and a boy with a mischievous smile in the furniture market, all of them participated in the battle and died. One of my best friends in Yemen who had always treated me asked me for financial support and sent me a message saying that he was in poor mental condition.
“Is there something I can do for Yemenis…?” I have worried for a long time.
Houses standing on the cliff of the mountain surface at a 2,000-meter elevation.
The boy who would greet me when I passed by the furniture market died in the battle.
Why is the support necessary now in Yemen?
I witnessed people’s hardships when I came back to Yemen for the first time in 10 years
Yemen, which is called “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” is struggling with the “forgotten conflicts” from the international community. JVC conducted on-site research activities twice in the spring of 2022 and 2023.
I visited the country for the first time in 10 years to do research and found that people’s fascinating personalities were still intact. On the other hand, the conflict-plagued country had a disastrous repercussion on the nation’s economy. What we saw were: untouched craters made by airstrikes; closely packed refugees in unhygienic tents; soldiers with Kalashnikov rifles slung across their shoulders standing here and there; women and children begging in the streets; long lines of people demanding gas and gas pipes; and commodities with U.S. dollar notation. We saw people inflicted with a large sacrifice.
Among all, I was stunned by the many children working on the streets to support their families and children overflowing in the refugee camp. What are they going to do in the future? Even if the war ended, what kind of society would they be able to make when most of the people underpinning the society have not been educated? I became obsessed with such concerns.
I would like to introduce some stories about domestic refugees whom I interviewed during the research.
At an elementary school in Hais, Hodeida. Imanaka on the left, and Ito on the right.
Amani, a single mother (28), and her three children
Amani escaped from Hodeida, where a battle raged, to a refugee camp. Her husband who became a soldier went missing, leaving her with three, five, and ten-year-old children.
While escaping desperately, she lost her children’s birth certificates, and they are currently not attending school. She is barely making a living collecting plastics from 2 pm to 8 pm while taking her children with her.
Hassan (16) supports his family by collecting trash
Hassan, a 16-year-old boy, has also escaped from the war-stricken town of Hodeida. He used to go to school but dropped out to work. He has elderly parents and four younger brothers and sisters to support. To make an income, he works from 6 in the morning to noon, and he goes out to work in the afternoon again till 5 pm, collecting plastics.
His earnings are 2,000~3,000 Yemen rial (about 200 to 300 Japanese yen). There are some days with no income. He neither goes to school nor supplementary school nor do his brothers and sisters.
We also met many children at the corner of the buildings sitting and playing, some of them drawing on the sand.
Playing is an important activity for children. That said, it is painful to see children gathering in a corner trying to get out of the way of adults who worry about their safety and daily livelihood. We don’t know how much mental effect the children have suffered from the violence of war.
They deserve to be taken care of. But the only thing they are doing is wasting precious moments and days on the roadside. How could we leave this as it is? I was heartbroken watching them.
The difficult situation children are now situated in: Yemen has become one of the worst places for children
There are many problems that face Yemeni children. In 2019, UNICEF expressed that “Yemen is still one of the worst places for children”.
・About 11 million out of 21.6 million who need aid are children
・3.2 million out of 4.5 million internally displaced persons are children
・8.6 million school-age children (from 5 years old to 17 years old) out of 10.76 million need support and more than 2.7 million children don’t go to school
[Ref: UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), 2022]
Children become mentally unstable
Those children in conflict areas are exposed to violence such as air strikes and bombardment. They become easily mentally unstable due to repeated evacuations in everyday life. In addition, they have been affected enormously both physically and mentally by their parents’ anxiety, the loss of their close relatives like their father or siblings, and the devastating economic situations. Remembering terrible experiences causes them to cry out during the night, which makes the adults anxious.
Children cannot have childlike time
In the wake of long conflicts, a growing number of children have never enjoyed peace since their birth. They lack enough aid, and it is significantly difficult for them to spend “childlike time” which is essential for developing their creativity and emotional well-being.
“Children who don’t exist”
Many children were forced to evacuate with only minimum necessities, leaving their ID documents and birth certificates which are the basic documents to protect their existence and rights. There are many children born in the evacuated areas, without having any birth certificates in the first place, and have become “children who don’t exist.”
Yemeni children are still suffering through the violent conditions caused by the war. A war is not something even adults with enough life experience can endure easily. Adults and children barely manage to endure the severe situation.
Children in a domestic refugees’ resident site
JVC is planning to work on the following activities in 2023
ID Documents, Birth Certificates
• Issuing ID documents for young people over 16 years old who are domestic refugees (150 people)
• Issuing birth certificates for children under 15 years old (400 people)
• Conducting a workshop for domestic refugees on awareness-building and legal consultation regarding the acquirement of ID documents
Managing “Children’s Place”
• Supporting the operation of “Children’s Place” with 200 children aged 3 to 13 years old from three domestic refugee camps
• Facilitators and the community’s parents’ board members (a total of 8 individuals) will operate the facility
Let children have “Children’s Place”
Children have scars on their hearts. In the fiscal year of 2023, JVC is hoping to create “Children’s Place”, a safe space where children are protected from violence. “Children’s Place” is also called “Child-Friendly Space (CFS).” Here, children are allowed to play and study, enjoy drawing and games, have fun and recreation, and participate in storytelling. Through these activities, they are able to develop pride and emotional intelligence and learn how to react to various daily incidents. It can also be used as a communal place where people can take care of children in cooperation with parents, communities, and NGOs.
Activities in “Children’s Place”
Protecting the rights of children and young people
We will deal with issuing ID documents and birth certificates to protect the rights of children and young people. ID documents connect to our basic rights just like our health insurance ID cards and resident cards. Without ID documents, people would face various problems such as not be able to go to school, receive medical care at a hospital, pass the checkpoint, get a job, etc. ID documents are necessary to facilitate access to the distribution of food, housing, and clothes.
Distributed goods
Temporary ID cards issued for domestic refugees
Our partners are young people: Staff in their 20s and 30s are leading the activities
For this project, we are working with our local NGO partner, Nahda Makers Organization (NMO). NMO was established in 2012 in Aden by young people in their 20s who had volunteering experiences in organizations such as the UN. They have administrated many projects financed by the UN and private donors in the fields of public hygiene, education, protection of children, governance, job training, shelters, food, and livelihood. Currently, they are administrating their activities at the field offices on 10 sites with about 130 staff members, and also with volunteers from the local community. They participate in the UN clusters and work as coordinators representing local NGO.
“Nahda” means “renaissance (revival)”
In 2015, the battle which continued for 5 months in the city of Aden began. The NMO staff could not move after being enclosed in the blocked area. In the fourth month, the organization was out of money which left the staff without salary; however, they started their activity again the following month.
They are very reliable in managing the daily tasks of the support project. On the other hand, they muttered about Yemen’s condition, saying “It’s like we are still in a nightmare,” and “Honestly, I don’t see anything for the future in this darkness.” JVC has decided to partner with NMO, to cooperatively support the young Yemenis, respecting their initiatives and placing great importance on those who are willing to work together.
A staff member, Ms. Hanan’s enthusiasm
NMO was first founded as a student-volunteer organization in 2010 and established officially as an NGO in 2012. Ms. Hanan is one of the four women among the initial 12 members of NMO. She graduated from Aden University majoring in computer and engineering. Since January 2022, she has worked as a manager. At the time of NMO’s establishment, she only got travel expenses as a salary. She hired staff and worked together with them. The total number of the NMO staff is now over 100. In addition, she manages human resources by looking over 300 field volunteers and handling accounting and procurement.
Hanan’s parents did not receive a college education, and her mother could not even read letters. But with the understanding and support of her family, she was able to attend a higher level of education at the university. Her parents, even though worried about their daughter’s volunteering activity that was not common for women, warmly watched over her, she recalled. She spoke about her enthusiasm for the activity.
“Yemen is currently still in war. I hope it will soon become a safe society. It is necessary to develop infrastructures for the supply of water, electricity, internet, and roads. And I want the country to be a peaceful place where women can have rights and opportunities. They need to be able to decide what they want to do. I think being able to live with love from one’s parents is important for people.”
JVC works with the local people to solve problems, aiming for each person to be able to exercise their abilities.
Ito on the left, Hanan on the right. Her face is covered by her request.
Our enthusiasm for the project
Being protected, playing, and learning are children’s rights
I’m Itoh, Secretary General of JVC. Last February marked the 7th year since the conflict started. We went to Yemen to conduct onsite research, wanting to know what was happening in the country under the “forgotten war” and wondering if there was anything we could do even after many years of conflict.
In the camp of the coastal town of Hodeida, we met those who had been there for six years after evacuating from dangerous places. One said his village was filled with mines. Another said he was almost forcefully recruited as a soldier, when soldiers came to the mosque reading out the names, including his, on the list to join to army. I heard stories about children who had lost their opportunities for education many times while fleeing from one camp to another.
As I have experiences in educational activities for the children in Afghanistan, Laos, and Cambodia, and at refugee camps in Myanmar (Burma), it was easy enough for me to imagine the sheer influence of the conflicts over the lives of refugee children when I saw the conditions of the Yemeni people. It is not too late. These people still need support now.
For those who live in conflict areas, physical protection, mental care, high-quality education appropriate to their growing levels, and learning opportunities are important as they are connected with the protection of lives and livelihood. The activities that we provide them now will variously increase the options for children.
I believe, in the future, there is a high possibility that these children will grow up to be a part of society involved in peace and reconstruction of the war-torn country or the region, preventing conflicts. We must not create a negative spiral of conflicts and poverty. I hope as many people as possible will support our activity of guaranteeing people’s due rights with our partner NGO which young local people operate.
