“My arms and my back hurt from the load I carry every day. We wake up every morning and race for water,”
Mohammad & his mother, Umm Mujahid, Yemenis in Taez
In Yemen, countless rural villages across the country lack basic resources. However, access to safe drinking water is still the biggest challenge faced by these vulnerable communities. More than 55% of the country’s population – which is almost 18 million people – lack access to safe water and sanitation.
Most of Yemen has an arid climate and across the country, there are many large, mountainous terrain. With climate change making rainfall infrequent and less reliable, the water crisis gets worse. To top this off, Yemen also has an outdated water infrastructure and a wide absence of water governance.
While the country is already one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, long-term conflict and effects of climate change have worsened water shortages. These vulnerable communities are forced to resort to unsafe water sources – with many families being unable to afford to treat the dirty water at home.
It’s a daily chore, especially for women and children, to obtain drinking water on a daily basis. Young children are forced to take on the responsibility of collecting water at such a tender age, carrying huge, heavy jerry cans filled with water.
According to The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Yemen’s groundwater “is being depleted at twice the rate of replenishment”, signalling that the country could completely run out of groundwater within two decades.
It’s undeniably, millions of Yemenis are in dire need of basic resources, especially clean water.
Now, we call on you to help us tackle water scarcity in Yemen.
We aim to deliver life-saving aid in the 5th phase of our Yemen Emergency Appeal distribution, and it includes providing a vital supply of clean, drinking water to the Yemeni community.
At the same time in this sacred month of Muharram, we aim to fund our Water Truck project, where we provide a year’s worth of water supply through water trucks to Rohingya and Yemeni refugees. The water is supplied from mobile water trucks that visit refugee camps in Yemen and Gaza each day. Each family has their own water tank in their homes, which will be filled up by the truck.
Be a lifeline to these communities in need and help save a life today with clean water.
