Having lost their homes and jobs to the conflict, nearly 6,000 people face life dependent on aid. Caroline Berger relays a blog from
one of Oxfam’s field staff in Yemen. It’s my third week as an Oxfam engineer inside this makeshift city set deep in the mountains of Northern Yemen. This
is the Al Mazarakh camp in Haradh â€" home to 950 families, or nearly 6,000 people, displaced by the ongoing fighting between Al Huthi rebels and government forces in the region.
I have come to this place to provide urgently needed assistance for people who have been displaced by the
conflict.More displaced people are arriving everyday, barefoot and bewildered.The scorching temperatures have ceased but the scars of this war continue to
burn. Desperation and sorrow are etched into the faces of the hundreds of families that reside in the Al Mazarakh refugee camp. Yesterday, one man with five family members asked
me:Â ”What am I supposed to do? I have no job and no income. I’ve lost everything.” It’s a familiar story for the hundreds of refugees, now internally
displaced and living in limbo. Â
The community digging a
pit latrine
There is a sense of profound loss amongst these people, dependent on humanitarian aid from organisations like Oxfam. Today I spoke with a 45-year-old woman who was forced to
flee her village after fighting broke out. For four days and three nights, she had no choice but to sleep on the side of the road with her eight children and walk
barefoot along the beaten tracks to safety. She explained: “I lost everything; my home, my belongings. Now I have nothing.” She told me that her husband lost his
livelihood due to the conflict and had no choice but to leave for Saudi Arabia in search of an income. The conflict has disrupted her family, and her sister is looking after her children far
away from the camp. I felt helpless as the tears began to fall from her eyes, “I can’t afford to pay for the transportation to visit my children. I’ve no idea when I’ll see my
family again.”Â
Distributing hygiene kits to families in the Haradh camp
Oxfam has been providing her with basic household items, a hygiene kit and has built a basic
latrine. She hopes one day to return home.Amid the sadness, I feel a sense of hope that our emergency relief work â€" improving health and sanitation â€" is making a
difference. I remember my first days inside the camp and the choking smell that hung in the air from the
lack of sanitation. Now the hygiene situation has improved and we’ve just finished the construction of 250 latrines inside the camp. The day we built our first latrine, one man told
me “I’m so happy to have this. For almost a month and a half, my nine family members had no latrine and no privacy.”As darkness falls, I feel
relieved that we are making positive progress in addressing health risks in Al Mazarakh camp, and that our assistance is valued by both men and women inside the camp.
Tomorrow I will begin my usual 14-hour shift and continue to help people cope with their loss â€" the first step on this difficult journey.Find out more: Conflict in Yemen More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Hassan Zayid, head of the supreme council of Yemen's main opposition grouping the Joint Meeting Parties, addresses a news conference in Sanaa October 29, 2009. Opposition parties on Thursday called on ...
