Thoughts and wishes from Yemen on World Humanitarian Day

As a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Team Leader at CARE Yemen, covering Amran, Sana’a, Amanat, Al Asemah, and Dhamar governorates as well as a WASH Cluster Governorate Focal Point, I have been hearing many tragic stories occurring every day because of shortfalls in water provision. A woman died while she was fetching water from the very same well I had seen the two girls at. A man also passed away because of drinking water contaminated by cholera. These are heartbreaking losses, more so because as a WASH expert, I know they can be preventable. They are sad realities we as humanitarians witness on a daily basis. Yet, there are heartwarming moments when we actually see the impact of the work we do with communities and the changes they see.

I have been working on the Yemen humanitarian response since 2015 and so I would like to take the opportunity on World Humanitarian Day, to express my gratitude to my WASH team members and the entire CARE Yemen team for their humanitarian spirit and commitment. They well understand the difficult situations we work in, so they demonstrate a cooperative approach to actions needed and all work as one team. Our main reason and drive is so we can support the affected people. Most of the humanitarian workers are facing many psychological stresses having worked under challenging circumstances and being affected by the conflict ourselves. So without supporting each other and alleviating each other of the daily challenges, we in turn wouldn’t be able to support the affected and vulnerable people we seek to serve.  According to the Arabic proverb,  “Who does not have a thing, cannot give it”.

My warm wishes to all humanitarian workers around the world and particularly the CARE Yemen family.