"This assistance has given us life and hope again" says Saluma Saloum, from Al-Mahra governorate.
For Saluma, who lives in the jungles of Wadi Messila in Al-Mahra governorate, having enough food for her and her family, apart from being free, was like chasing a wild goose.
Driving for about five hours in rough roads, we reached Dahsawis area in Messila district, where Saluma and dozens of families live in the face of all kinds of suffering, starting from the rough roads and not ending with the region’s lack of the lowest health and educational services.
"Wadi Messila is known for its ruggedness. From the bottom of the valley to the top, we drives for seven hours by a four-wheel drive car, and at times of floods, the road is cut off for fifteen days to a month," says Salouma.
Saluma with expressions of suffering evident on her face, "If a family member falls ill, this is a suffering that you cannot imagine. We do not have a hospital, and the health center in the region lacks the simplest medicines, so we have to cross all this road that includes 65 water cuts, and this further worsens the patient's condition."
In Yemen, where about 80% of the population needs some form of humanitarian assistance, families are struggling to provide for their minimal food needs, which could hardly be provided after the collapse of currency rates, the deterioration of the economic situation, and the scarcity of job opportunities and livelihoods.
Salouma lives in peace from what she earns from raising livestock to meet the needs of her family of 8, but the high food prices due to the collapse of the currency and the exorbitant transportation costs weighed on her.
Suffocatingly, Salouma recalls her past suffering, "At times we had to eat only one or two meals a day, we do not need money, we only need food, because if you can eat and meet your need for food, you can work and provide for the rest of the needs." ".
For more than two years, Saluma has received monthly food assistance provided by the WFP through the implementing partner, the BCHR, which has changed her life better. "These materials give us a lot of hope. Every month, we get sugar, oil, flour, salt, legumes and rice. These materials meet our need for food," says Saluma, who expressed her wish for the continuation of this assistance.
Saloumeh is one of 36,327 families in the governorates of Hadramawt and Al-Mahra that receive monthly food assistance from the WFP through the BCHR.