‘We have nothing’: Displaced mothers in Yemen’s Taiz collect plastic to survive

Detailed summary

Two single mothers who fled their village three weeks ago are struggling to keep their children fed and warm in the besieged Yemeni city of Taiz, where t ...

Two single mothers who fled their village three weeks ago are struggling to keep their children fed and warm in the besieged Yemeni city of Taiz, where they live in a damaged building and sell plastic bottles to get by.

Taiz hosts about half of the 300,000 people displaced across Yemen by the latest fighting, according to the UN. The city has been largely isolated since October 3, following an escalation in clashes between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthis. The fighting has prevented humanitarian supplies from entering and civilians from leaving.

Fatima Abdullah Qassem said the families fled on foot in the middle of the night when fighting reached their village of al-Sayahi in the al-Dhabab area west of Taiz.

The family spent two days sleeping on the street because the damaged building they are currently living in was so dirty, she said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Gulf Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.