Search
  1. Home
  2. Middle East and North Africa
  3. Yemen

Huda Omar, "My children cry out for food day and night"

Huda Ali and her two daughters fled war in Somalia to Oman and then to Yemen, where they live in the street having been denied refugee status Adel Yahya/IRIN
    SANA'A

    Huda Omar, 30, fled war-torn Somalia by boat in 2006 to Oman, where she spent more than two and a half years before paying traffickers to smuggle her to Yemen.



    [See also: YEMEN-SOMALIA: Bracing for a fresh influx of Somali refugees]



    But in Yemen she is eligible for protection only, and not support, as she has not been allowed to register as a refugee with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Living in the street with her two young daughters, just metres away from UNHCR’s office in Sanaa, Huda told IRIN her story.



    “No one helps us… I and my two children have no income. I am forced to beg for money from passers-by to feed my children and myself.



    “I have been living in this place for three months without any way to clean, or get drinking water. Nobody cares about my suffering.



    “In Oman, I fell out of a moving car and then spent five months in one of Oman’s public hospitals, where I was cared for and given medicine for free. When I heard about the humanitarian treatment given to Somali refugees by international organizations in Yemen, I decided to come to Yemen. But I have had no mercy, no sympathy and no humanitarianism here.



    “Because of my disability, I can hardly move without using my crutches. I still need medicine to ease my pain.



    “My children cry out for food day and night and I barely sleep at night because of my illness and hunger. My condition is getting worse with time because I don’t have good food and medicine.



    “The war forced us to desert our home, leave our crops before harvest time, and lose our cattle, which we relied on for our livelihood. I cannot imagine what our farmland looks like these days.



    “But it would have been better for me to stay in Somalia - even amid the conflict in which my husband was killed. I regret my decision to flee to Yemen.



    “My dream in life is to have a shelter for me and my children, and enough food and clean water. But I don’t know if it is possible for me to achieve this dream before I die.”



    ay/ed/cb

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join