The current war in Yemen has exacerbated people’s suffering and contributed to destroying most basic services in the affected areas. More than eighty percent of the population needs humanitarian assistance as they lack safe water, food security, and job opportunities. Most people have lost their jobs and incomes.
Al-Mabtana village in Hajjah governorate of Yemen has only one road which was destroyed twenty years ago. The road was built in 1995 and it was used for just five years before it was damaged. As Shawqi Abo Qahem, a 47-year-old resident of the village explains: “This road is the only and main road for our village which connects us with neighbourhood sub-districts.”
Shawqi continues: “The importance of this road is to enable residents to get to the areas of Shafer, Shamer and Abes as well as reaching the main asphalt road. I remember when it rained and floodwater filled the valley for days. No one could pass, so everything stopped in the village. There was no way to transport our harvests or goods to the central markets. In the past we spent two hours to reach the nearest hospital through the deep valley. Our relatives faced difficulties when they needed to visit us in our remote village. We tried more than once to rebuild the road, but it cost heavy efforts with no support from others and so we failed.”
With funding from the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), CARE intervened with a cash for work project, which gave temporary employment opportunities to vulnerable people in the area. They received income in return for helping to construct the road.
