A 55-year-old man collects plastic bottles to sell to feed his children. His name is Faisal. Displaced from Al Hudaydah, where he worked as a traffic officer, he now lives in a makeshift camp with his family of 11 people. He used to be optimistic and say things like,
“Today will be a better day!”
But with the worsening situation around him, he became more troubled and confused. He began to see only the inevitable desperate situation that was before him. He now started to say things like,
“With time, I thought the circumstances would change, but instead, it seems poverty will never abandon us until death.”
In the grip of poverty, moving from camp to camp, with no house to live in, torn clothes, and hunger reflected on their faces, the family sleeps together side by side on the ground. Faisal collects bottles and looks for other work from before sunrise, and returns to his family well into the night. All this to try to feed his family and save them from starvation.
When ITDC came to his area, he was one of many that received the needed help, and he said,
“Now we can eat meals every day, and I can buy medicine and clothes for my family. I am speechless. I do not know how to show my gratitude to you. I thank you, ITDC, for what you did for us.”