Mothers Fight for Children’s Lives, Hunger in Yemen

 

A young mother in Yemen stood on the scale for a doctor. Even wearing her long, black clothing she weighed only 38 kilograms.

The mother, Umm Mizrah, is pregnant¹, but starving. She is giving all her food to her children.

The doctor’s office was filled with pictures of starving babies who have come through Al-Sadaqa Hospital in Aden.

They are suffering because of a three-year civil war in Yemen that has left millions of people near death from starvation.

Mothers like Umm Mizrah miss meals, they sleep to escape the pain in their stomachs. They hide thin bodies in their heavy, black abayas.

The doctor asked the mother to get back on the scale holding her son, Mizrah. At the age of 17 months, he was 5.8 kilograms. That weight is about half the normal weight for his age.

He was suffering from “acute² malnutrition³.” His legs and feet were swollen⁴. He was not eating enough protein.

Millions of Yemenis suffer from lack of food

The United Nations says 2.9 million women and children in Yemen are acutely⁵ malnourished.

Nearly one third of Yemen’s population, or 8.4 million people, are fed with food aid or else they would go hungry. That number has grown by 25 percent over the past year.

Aid agencies say that parts of Yemen could soon start to see widespread death from famine. More and more people need aid that is already failing to reach people.

The war is between Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels who control the country’s north, and the Saudi-led coalition⁶ that supports the government. The coalition is supported by the United States. It has tried to defeat the rebels with a bombing campaign in support of the Yemeni government.

The Associated Press reports that the number of dead is unknown. Officials are not able to get numbers.

However, the aid organization Save the Children estimated late last year that 50,000 children may have died in 2017 of extreme hunger or disease.

‘World’s largest humanitarian⁷ emergency’

Stephen Anderson is the Yemen director of the World Food Program. He said, “Unfortunately, now Yemen is considered to be the world’s largest humanitarian emergency.”

Even before the war, the Arab world’s poorest nation struggled to feed itself. It is a country of deserts and mountains with little water. Only 2 to 4 percent of the land is farmed. Almost all of its food and supplies must be imported.

The war has destroyed almost everything needed to secure food supplies. Bombing by the coalition has destroyed hospitals, schools, farms, factories, bridges and roads.

The coalition has also put an embargo⁸ on Houthi-controlled areas. These areas include the Red Sea port of Hodeida. Little food gets in. Coalition forces permit UN approved ships and aid only, often with delays.

The United States gives a lot of assistance to the coalition campaign. The U.S. has provided intelligence and billions of dollars in arms. It also provides help in planning and organizing.

The State Department adds that the U.S. has provided nearly $854 million to ease the humanitarian crisis⁹ in Yemen.

In many places there is food in the markets, but people do not have money. The currency has collapsed¹⁰, there are few jobs, and those with jobs are often not paid.

Umm Mizrah and her husband have three young daughters in addition to Mizrah. They usually eat one meal a day, often just bread and tea. The Associated Press identified her by a false name to protect her privacy¹¹.

When the doctor in Aden told her malnutrition could cause her baby to die, she was frightened. But, the parents felt helpless.

“I don’t know what is right,” she said quietly. “He was playful and doing fine then he started to get sick and stopped breastfeeding and playing.”

The AP traveled across southern Yemen, an area held by the government. Reporters visited places among the 107 areas that the U.N. warns are most likely to face a severe lack of food.

All are living with pain and fear.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

scale – n. a device that is used for weighing people or things

abaya – n. a long black robe mostly worn by women in the Middle East.

acute – adj. very serious or dangerous

malnutrition – n. the unhealthy condition that results from not eating enough food

swollen – adj. the state of being larger than normal

famine – n. a situation in which many people do not have enough food to eat

currency – n. the money that a country uses

1 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

2 acute   

adj.严重的，激烈的，敏锐的，急性的，尖的

参考例句：

• A period of acute depression can sometimes follow childbirth.分娩之后可能会有一段时间的急性抑郁期。
• The publication comes as the answer to an acute demand.这一出版物是为满足急需而出版的。

3 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

4 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

5 acutely   

adv. 尖锐地, 剧烈地

参考例句：

• I am acutely aware of the difficulties we face. 我十分清楚我们面临的困难。
• After her mother's death, she became acutely aware of her own mortality. 她母亲去世后，她开始强烈意识到自己的生命是有限的。

6 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

9 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 privacy   

n.私人权利，个人自由，隐私权

参考例句：

• In such matters,privacy is impossible.在这类事情中，保密是不可能的。
• She wept in the privacy of her own room.她在自己房内暗暗落泪。