Hunger in Yemen: The Silent Emergency
A SkyeBoat Films Production. 25mins 22 secs

SUBJECT
AUDIO
VISUAL
WFP press conference
 
The situation in Yemen when it comes to food insecurity and malnutrition is very serious situation.
There are many many poor food insecure people in rural areas that definitely need food assistance.

Driving / landscape stills
Gian Carlo Cirri World Food Programme Representative
The situation  is so acute you must deploy emergency operation
WFP press conference


A third of Yemen’s 23 million people are food insecure.
They struggle daily to find enough food to lead a healthy and productive life.
Yemen has the third highest rates of malnutrition in the world.
The World Food Programme estimates over 2.5 million Yemenis are severely food insecure – they spend more than 30% of their income on bread alone.
FACTBOX
Gian Carlo Cirri World Food Programme Representative


Okay we are going to a governorate which is called Rayma. It’s the smallest governorate in Yemen and it’s on the highlands.

If we are to believe our comprehensive food security survey it’s the place in Yemen where hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition is the more acute.

The severely food insecure is extremely high as well

And it really looks like these people, or too many of them, in Rayma are in total poverty trap


Gian Carlo talking whilst driving in car





Abdo Abdo al-Amry, farmer, introducing his family

This is Amat ellah. And this is the youngest one Zainab, Mariam, Amat Alaleem, Aisha, Homadi, Majed, Jamal, Ali.

There are four boys and five girls. There are five older girls as well. So ten girls.

And here are their birth dates. I register them all here. There are no birth certificates.

Boy standing with stick
Down Rayma valley
Abdo walks into home
Abdo introduces his children
Abdo Abdo al-Amry
The eldest is Fatima, and then Hanadi, and then Zahra, Naima, Salama. And here are Manal and Hassan They died.

Abdo’s birth book
Abdo Abdo al-Amry
Stand up!

This is Zahra, Hanadi, Salama, Fatima, and this is Naima.

These are the five grown up girls and those are the small girls.

I have 10 girls. But I only have four boys.

These are my two wives. This one is pregnant.

This is my mum. And this is my father.

Mum: I have an eye problem

Mum, stop it!

Mum to baby: Shut up!


Abdo introducing his daughters
Grandfather sitting
Cut to grandmother with child
Cut to introduce to blind mother

Abdo Abdo al-Amry
The bread is made using firewood.

We get the okra from the market.

Sometimes there is okra and sometimes there is nothing.

We rely on bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The same every day.



Cut to hands bread okra
Kids eating then Abdo talking


Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East.

Nearly half its people live on less than two dollars a day, while unemployment tops 40%.

Its population is growing at one of the fastest rates in the world.


FACTBOX
Majed Abdo al-Amry
Bye bye!

My name is Majed Abdo Hamed Alim Hamed.

I study in the second grade at a school called Anwar Elementary School.

I am nine years old.

Majed leaving home


I study, I write, I read, I learn.
Walking along path
In Anwar Elementary School
Children: A meter!

Teacher: What does 100 centimetres equal?

Children: A metre!

Teacher: May God bless you!

This is called one centimetre. It’s like the ruler. It continues like this.

Teacher: And what is this called?

Children: The length

And what is this called?

CU Majed al-Amry
Teacher at blackboard
Children answer
Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, Headmaster

As for the food the children eat in the morning it’s bread from wheat or red corn they grow here in the country.

Some of them have tea or milk from the cow.

But some of them have nothing. They don’t even have sugar.

This is really happening.

Nutrition and eating play an essential role in concentration and the strength of the brain to endure and listen. This is a fact.

If they are hungry they faint or gets sick.

Ahmed interviewed in school
Cut to children in class
Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, Headmaster
In the line up in the morning, which lasts for half an hour, some of them faint and collapse and some of them leave in the break because they are hungry.

We notice that their grades are weak. Because nutrition is what water is to plants.


Ahmed at school
Cut to girls in school yard
Gian Carlo Cirri World Food Programme Representative

As you know Yemen is the place where gender inequality is highest in the world and it starts with education of course.

To attract girls to attend school we distribute on quarterly basis a food ration – a dry ration.

And the girls are taking this ration home. So it has double objective in fact

It is increasing enrolment and attendance of girls in Yemen which is very important. The second objective is that it creates in fact a safety net, okay, where the entire family can benefit from additional food on a regular basis.

B-roll of Gian Carlo walking into school
In car driving
Girls clapping
Men loading truck with wheat
Back in car driving


The UN’s first humanitarian appeal for Yemen asked donors for 187 million dollars.
Six months later the UN had received only 30%
As a result the World Food Programme was forced to halve rations to thousands of war displaced.
And the agency cut back its ‘Food for Education’ programme for girls
FACTBOX

Gian Carlo Cirri World Food Programme Representative

Our difficulty with that project is the funding.

Because of insufficient funding we can’t distribute on a regular basis the planned ration and this is creating of course less incentive for girls to go to school and the safety net part is less effective.

In car
Shabby Anwar Elementary School classroom from outside

Girl student

Gian Carlo Cirri World Food Programme Representative

Why, why has the food been decreased twice? And this time it was decreased again?

Some people are receiving food and some are not.
The World Food Programme is totally dependent on the money we are receiving from mainly other governments.
From European governments, from the US government.
From, let’s say northern governments.
And we are never guaranteed to have the money we need to do what we would like to do.
And this is a perfect case in this scheme.
Like other schools all across Yemen we can’t do what we would like to do because we do not have the necessary support and funding from these countries.
Inside shabby class room
CU boys look to girl
Girl asking question
GC answers
Girl’s response
Back to outside class
Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Headmaster
If the food assistance stops, the fathers would send their daughters home or to gather firewood, or they would work while the girl stays at home.

Teachers: Thank you for meeting us. Good luck! Thank you for coming!

Headmaster: So in fact, food assistance is excellent for education here.

If it decreases the standard of education declines.

Headmaster Ahmed
Cut to GC saying goodbye to class

Yemen ranks worst in the world for gender inequality

While the literacy rate for men is 70% it is only 30% for women.

Lack of female education in Yemen is a major contributor to a cycle of poverty through generations.

FACTBOX



Abdo al-Quleesi, father

This assistance is beneficial for sure. We are poor people, so we are happy to receive a sack of food because things are expensive here.

This is a real crisis.

GC walks over to fathers
GC sits down with father

Abdo Abdo al-Amry
We withdrew them because they stopped giving us wheat.

So it is better to keep them at home rather than going to school.

I am a poor person. That’s why I took them out. If there is wheat, they can come back.
Abdo talking by wall
CU Abdo
Girls at water pump
Salama (light pink scarf) and Naima (dark pink scarf) al-Amry, Abdo Abdo al-Amry’s daughters
We went to school but our dad withdrew us because we didn't have any clothes or books or anything

Girls at water pump
Salama (light pink scarf) and Naima (dark pink scarf) al-Amry
Today we went to get water and now we’re heading back home to work.

We wash dishes, bake, prepare food and clean.

Walking
Salama (light pink scarf) and Naima (dark pink scarf) al-Amry
We would love to be studying in school instead of staying at home.
Walking
Salama (light pink scarf) and Naima (dark pink scarf) al-Amry
With school you can be a doctor, but without school you cannot.

Walking
Salama (light pink scarf) and Naima (dark pink scarf) al-Amry
You cannot be anything without studying.
Riding donkey from back
Saeda al-Amry, Abdo Abdo al-Amry’s second wife
What is the difference between men and women? They are both equal. There’s no difference.


Sitting with her children

Saeda al-Amry
My Dad made me study and my ambition was to be a doctor.

I studied in Saudi Arabia and then the crisis happened and we left.

Then we came here to study but we couldn’t continue school because we didn’t have clothes, books and pencils.

My Dad couldn’t afford all of this. So he asked us to leave school.


Sitting with her children
Cuts to CU kids
Naima al-Amry
I feel sad about leaving school
CU Naima
Saeda al-Amry
She feels sorry in her heart.  And I also regret that I couldn't finish school. But what can I do?

I couldn’t study and achieve my ambition. I couldn’t.

Cuts to kids
CU zoom of Saeda

Black screen
Sound of baby crying
Mariam al-Amry, Abdo Abdo al-Amry’s first wife
I’m afraid but what can I do? I can’t do anything.

I’m afraid for my own health and for my children’s health.

But these are my circumstances. What can I do?

Who can you complain to? No one will listen. And you will not get anything anyway.

I kneed the dough every day, sometimes until the middle of the night, to feed the family.


Fade up
Girl goes to grandparents gives baby a drink
Mothers voice starts
Mother kneading dough
CU hands

Saeda al-Amry
If anybody gets sick that’s life. If God takes their life then that’s it.

God bless their soul. This is our life.

Mother kneading dough

Saeda al-Amry
Because she was very weak I had to give this girl blood three times.

And this one, I had to give her blood one time because she was very weak and malnourished.

And the eldest, I gave her blood once.

Saeda sitting with kids

Nearly half of Yemeni children under five are underweight.
A staple diet of bread and tea causes high rates of anemia, a deficiency of iron in the blood, among children and mothers.
Some 58% of Yemeni children grow up stunted due to poor diet.
FACTBOX
Saeda al-Amry

And this one, we took her to the hospital they told us she needs blood and nutrition.

We said that we can only give her what we have.

If she lives or dies this is God’s will.

Saeda and cuts to kids listening
Abdel Karim al-Aryani,     Political advisor to the President
Yemen faces a very serious problem – but unfortunately neither locally nor internationally people are realising or responding to the tragedy of Yemen’s hunger and extreme poverty.

The world is aware of Yemen as a haven for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular, Yemen is a dangerous state.

But they are only aware of the security side of Yemen. But the human suffering is totally ignored – almost totally ignored let’s be fair.

Aryani in library
Cut aways with children eating lunch
Abdul Ghani al-Aryani,      Political analyst

I do not blame the international community.
It’s the lack of confidence in the government of Yemen that causes this to happen.
The international community issued the appeal on behalf of Yemen which was supposed to issue the appeal-
So of course, donors are hesitant to commit their funds to this effort
And given that the government will eventually take over the distribution of food then maybe the donors do not think their food will go to the intended precipitants.

Abdel Ghani at home
Cut aways with children eating lunch
Abdo Abdo al-Amry
This is my land. It starts from here. As you can see it starts from this stone.

In the rainy season we grow corn. We grow it for three or four months and then we harvest it.

All of this land brings me three or four sacks of corn.
Abdo next to land
Cuts of land

Abdo Abdo al-Amry

And that’s not enough, because at home we consume a sack every five days. This is not enough, but God helps us.


Walking by land
Mariam al-Amry

Our daily life is not ok. We have to search for food.

Even if he found food for one day, the next day we have the same problem.

For today, we don't have anything except bread to eat.


Wife kneading dough


Yemen’s problems have been compounded by the recent ‘Triple F Crisis’

Food prices have soared, fuel revenues plunged and the financial crisis dried up remittances from Yemenis working abroad.

Economists estimate the Triple F crisis increased poverty in Yemen by nearly 25% since 2006, wiping out decades of development.
 
FACTBOX
Abdul Ghani al-Aryani     

A few years ago during the international food crisis a number of Yemenis and internationals tried to persuade the government of Yemen to issue an appeal for food aid.

The government of Yemen at the risk of seeing its people die of hunger refused to issue the appeal on account of national pride.

It’s not really the national pride they are worried about, but the pride of a few people at the very top.

And as a consequence, Yemen did not receive the assistance that it would have been entitled to which would have been in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Voice starts in black screen
Aryani at home
Cuts to Abdo walking


Abdel Karim al-Aryani    
I think probably countries and officials and governments do not like to declare a state of emergency for humanitarian needs.
Probably it is not very popular politically. That’s my sense.

Aryani in library
Naema al-Amry
I have been pregnant now for 8 months, and I have seven children, six girls and one boy.

Four of my children died.

One of them was eight months old, but was very weak and thin because of lack of food.

She died of dehydration. The rest died during my pregnancy in the sixth or seventh month.

I had miscarriages.

Naema sitting with children
Abdo Abdo al-Amry


This well dried out about eight months ago or a year ago, around the last Eid.

It’s finished. If it wasn’t I would be growing something in this area.

If the government looked after this area they would do some projects. At least drinking water projects.

Then all farmers would benefit. The government should be responsible for everyone.

Abdo by well
Walking around land
Sitting under tree
Hisham Sharaf, Deputy Minister of Planning

We don’t want the society to panic for a very simple reason.
It is something that can be handled by the state. We didn’t go to the point we just declare it as hunger.
If it comes to the 2.5 million who have been announced by the WFP - mainly the WFP who put that figure to us, although our authorities are still looking into that number - we have some mechanisms by which we can work with WFP through the social welfare fund.

That is supposed to pinpoint the poor people the malnourished those who are below the poverty line, if there is a need really to tackle that it’s the social welfare fund with the WFP

Sharaf in office





CU Abdo sitting under tree
Abdul Ghani al-Aryani     

From the economic point of view Yemen is quite capable of feeding its people if distribution of wealth is done properly

The whole thing is a product of mad distribution of wealth. There is a small group of people who are monopolising the fortune and the wealth of the country and the rest of the goes hungry.

The problem now is that there are people who get hundreds of millions of dollars each year from the national budget while millions are getting nothing.
If we distribute our resources properly we will not have starvation.  We will still be poor, but we will not be in a state of chronic hunger

Aryani at home
Abdo Abdo al-Amry


We have become exhausted over the past seven or eight months because of the drought.

If it stays like this for another year or two we may leave and migrate.

How do you live in an area without any water or anything?

We may have to leave our land and migrate to another place.

Abdo sitting under tree
Gian Carlo Cirri World Food Programme Representative
The destabilising role of hunger should not be  underestimated

Our point of view is that with humanitarian operations you are buying stability at a pretty cheap price
It is of high concern because when people don’t have food they have three options. The first one is to revolt. The second is to migrate. And the third is to starve.
We are afraid that the lack of support for WFP operations will further complicate the situation in Yemen and the many challenges that Yemen is facing.

Women baking bread
WFP press conference






I understand that when it comes to developmental assistance there are a certain number of discussions that are ongoing between the international community, donors and the government.
Those discussions are around reforms around the economic situation and what would need to be done in changing the situation.
So fair enough. But when it comes to humanitarian it’s just reminding a very simple principle. Humanitarian assistance should not be conditioned.
People who need humanitarian assistance are victims and distressed people they need the assistance of the international community regardless of the political discussions that are ongoing.

Cut away of WFP banner + press at conference


CU Abdo sitting under tree

Gian Carlo at press conference

ENDS