Title: Economic Collapse and Hunger Grip Yemen During Ramadan
In the years before war and hunger upended daily life in Yemen, Mohammed Abdullah Yousef used to sit down after a long day of fasting during Ramadan to a rich spread of food. His family would dine on meat, falafel, beans, savory fried pastries, and occasionally store-bought crème caramel.
This year, the Islamic holy month looks different for Mr. Yousef, 52, a social studies teacher in the coastal city of Al Mukalla. He, his wife, and their five children break their fast with bread, soup, and vegetables. Earning the equivalent of $66 a month, he frets that his salary sometimes slips from his hands in less than two weeks, much of it to pay grocery bills.
Muslims abstain from food and water between dawn and sunset in observance of Ramadan, which is meant to be a time of worship, celebratory gatherings, and nightly feasts. But it has been a desperate occasion this year for many across Yemen. The country is home to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, precipitated by a war that began in 2014, which experts warn may be drifting toward a deeper disaster.
After two years of relative quiet, conflict in Yemen is threatening to ramp up again. The Iran-backed Houthi militia that controls much of the country’s north is attacking ships in the Red Sea, calling it a campaign to pressure Israel over its bombardment of Gaza. In response, a U.S.-backed coalition is carrying out airstrikes on Yemen — all of which is increasing the insurance cost of shipping goods to the country, which is dependent on imports.
More than 18.2 million people out of the population of 35 million now require humanitarian assistance, but funding has fallen as international donors turn their attention to other crises, including the war in Ukraine and an imminent famine in Gaza.
Edem Wosornu, the director of operations and advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned on March 14 that food insecurity and malnutrition in Yemen had surged in recent months. The progress the agency had observed over the past two years was “at the risk of unraveling,” she said.
Last year, the United Nations sought $4.3 billion to pay for aid operations in Yemen and received less than half that from donors. This year, it put out a more modest plea for $2.7 billion.
Yemenis like Mr. Yousef split their lives into periods before and after the war splintered their country. Before, he used to be able to afford special purchases for his family like a whole goat, and he was even able to pay for a trip to Mecca for an Islamic pilgrimage, he said.
As the war ground on for years, hundreds of thousands of people died from violence, hunger, and disease. Children starved to death — their emaciated bodies documented in stark photographs published by Western news outlets — and the potential of a widespread famine loomed.
Mr. Yousef’s salary has technically gone up by more than 50 percent since the war began, but that increase has vanished amid inflation, as the Yemeni currency becomes increasingly worthless. Dueling central banks in the north and the south of the country set different exchange rates, and the black market operates on a third. In 2014, it took about 215 Yemeni riyals to equal $1; now, where Mr. Yousef lives, it is 1,650.
Mohammed Omer Mohammed, a grocery store owner in Al Mukalla for three decades, can see the impact in his shop as purchasing power plummets. Instead of rice, customers buy subsidized bread. He said he stopped stocking goods like Nutella and high-quality canned tuna because his customers can no longer afford them.
In the evenings, Ramadan shoppers still gather at a busy market in the city, where vendors sell hamburgers and fresh fruits. But merchants said the trade was not what it used to be. Shoppers stop to ask how much things cost, then buy nothing. Those who do buy haggle relentlessly over the price.
This Ramadan has been particularly difficult for Hussein Saeed Awadh, 38, a father of three in Al Mukalla. He earns 55,000 Yemeni riyals a month as an Arabic teacher, a salary that is now worth less than $35. That disappears in a few days as he pays off bills, he said, so in the afternoons he has taken a second job as a street vendor.
A whole chicken would cost more than 5,000 Yemeni riyals — a tenth of his monthly salary. A kilogram of local mangos would cost 3,000 riyals; imported oranges about 3,500. All of it is more than many Yemenis can afford. But it is not just food that is out of reach.
Recently, Mr. Awadh found that his 6-year-old daughter’s teeth had been breaking because she was not getting enough calcium. A four-pound container of powdered milk costs 14,000 riyals — an entire week of his wages as a teacher.
“The doctor prescribed medicine and told me to give her milk,” he said. “But I can’t afford it.”
The economic collapse and hunger gripping Yemen during Ramadan paint a stark picture of the challenges faced by its people as they struggle to survive in the midst of conflict and poverty.
