Faten, a forty-eight-year-old displaced widow with a ten-year-old son. She lives with her son, sister, and father in a small mud house in Rub Al-Hajn Sub-district in Al-Luheyah District, Hodeida Governorate. When Faten and her family got displaced to this area, they had nothing: no clothes, no money at all and the father was eighty years old with a broken hand that he could not do any work. Faten had to send her son out to work in carrying livestock fodder. He was young and could not express himself or count well. Faten said, “He got two thousand riyals on a day and one thousand riyals on another with which we bought only the most basic needs; If we had lunch, we did not have dinner or breakfast. However, on some days, the son didn’t find work and could earn nothing, so the family stays without food. Faten added, “Sometimes we stay without eating anything for four days except for water and bread, and if we got sick, we couldn’t afford to buy medicine”. The family’s life was miserable and there was no source of income at all.
Faten was selected among the beneficiaries of the unconditional cash assistance intervention implemented in the district. Faten said, “I received my cash assistance in the first round and bought sufficient food including flour, oil, rice, and tomato sauce and things for the kitchen; and my situation improved. We now have lunch, dinner, and breakfast” In the second round, Faten bought home needs and a sheep. In the third round, she bought food and another sheep. In the fourth round, she bought food and got treated for her illness. In the fifth and sixth rounds, she could buy two other sheep. She described this as a dream for them buying food, vegetables, fruit, and four sheep. The sheep provide the family with milk and will bring income in the future when they breed. Faten concluded,
“our situation has improved greatly because of this project, so a thousand thanks to the organization”.
The unconditional emergency cash assistance for food project, implemented by Life Makers Meeting Place Organization (LMMPO) and funded by the YHF, targeted the most vulnerable displaced families living in IDP sites in Rub’ Al-Hajn, Rub’ al-Hadrami, and Al-Khawbah sub-districts in Al-Luheyah District, Hodeidah Governorate. The project targeted 592 families including Faten’s family, and the cash assistance was provided in six rounds (months) started in July 2023 and ended in December 2023 as each family received an amount that equivalent to $121 (63,500 to 64,000 Yemeni Riyals)