14 year old Aisha, a mother of five children

Aisha who has just turned 14 years old is now a mother to her five other siblings after both her parents passed away. Aisha and her siblings, 10 year old Fatima, 9 year old Yahya, 7 year old Tahya, 4 year old Haddya, and 2 year old Resala, live in Alzawager in Haitha district in Amran governorate.

 

         Aisha holds her baby sister Resala and is surrounded by her siblings Yahya, Tahya, and Haddya.

“My name is Aisha. I don’t know how old I am, but they say that I’m 4 years older than my sister Fatima. I am the eldest of five children who are all under my care after our parents passed away. With no hospital nearby, my mother bled to death while giving birth to my 2 year old sister, Resala.”

The family failed to save Aisha’s mother during delivery since there is no medical care available at their area. They had two choices, either take her to the hospital in Khamir (a town that is an hour away by car), or to just give up. The latter was the choice they were forced to take, as they could not afford to rent a car to move the mother to the neighboring town.

But unfortunately this was not the only tragedy that Aisha and her siblings had to endure. “When my mother passed away she followed my father who also passed a few months before her after he fell really ill.”

With the death of both her parents, Aisha found herself not only a mother but also a father to five children. "After my mother passed away, I would go to those people who have sheep or cows looking for milk to feed my baby sister and sometimes I would go to neighboring villages… Today my sister fell ill, I don’t know what’s wrong with her but she’s not moving and she has strong fever”, Aisha cried as she expressed her concerns about her sister’s health . She is trying to be patient while waiting for Save the Children’s Medical team that visits the area every two weeks.

Aisha is one of the beneficiaries of the food security program funded by USAID. She receives a monthly voucher with the amount of 10,700 YER and then exchanges it for food items at Save the Children’s specific sale points. We met her at the market where she collected her food items (oil, flour, tea, sugar, beans, tomato sauce, etc) and then followed her back home. Her two sisters greeted us happily at the door, excited about the food that she brought with her. “These are Tahya and Haddya,” said Aisha introducing them to us, “Fatima is helping my uncle around his house and Yahya will be back from school shortly.”

 

 

 

Aisha collecting her items from the market in Haitha, Amran.

The 14 year old girl tries her best to provide a living for her and her siblings.  It is very hard to do when there’s no adult to take care of them. “My uncle tries his best to help us but he himself is in a bad financial situation like everyone else in this village. Most people go away to other villages and ask the villagers there if they can live in their homes or work for them for money. Others go to fight in wars between tribes and mostly end up dying… I try to work in other homes in exchange for some flour or milk and sometimes I go to the mountains and collect firewood. Firewood brings very little money when sold but it’s better than nothing.”

This food voucher program has been operating in Alzawager for three months, targeting as many families as possible, including Aisha’s. The villagers there sometimes go for days just eating some bread and milk. “We usually eat bread and milk or water, and sometimes when there’s no bread we would eat Halas (a certain type of tree) by boiling it in water first then eating it. We even eat just one meal a day at times.”

While we were talking to Aisha, her brother Yahya came back from school. We noticed he was using a rice bag as his school bag. “My name is Yahya, I’m 9 years old and I study in the 3rd grade now. I love learning! And I wish to own a school bag, books, and pencils. I help my sister Aisha whenever I can in collecting wood or water from the valley. I’m very happy that Aisha brought back food today! It means that we will have lunch and dinner too and won’t sleep on empty stomachs like yesterday.”

Aisha and her siblings’ happiness for the support from this Save the Children program is hard to describe. It has helped them buy things they never thought they could afford. Now, Aisha only dreams to find a way to earn money and make a living.