Shaima left school at just eight years old to support her family’s farming business in Hajjah, in northern Yemen. Conflict had erupted and the country’s economy went into freefall, leaving the family almost destitute and with no means to pay for her schooling.

A few years later, the violence spread to Shaima’s village. Her family of six crammed onto their father’s motorbike and travelled more than six hours to reach the Sa’ada Governorate. They are among some 4.5 million Yemenis displaced within the country by the relentless conflict, 80 per cent of whom are women and children in drastic need of humanitarian assistance. 

Finding nowhere else to go, Shaima and her family took shelter in a refuse tip in Quhza District. They resorted to collecting plastic bottles, which they transported by motorbike to sell at a market in the city, earning less than $1 dollar a day. They could barely scrape together one meal for the family, but at least they were together. 

That changed when heavy rains lashed their shelter in August, washing away their motorbike. Shaima’s father and brother rushed to catch it, but were pulled into the floodwater. Shaima, too, tried to help but was dashed against the rocks by the force of the current. A neighbour pulled her to safety, but both her father and brother drowned. 

Now Shaima, at age 16, is the sole provider for her mother, her 6-year-old sister and 13-year old brother. Yet discriminatory social norms, especially in northern Yemen, restrict women’s right to work, access basic health services or travel without a male guardian, so her mother is compelled to stay home and look after the children.

A rapid response team led by HA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, met with Shaima’s family, providing them with emergency support and referred them for shelter and cash assistance. To meet the needs of people displaced in an emergency, HA distributes dignity kits, containing hygiene and menstruation supplies, to women and girls, alongside ready-to-eat food from WFP and hygiene kits provided by HA.

Shaima told HA, “My only hope for the future is to be able to secure the very basic needs for the rest of my family to survive.”