A heavy time: fear and weariness
A staff member from one of Tearfund’s local partners tells us, ‘The situation in Yemen is deteriorating rapidly. It's a heavy time emotionally – worry, fear, and a weariness that comes from conflict that never seems to end.’
Our partner staff are still responding locally, working to meet the immediate and urgent needs of some of those people who have been impacted, in spite of continuing challenges and concerns.
‘Access to some areas has been reduced as we navigate a shifting security landscape,’ the staff member explains, ‘but we are still very much present and responding. We are monitoring displacement and food needs, tracking the situation closely, and planning to proceed with all our scheduled projects – adapting approaches and timelines as the realities require us to.’
Increasing need
Our partners’ ongoing projects in the region include work that deals with food security, disaster risk reduction, peacebuilding, mental health, livelihoods, and helping increase communities’ access to important services such as education and healthcare.
In this work, priority is given to women and girls, particularly lactating mothers, to IDPs*, persons living with disabilities, older people and people facing extreme socio-economic hardship.
With the current influx of newly displaced people desperate for shelter – and often arriving with nothing more than what they are wearing – into the areas where our partners are operating, the need is greater.
And the pressures on staff are growing too.
‘We are providing peer support sessions for staff and leaders to help them carry this together and care for their mental and emotional well-being,’ our partner says.
Please join us in prayer for Yemen and for our local partner staff.
If you’d like to give to help Tearfund respond in situations like this, please do so here.
*What is an IDP?
People who have been forced to flee their homes and find safety in other places within the same country are often referred to as internally displaced persons (IDPs). (Refugees are those who seek safety across country borders.)
