Start with food.

Yemen, plagued with malnutrition and neglect, needs wholesome food as a top priority. It needs nurturing love. 

The country was poor before it even faced its current conflict. The destruction has escalated the need to a point that feels beyond return. The public infrastructure was already weak as well, and add a pandemic to the problem.

Last year, the UN estimated 24.3 million people — 80% of the population — faced a hunger crisis, 14.4 million of whom were in acute need of assistance. Currently, an estimated 20.5 million people are without safe water and sanitation, and 19.9 million without adequate health care, The World Bank reports.

So when there are several large-scale, nationwide problems, it’s key to cover the basics: food and water. Zakat Foundation of America has been doing just that, covering immediate needs while also looking to a sustainable future for Yemen’s people. That includes agriculture, and it includes livestock, too. But it doesn’t stop there, nor can it. Clean water, health care, and constant emergency relief help equip beneficiaries with hope in its most visible form — recurring support.

Food accessibility is already limited, and resources are scarce enough that villages far from main cities and ports rely on delivery by the truckload. 

Sometimes, the most nourishing meal these villagers eat comes by way of Ramadan and Udhiyah distributions. Sometimes, that’s the only time of year people eat fresh meat.

And getting the food is a challenge in itself. It doesn’t stop these disaster-stricken people from walking as far as they need to and carrying home what they can to feed their families. It doesn’t deter them in the least.

So we get the food as close to them as we can, and we work with locals whenever possible to stimulate the small-business economy. They do what they must because they have faith in Yemen. They have faith in their own futures and their children’s. And the children do what they can, too.

The children carry their future on their shoulders — literally, by way of food, and metaphorically, by way of hope. A lot of these children have lost one or both of their parents, and it’s those especially vulnerable children who we work to sponsor. 

There is a popular story of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, interacting with a bedouin who had such faith in God that he did not tie his camel before leaving it. He believed the camel would still be in the same place when he returned. The Prophet Muhammad, on him be peace, gave the pithy advice to first tie the camel, then to trust in God. With that came the succinct lesson to do our part, just as we expect God to do His.

As the people of Yemen are doing their part to create pockets of happiness, the rest of us must do our part to uplift them. We must give them the tools to maintain resilience. 

The New York Times has acclaimed Zakat Foundation of America’s relief work in Yemen, and 100% of donations for Yemen and for the Emergency Relief fund go directly toward humanitarian work — no administrative costs are taken.