From a Palm Stem Hut to the Shelter of Hope

"Life is hard, but having the shelter made it less bitter, " says Abdullah, 30 years old, a displaced person residing at the Al Rabat Al Gharbi site, in Lahj governorate.

Abdullah is a father of a five-member family. He has been displaced from Hodeidah due to the conflict and is seeking a safe place. He has no regular income but he takes any available daily work he can find, such as harvesting crops, moving stones, or cleaning construction sites.

His daily earnings are inconsistent; some days he finds work and earns about 2,600 Yemeni Riyals (approximately 1.20 dollars). This is enough to buy two loaves of bread and some rice, just enough to feed his family for one day. On tougher days, he usually asks neighbors for help.

Abdullah and his family previously lived in an exposed hut made from palm stems and leaves they found around the displacement site. The tattered roof did not provide protection from the scorching midday sun nor from the winter rains.

Their hut had no real walls, just bunches of hessian tied together. The sun penetrated through gaps, burning their skin and spoiling the rice and vegetables stored in plastic bags. Abdullah says, "Once, our entire wheat supplies spoiled due to moisture."

One day, while Abdullah waited for his work at a construction site gate, he heard an announcement from a DRC team member about a distribution of Transitional Shelters (T-shelters). He didn't fully grasp the details but asked a representative, "Will we get a place to take cover from the sun?"

Thanks to support from the European Union (EU), DRC’s team provided T-shelter to 47 families at Al-Rabat Al-Gharbi site, including Abdullah’s.

Abdullah’s family received wood, metal sheets and other materials to help them install their T-Shelter, and make sure that it had a protective roof. With guidance from DRC’s team, Abdullah and the workers who DRC hired assembled the shelter in two days.

The new shelter measures 24 square meters, it is slightly elevated from the ground to minimize the risk of flooding, with walls covered in insulating layers. The metal roof keeps out sun and rain, and the wire mesh on the windows keeps insects out.

Today, Abdullah and his family look toward the future with hope in their eyes, having found a glimmer of optimism thanks to the aid they received. He expresses, "This shelter is the greatest support we've received and motivated me more to support my family”.