Keeping Hope Alive in Yemen

Violence can kill a physical body, but hearts, minds and spirits survive on brotherly love & creativity

Our Cause

Yemen has a long rich history, its people are naturally hospitable good kind and hard working -Yemenis represent the ‘salt of the earth’. Yet, Yemen has emerged in the past year as a nation in turmoil. As each week goes by, violence, bombings and assassinations are becoming more frequent. The major city of Sana’a has been ruled by the local authorities. Now, one of Yemen’s largest populated cities, Taiz, is almost completely destroyed along with other villages which still under siege putting their future in jeopardy. Recently, cholera epidemic out broke in the city resulting in killing hundreds of lives due to the Arabian Allied Forces' siege. Now, this epidemic has out broke in other cities: "Sana'a and Al Hudaydah" and the last suspected cases are over 246 thousand cases and the disease has decimated the lives of over 1796 people according to the United Nation World Health Organization (WHO) reports.

As friends and believers in Yemen, we aim to provide access to creative community building opportunities, to extinguish the potential for extremism and radicalism that can occur in such circumstances and environments before such a movement has a chance to create a foothold.

The time to act in positive manner is now. We know what has happened in Levant and the slippery slope that lead matters into a point of seemingly no return. We can’t just stand by and wait for the same fate to befall our Muslim neighbors to the south- brothers and sisters of Yemen.

Why it Matters                             

One way to combat violence is to create positive and accessible avenues of opportunities and give people outlets that provide hope and boost their spirits, all things considered. USAid and others are no longer able to support program funding for development in Yemen which will leave a large gap to fill for socially oriented programs and projects in the nation.

Approaching three year of violence and attacks,

• An estimated 18.8 million people need humanitarian assistance in at least one sector.
• 10.3 million who require immediate assistance to save or sustain their lives.
• More than 7 million people do not know when they will eat again.
• More than 8 million face acute shortages of clean water and sanitation.
• Nearly 3.3 million people – including 2.1 million children – are acutely malnourished.
• On average, the conflict kills or injures nearly 75 people every day.
• Violence since mid-March 2015 has forced more than 3 million people from their homes, including 2 million who remain internally displaced.

This represents the biggest crisis in the world –with citizens essentially trapped and unable to even migrate as their borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman are closed and entry denied.

(As opposed to Syrians in turmoil yet have been able to, albeit under dangerous and uncertain circumstances; seek refuge elsewhere to escape dire conditions while seeking a betterment of life). The humanitarian crisis, yet seemingly ignored as attention is placed to conflicts elsewhere. Most international NGOs have left the market, embassies have closed, foreigners fled. Local aid has all but dried up. There are top humanitarian organizations attempting to solve the challenges of getting food and supplies into Yemen, and we will trust them to use their expertise and resources to do their good work. For now, our mandate is proactively spreading ‘positivity’ so that nothing sinister has a chance of creeping in. We believe this approach is better than responding reactively once something negative is set in motion.

Citizens who are in despair are in desperate need of not only dietary nourishment and everyday supplies, but also spiritual nourishment, hope, positive opportunities, especially if fundable projects by Yemenis for Yemenis can help generate income, put food on the table, keep the water running. This is where we (all of us) come in.

This Initiative

There are shining beacons of hope that remain and faith that can't be crushed. There is a small and vibrant arts scene, a newly launched funding platform created by SamAid Organization for Humanitarian Response and Development for new ventures, which aim to enhance youth innovation and creativity challenges. There is western interest in Yemen’s historic coffee business and then there is our program –"Awesome Yemen" which is a micro-grant program platform for an initial term of 3 month  (Yemenis need reliable, consistent ‘aid’, moral support, they need to know the world cares and is committed, as they are to their future) that aims to provide up to $1,500 a month equivalent in no strings-attached funding to Yemenis of any age in both (most northern provinces) such as Taiz, Sana’a, Hudaydah, Some of Hajjah's districts  and Sa'dah who wish to achieve good works for their communities, start new ventures, improve infrastructure, feed their neighbors, anything that keeps Yemenis inspired, hopeful, and engaged as life’s uncertainties unfold around the most populated areas in the nation. To this end we have blessing and support from local organization along with multiple international organizations that aim to support our cause and dreams for better Yemen.

Who is SamAid Organization

SamAid for Humanitarian Response and Development is a non-profit organization established in 2017 with the purpose of providing high standard humanitarian, sustainable development responses to the effects of natural disasters and human conflict across Yemen.   While doing so the approach to sustainability focuses on partnerships at the governmental and non-governmental levels, among service providers and donors in order to elevate the efficiency and the long-lasting effect of the development interventions.

SamAid endeavors as one of its main foci to empower women and youth to play effective social and economic roles in their communities while enhancing their positive, steadfast participation at all levels in every aspect of sustainable community and national development.

Health and nutrition:

• Raising awareness sessions, workshop and brochures distributions during the international week of breastfeeding.
• Feeding the community with the importance of breast cancer examining and early screening; workshops, seminars and brochures distributions; as well as, providing selected number of women with free breast cancer screening.

Empowering Youth:

• Sports and recreational event for youth in the International Youth Day.

Empowering Women:

• Participating in the international campaign “16 Days of Activism against Violence” to end gender-based violence especially in schools: holding awareness-raising events, competitions among school students and photo galleries.

How You Can Help

This is not a "one-off" endeavor. We aim for positive socio-economic development in Yemen. Thus, our program covers 3 month (and more funds, extends the program or enables us to provide more funding to those with ideas, energy, and positive outlook for their families, brothers, nation). Your contribution will largely fund projects created in a number of Yemen’s largest cities, Taiz, Sana'a, Al Hudaydah, Sa'dah and Hajjah –socially oriented projects, relevant projects, spiritually uplifting and potentially lifesaving projects by Yemenis for Yemenis –whatever they may be, imagination and determination has no limit.

We have attempted the creation of desirable rewards for your kind contributions. If you would like something different, we are open to suggestions as well as varying, custom funding amounts and rewards. We cannot thank you enough for supporting Awesome Yemen.

(Please Note: while our profile photo is awesome, no one in the photo is related to this project --yet!)