Speeches Shim
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis in Yemen, the Umm Al Banat Art Center for Women’s Training faced a serious dilemma—adapt or go out of business. The center is a women-led social enterprise located in Khore Makser, Aden that previously specialized in manufacturing clothing. With the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, however, demand for its products sank and sales plummeted. At the same time, demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and hospital-grade clothing took off rapidly, offering Umm Al Banat an opportunity to realign its production and re-launch itself as a profitable business.
Muhammad and his family of six live in Al-Wajd village in Ta’izz Governorate’s Al-Misrakh District. Like other parts of Yemen, the village’s water and sanitation services have been devastated by the ongoing conflict, including Muhammad’s household latrine.
Ghamdan, a high school graduate and father, works as an operator for the Al-Wajd Water Scheme Project in the Al Misrakh District of Ta’izz Governorate. Until the USAID Addressing WASH Services in Yemen activity implemented by CARE stepped in, the 5,422 residents of Al-Wajd lacked access to a clean water supply.
After many years of conflict, millions of people do not have access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in Yemen. While getting water at home is a matter of turning on a tap for many people around the world, for the locals of Qa’a Rajab in Sana’a, northern Yemen, getting water used to mean a long ride on a donkey to the nearest spring.
With funding from USAID under the Addressing WASH Services in Yemen project, CARE built a protective barrier around the natural spring, two water tanks, a solar-powered water pump system, pumping lines and connection pipes, and two water distribution points much closer to the village. The average round-trip water collection time now ranges between 15 to 30 minutes. This new water scheme benefits more than 300 families. CARE also installed 30 toilets to improve hygiene facilities in the village.
Before the Al Alam Industrial Company became a designated Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) “trusted trader,” it took several days for the Yemen Customs Authority to clear the firm’s imports of woven polypropylene bags. Now the process takes less than a day, saving the business considerable time and money, and giving it a competitive edge over companies that do not have official trusted trader status.
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