Topic: Crisis Response

“We fled our home because we had nothing left.” Shifaa’, 46, remembers only too well her family’s experience of the Syrian conflict in their hometown near Dar’a, in southern Syria.

About 14 million people in Southern Africa are already facing hunger, and the situation is expected to deteriorate further as multiple countries in the region bear the impact of the El Niño weather system. In Mozambique, nearly 170,000 people are in need of immediate emergency relief, but the number could top 1.7 million people in the coming weeks.

I can only hope the situation will not be as bad as last year. Last winter, it was freezing cold. Even the weather did not have mercy with us. Every few days, we faced another winter storm. Each time, when we felt the roughest weather had past, a new storm would rise. Temperatures dropped well below freezing, prices for fuel and firewood were constantly increasing and most people could not afford heating materials.

Biting winds and freezing temperatures of up to minus 10 degrees Celsius pose severe health risks for refugees in the Western Balkans. At the same time, increased activities by smugglers put those already exhausted from their journey at risk of being abused and injured.

With temperatures falling below freezing, dark storm clouds have settled over Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, carrying heavy winds with driving rain and hail. Snow fell in mountainous areas of Lebanon, and is expected to cover Amman and other cities in northern Jordan in the coming days.

Decades after fleeing their home country, more than 30,000 Somalis returned home from Yemen. They are fleeing yet another war.

Small talk can be difficult with someone who lives in Yemen. Questions about family often turn to dead relatives. Talk about a bad night’s sleep and you might find yourself in a conversation about nightly bombing raids. Such was the case last month in Jordan, when I ran into an old friend and colleague, Bushra Aldukhainah.

Many refugees have dubbed the journey to Europe as the ‘Death Road’ due to its perilous nature and high mortality rates, especially at sea. Despite this, thousands continue to make the trip with over 3,500 people this year already having lost their lives at sea. This is the story of Hanan, whose husband braved the route to try and find a better life for his family.

International aid agencies working in Syria today expressed relief that a convoy of food aid and other first need items was finally allowed into Madaya where people have been dying of starvation. Aid is also today being delivered to other besieged areas including Fua’a and Kafraya. Agencies warned however that only a complete end to the six-month old siege and guarantees for sustained aid deliveries alongside humanitarian services will alleviate the crisis in these areas.