“I was suffering a lot. I was losing a lot of livestock to disease,” says Awad, a farmer in Yemen. Struggling with multiple pressures — including spiraling inflation, supply shortages and extreme weather — Awad wasn’t sure how to grow enough on his farm to feed his family of eight or to sell for their needs.
Yemen’s economy has collapsed. Seven years of civil war, plus the impact of COVID, the Ukraine war and natural disasters, has driven up prices and wreaked havoc on families already at the edge of hunger.
And growing your own food is not a given. Many parts of Yemen are arid, but in Awad’s region, torrential floods destroyed crops. Awad also didn’t have the tools or knowledge he needed to make the most of his farm or preserve his harvest for any length of time. Without a way to store what they produce, farmers were forced to sell without making a profit.
“We suffered a lot as a result of these issues.” Worst of all, his sheep were dying off “because of my lack of information about livestock diseases and how to deal with them.”
Your generosity makes all the difference for farmers like Awad
Your generosity make all the difference for farmers like Awad, providing them with the essentials they need to make their farms and herds profitable. “They gave us training and provided us with seeds and money that helped us a lot,” he says.
Now, Awad’s sheep are thriving. “Because of the courses related to diseases and symptoms that affect livestock, that teach me the way to deal with these diseases, I don’t lose my sheep,” rejoices Awad. “We also got the necessary vaccinations for these diseases.”
With your help, Awad sees a bright future ahead. “I am now able to provide for my family’s daily needs,” he says. “Thank you for what you’ve given to us when we needed it most.”