Photos: Displaced by Saudi-led airstrikes, Yemeni families subsist on garbage
Updated On Jan 20, 2018 09:40 AM IST
A growing number of displaced Yemenis living in the port city of Hodeidah, seeking refuge from Saudi-led coalition shelling in the North, are resorting to scavenging the city's garbage dumps for discarded food amid scarcity.
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Updated on Jan 20, 2018 09:40 AM IST
Ayoub Mohammed Ruzaiq, 11, stands atop a garbage mound where he collects recyclables in Hodeidah, Yemen. After persistent Saudi-led air strikes in northwest Yemen, families like Ruzaiq’s packed their belongings and fled to the relative safety of Hodeidah on the Red Sea. But with no money, relatives or shelter, his 18-member family joined a growing number of displaced Yemenis living on or next to the city’s garbage dump. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Updated on Jan 20, 2018 09:40 AM IST
Ayoub Mohammed Ruzaiq (R), and his family members pose outside their hut next to a garbage dump. The UN estimates more than two million have been displaced by the war in Yemen, which intensified in 2015 when an Arab coalition intervened to try restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power after a Houthi forced exile. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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A group of scavengers gathers around a truck offloading trash in Hodeidah. Despite health risks, the city’s dump has become a source of food for hundreds of impoverished Yemenis and given some young men a chance to try to earn some income. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Updated on Jan 20, 2018 09:40 AM IST
Ayoub Mohammed Ruzaiq, seen caked in dirt and grime from sifting through mounds of garbage. “We eat and drink the food that is thrown away,” described the 11-year-old. “We collect fish, meat, potatoes, onions and flour to make our own food.” (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Ayoub holds out green peppers he found in the trash. The war has killed more than 10,000 people, crippled Yemen’s economy, caused a cholera epidemic that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives and pushed the country to the verge of famine. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Ayoub combs his hair inside his family's hut next to the garbage dump. Apart from picking up food thrown away by better off Yemenis, some displaced people collect metal cans and plastic bottles to sell to merchants for cash to cover daily needs. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Members of the Ruzaiq family gather around a meal cooked from foraged ingredients outside their hut, near the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Odd bits and pieces of scavenged vegetables, tinned food and other ingredients are stored in a broken refrigerator, swarmed by flies, for future use by the 18-member Ruzaiq family. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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The family patriarch Mohammed Ruzaiq (L), 67, and his son Ayoub sit in the tent they share with other members of the family. "All we want is for them to stop this war and this calamity and God almighty will provide for us," Mohammed Ruzaiq said. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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A girl sleeps in a hammock as her sister lies on a makeshift bed in the Ruzaiq family's hut. The Saudi-led coalition denies Houthi accusations that it targets civilians or civilian property in its operations --a root cause to this displacement. (Abduljabbar Zeyad / REUTERS)
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Updated on Jan 20, 2018 09:40 AM IST