Project Masam is working on ensuring the demining of vital facilities to enable Yemenis to restore their normal social, economic, health, and cultural life. This includes water sources, which are a top priority for the project.
This week, Project Masam’s team 11 has secured a water well on which the residents of the Mablaqa area, in the Bayhan region of Yemen’s Shabwah governorate depend for fresh water for themslves, their livestock and agriculture.
Local residents had stopped using the water well – the only source of water in the area – because of the presence of landmines planted around it, they said.
After Team 11 successfully demined and secured the well’s surrounding area, the local people are now finally able to access clean water and use it in their daily lives as well as farming activities.
A vital achievement
Securing the water well in the Mablaqa area is an important achievement that reflects the commitment of the team as well as the leaders of Project Masam to bring life to back to normal and contribute to achieving sustainable development and meeting the needs of the local community.
The local population celebrated news the water well had been cleared, after years of suffering from the lack of clean, drinking water.
Salem al-Zahal, a resident of the Mablaqa area, said that securing the water well as well as the surrounding areas, including roads, farms, and sheep pastures, has encouraged many families to return to their homes which they were forced to leave for long periods of time because of landmines.
Al-Zahal added that the vast majority of the population of the Mablaqa area take up sheep raising and tending as their main profession, and because of the presence of landmines, locals were forced to leave the area and search for safe areas to work.
The villager expressed his appreciation for Project Masam’s demining teams, who he said risk their lives to protect and secure civilians, praising the change that has occurred in the area after clearing it of mines.
Great economic importance
In this context, the leader of team 11 said that the Mablaqa area is of great economic importance, as many families work in the domain of agriculture, which means that water is urgently needed in this region.
“Planting mines around the well paralysed the agricultural activities in the area, and after we managed to clear the well of mines and secure the area, life returned to normal, and the agricultural activities have been resumed, which is a very promising indicator for the resumption of the agricultural development in the region,” he told Project Masam.
“This secured area has seen the return of large numbers of people who were forced to leave it because of mines. Agriculture activities, livestock raising, and grazing have resumed, and beekeepers have returned to collect honey from their apiaries, which they were unable to reach due to mines,” he added.
