News
The children of Yemen find themselves shackled in the landmines’ open prisons which are scattered at random all over Yemen. These kinds of prisons have no walls or roofs, yet they deprive Yemeni children from their right to play and enjoy their childhood by threatening them with death, agony and handicap.
Yemeni children can’t play like the other children around the world. The threat of landmines, and fears of their presence everywhere turned their lives into a long nightmare. A nightmare that stays with them day and night, and targets them, making these children prisoners in all Yemeni territories.
The children of Yemen can’t play, have fun, and even herd the sheep or move freely without fears. Their movements are restricted due to their fear of death. The images of the treacherous landmines’ deeds and their victims are always in their minds. How can they ignore or forget such deeds when many of them have seen with their own eyes the hideous bloody crimes of the Houthis?
This is the story of the children in Al Hudaydah province. The story of kids whom the landmines wrecked the childhood, fate and morale to the extreme, just like the story of the boy Abdallah Ahmad.
Abdallah is from Al Haymah region of At Tuhayta directorate, in southern Al Hudaydah. The poor boy lost his foot, right hand and eye, and became a disabled after losing his brother in the same accident.
The boy Abdallah remembers his ordeal with the treacherous landmines. He says: “We went out to play, me and my brother, in the morning. Suddenly, a landmine exploded at us. My brother Nader was martyred, and I lost my right foot, my hand and my eye”.
His story breaks the hearts. What is there for this boy to lose now? And can you imagine the pain and agony he went through, physically and psychologically? It is not easy to narrate such a story, especially for his father, as he tells the story of the handicap of Abdallah and the martyrdom of his other son Nader. He says with a sigh: “My boy Abdallah went out with his brother to play. Then we heard that a Houthi landmine exploded at them. I ran, panting, and I saw one of my kids dead and the other one torn apart. I tried to control myself to help them. I took them to the complex but Nader was already dead, as for Abdallah, he was severely wounded”.
Sorrow and agony stop the father’s words and tears, but he tries again to calm himself in order to ask a question: “What have my two sons done to face such a miserable fate? My kids lost their childhood and innocence because of the landmines that the Houthis planted in every region and road. They made civilians and our kids face this crime that spares no one”.
A serious tragedy that breaks the souls, and a great unbearable pain with deep wounds that can’t heal. These are the shared feelings between the children of Yemen who fell victims to the Houthi landmines and their families. Will there be anyone who can save them and protect them?