1234444
No one pays any attention to this village. The displaced people in this village have not been treated as IDPs, and the residents as a hosting community. It was not dealt with as an IDP camp, where necessary needs and WASH interventions should be provided.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_text columns="" column_min_width="" column_spacing="" rule_style="default" rule_size="" rule_color="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id=""]
Dar Naji is a village in Al-Khokha District, located about 25 km in the far east of the district. It is aligned with Hays District, Hodeidah Governorate.
Since February 2018, the Giants Brigades (Joint Forces) and Ansar Allah group (Houthis) have successively controlled Hays district. On the way to Hays district, there is Dar Naji Village that has since become exposed to the dangers of the clashes taking place nearby.
Due to the intensification of the clashes, residents of the village as well as scattered population groups nearby it were displaced. However, some households preferred not leave their homes and remained in the village, rather, households from other areas were displaced to the village.
In May 2018, Ansar Allah group (Houthis) blew up the communal water tank that is located on the road towards Hays District. One of the tank's pipelines is extended to Dar Naji village. This explosion cut off the lifeline of the village. As a result, thirst has become, in addition to shells and live bullets, a threat to its residents' lives.
Yassin Qubai’ (30 years old) said, “Water has become a problem. Every day, I leave home after dawn on a donkey with two empty 20-liter gallons, risking myself between live bullets and explosive devices, to reach Ali Salman’s farm to fill the two gallons with water and return home at 9:30 am. After that, my father, who is an old man, takes the donkey and go to the farm again for more water, as 40 liters of water a day is not enough for us and for our sheep and cow.”
The residents of the village are forced to travel long distances, every day, to meet their needs of water.
Ahmed Dobla (25 years old) said, “We travel for 6 kilometers to get to the farm and fill two 20-liter gallons with water. After filling the two gallons with water, we take them home on the donkey. And so on every day. We have no means other than donkeys to carry the water on. As for the truck-in water supplies, we can't afford even to buy a one-truck water.”
The communal tank, which has a capacity of 100 cubic meters of water, is located about eight kilometers from the site of the wells. Its pumping pipers pass in front of Dar Naji village from the north towards Hays. One of these pipes is extended to the village. However, after blowing up the communal tank, the water supply scheme has stopped, and the village became without water.
When UNICEF Emergency Response Project implemented Water, Hygiene, and Sanitation (WASH) intervention in the West Coast, Dar Naji was one of the villages supplied with water through water trucking. Besides, some philanthropists donated for pumping water to the village, which brought some life back to it.
Nevertheless, in late January 2021, water pumping to the village stopped. Its inhabitants became in dire straits and their misery multiplied. Currently, 125 households, i.e. 900 people, live in the village, including 25 IDP households. There are also scattered population groups of cattle herders who live sporadically near the village.
The residents of the village and its surroundings suffer from the lack of water. No wells are there. There are only four plastic water tanks (emergency water points), three of which have a capacity of 2000 liters each, while the fourth is 1500-liter.
Since February 2021 until now, only 4500 liters of water are pumped into these tanks per day, a donation from philanthropists.
The people gather next to the water tanks in the village, where children and women handle the responsibility of fetching water from these tanks. They stand in queues under the scorching heat of the sun to get 40 liters of water, which perhaps will quench their thirst.
Ali Zuhair, a 48-year old resident of the village, says to Mwatana for Human Rights, "A water truck comes, pours 4,500 liters of water, provided by a philanthropist, into the four water tanks and goes. Once the women and children hear the water truck is coming, they come out to fill their gallons with water. Every house, hardly, gets 40 liters of water, which is not enough for drinking and cooking, so how about the one who has sheep and cows.”
As the sun heats up at the West Coast, reaching from 40 to 42 degrees, the need for water increases, so does the residents' suffering, as the Summer turns into a piece of hell.
Ali Zuhair added, "This water is not enough for us. Every week, I have to buy 4,500 liters of trucked water for 7,000 Riyals and sometimes for 8,000 riyals (about 8- 9 US$). Very few people in the village can buy trucked water, while most of the residents can't afford it."
The residents of the village have to travel long distances, up to 12 kilometers back and forth, to fetch water on donkeys, risking themselves. Fetching 20 liters of water may take five hours, which is another cause of their suffering.
Abdul Rahman Dawbala, (50 years old - the community leader), said to Mwatana, "125 households in the village, including IDPs, currently are not able to meet their water needs. Some travel about 12 kilometers to fetch two 20-liter gallons of water on donkeys. As the increase of the sun heat, we need a large amount of water. Going to the farm over and over is exhausting."
Since December 2020 until now, pipelines for two water projects have been laid next to the village towards Hays District. No one paid attention to the village or cared about its people although, when the pipeline of the first project was laid next to their village, they addressed the concerned authorities, who promised to lay a pipeline to their village. Yet, nothing happened. When the digging activities for laying the pipelines of the second project started, the old people in the village went out to stop the digging machines so that their water problem is solved. Again, the concerned authorities promised to solve the problem. Still, the problem exists until now.
It is noteworthy that Dar Naji area is currently controlled by the 7th Giants Brigade and the 3rd Tehami Brigade (Joint Forces), while the area where the communal tank is still under the control of Ansar Allah group (Houthis).
No one pays any attention to this village. The displaced people in this village have not been treated as IDPs, and the residents as a hosting community. It was not dealt with as an IDP camp, where necessary needs and WASH interventions should be provided.
Dawbala adds, "Pipelines of two water projects to Hays district were laid. All those whom we addressed, promise to make a solution for our water problem, then, they turn their back to us. We are experiencing the pain of war, scorching heat of the sun and thirst."
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
