A brutal war is starving the people of Yemen and forcing them to make impossible choices. What would you do in the face of tragedy?
Tallabah is starting to lose her sight. A grandmother to many children, she doesn't remember how old she is - but she is beginning to have difficulty standing for long periods of time. Two years ago, when violence reached her village in Yemen, she found herself faced with an impossible choice.
Leave her house and walk through the night (although she struggles to see, struggles to walk) perhaps never to return home.
Stay in the village she has known all her life to watch it destroyed by bullets and bombs. Yesterday, her neighbours were killed. Tomorrow, she might be next.
Grandmother Tallabah made the impossible choice to flee with her family. Now, she lives in a camp for people who have lost their homes.
There was nothing here when they first arrived, nothing to help them start their lives all over again. ‘We were shocked to realise we had nothing,’ she recalls. Now, she begs for food from neighbouring villages.
‘I hardly get enough food for one day. Sometimes, I get nothing,’ she says ‘It is not easy to lose your dignity and resort to begging but if I did not do that, my family would die from hunger.’
Pictured: The camp in Yemen where they now live
The camp is windy and they cook outside, exposed to the elements. When she bakes, dirt from the road mixes in with the food. ‘We eat everything - even if it is full of dust,' she says. 'Bread and tea mixed with dust are better than nothing.’
Tallabah worries about her grandchildren and about how living in the camp is affecting their futures. ‘When I cook, my grandchildren fight to eat the bread,’ she says. ‘They always sleep hungry. I cannot provide them with enough food.’
More than anything else, Tallabah would like to go home.
‘It was the worst day of my life when I left my house. I have not seen anything good since that ominous night. I hope to return my house as soon as possible.’
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