In the Southern Region of Yemen, together with its partner UNHCR, INTERSOS provides vital protection services to particularly vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers and helps Somali refugees to realize voluntary return.
The project aims at facilitating access to protection services and targeted assistance in 3 major areas: Basateen, Aden governorate; Kharaz Camp, Lahj governorate; and Mukalla/Sayoun, Hadramout governorate, with legal and detention monitoring activities in Al-Dhale’a, Abyan, Shabwa, Taiz and Al-Mahra. We also guarantee access to legal assistance and support in obtaining documents, we help people at risk of and victims of gender-based violence and we strengthen the protection of children; we help particularly vulnerable people with specific needs and support them to strengthen their self-reliance and livelihoods.
As part of the child protection component, INTERSOS supports Al-Takaful Social Centre, a governmental Centre under the supervision of Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour which provides shelter for Yemeni abandoned/children at risk. Since 2009, INTERSOS established cooperation with Al-Takaful Centre and referred unaccompanied and separated children from different nationalities (Somali and Ethiopian) that require safe shelter to be hosted in. The centre is located on the outskirts of Al-Sha’ab city (Al-Buraiqa district, Aden) and provides lodging, food, medical services and access to basic education. The children in the Al-Takaful Centre are followed by experienced staff who constantly and extensively monitor each case and involve the children in recreational activities within refugees’ community in order to avoid them to lose the link with their original culture.
Minors who arrive at the Centre have dramatic stories behind them. Like Taye – invented name – who is now 16 but 11 when he arrived in Yemen in 2015. When he left Ethiopia, his family was in difficult economic conditions. He had dropped out of school and wanted to work to support his family. While looking for a job, he was approached by a man who introduced himself as someone taking people abroad to obtain better opportunities. Taye convinced his friends and together they decided to follow the man who would soon turn out to be a human trafficker. Taye and his friends had left Ethiopia without even informing their families. Upon arrival in Djibouti they were handed over to Yemeni smugglers. Captured and tied up, they were taken to Yemen and held in an area called “Hosh Abdul-Qawi” in a hangar in Taiz, where smugglers collect migrants to extort money from their families in exchange for their release.
After trying to escape and being discovered, Taye was tied to a tree trunk for a week and then forced to call his family to ask for ransom money. Obviously his family could not pay that amount and then the traffickers beat him in the arms and legs. 3 months of captivity. When Taye managed to escape during a police raid, his injuries were so severe that he was barely able to move and he lost consciousness in the middle of a road. Fortunately, an ambulance passed and took him to the Al-Jumhoria hospital in Aden. He spent 4 months in the hospital.
After leaving the hospital, Taye has wandered through Yemen over the years. He arrived at the INTERSOS Al-Takaful Center on 9 December 2019 with very serious injuries and in a dramatic psychological state. He could not move his upper limbs, especially his right hand, and his general health had been greatly compromised by the inability to use his hands. His health and psychological conditions have been monitored constantly since he entered the Center. He received psychological and physiotherapy support, as well as a healthy diet and a safe environment. Gradually, Taye managed to regain the use of his hands and become more and more independent. He then began attending educational activities (Arabic and English courses) and finally regained the ability to use his right hand to write.
At 16, Taye took back his life. After years of pain and deprivation, thanks to the Centre he has regained confidence in himself and hope for the future. When he grows up, he wants to become a doctor to reciprocate the gift that was given to him.