\u201cI cried for years. What I saw was painful,\u201d she said. In 2018, as the fighting intensified and conditions in the besieged city reached a nadir, Sawsan took the painful decision to flee her home. \u201cI couldn\u2019t sustain life in Taiz anymore. Displacement, war, political divisions \u2013 I reached a breaking point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A building perched on a rocky cliff forms part of the dramatic landscape of Taiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 UNHCR\/Gregory Doane<\/p>\n\n\n\n After more than a decade of conflict and instability, an estimated 4.8 million people remain displaced across Yemen \u2013 many of them for years. Another 19.5 million people require humanitarian assistance in a country of roughly 40 million. Taiz has been among the hardest-hit areas, leaving many residents struggling to access utilities, health-care services, education, and documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In late 2018, after moving to the southern port city of Aden, Sawsan began working for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as a community-based protection associate. But in April, Sawsan returned to Taiz for the first time in nearly seven years as part of a joint visit with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t describe my mixed emotions when I heard,\u201d she said. \u201cThe road from Aden \u2013 I used to know it like the back of my hand. Those steep, sheer mountains were part of a foggy memory, but nothing looked familiar. Maybe I wanted to forget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the convoy entered the city, her heart began to race. Familiar landmarks were everywhere \u2013 the university where she studied, the cancer hospital where she once supported medical teams. But there were unwelcome sights, too. In a neighbourhood long cut off by fighting, Sawsan saw homes reduced to rubble. The image of a children\u2019s broken swing set rusting in the middle of a street became lodged in her mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut people were coming back. That\u2019s what broke me,\u201d she said. The delegation met families helped by UNHCR and its partners with the support of Sida, including those who have returned to their homes from other areas of the city and country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through UNHCR\u2019s housing rehabilitation programme, implemented in partnership with Yemeni NGO Nahda Makers Organization (NMO), nearly 1,700 families in Taiz received cash assistance in 2024 to repair damaged homes \u2013 providing not only secure shelter but a sense of dignity and a chance to rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UNHCR\u2019s Deputy Representative in Yemen, Marat Atamuradov (centre), and Sida\u2019s Ingela Andersson (right) speak to a returning resident whose home was repaired with UNHCR\u2019s support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 UNHCR\/Gregory Doane<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the returnees Sawsan met told her: \u201cYou opened the door for us to return. With UNHCR\u2019s support, we had just enough to come back. Whatever you couldn\u2019t cover \u2013 we found a way. But without that first step, we would have never made it home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the needs of the population far outweigh the available resources. Funding shortfalls are forcing many humanitarian organizations to scale back their assistance, leaving families without the critical support they need to return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweden\u2019s support to displaced communities \u2013 and to UNHCR\u2019s work \u2013 is reflected not only in its flexible and timely funding but also in its direct engagement on the ground. At a time of dwindling humanitarian resources and rising needs, Sweden\u2019s presence, like in the recent visit to Taiz, helps bring attention to the crisis and the vital role of international partnerships and solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the visit, Sawsan introduced Sida\u2019s Ingela Andersson to communities working to find a way forward, sharing her conviction that the most powerful solutions come from the residents themselves. \u201cPeople here know what they need. We just have to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They visited a civil registration office where a solar power system installed by UNHCR through NMO has doubled capacity, meaning more families can secure identity documents, ensuring access to vital services. They met families coordinating their own home repairs and Yasmine, a volunteer in UNHCR\u2019s community-based protection network, who runs informal classes for children in the ruins of a former school \u2013 a shell with no doors, windows or supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t want to stop working to talk,\u201d Sawsan said. \u201cBut she did. And she told Ms. Andersson everything \u2013 what\u2019s needed, what\u2019s missing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Girls attend classes at an informal school in Al Muharraq site for internally displaced people in Taiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 UNHCR\/Gregory Doane<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before leaving, Sawsan visited her old family home and met her former university professor. She saw a city still defiantly standing \u2013 damaged but unbroken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo the people of Taiz, we are proud of you,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are still under siege. You still lack services. But you are surviving. You are teaching your children. You are rebuilding. And we see you.\u201d All they need, she added, is \u201cjust a little support, and they\u2019ll do the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s colleagues like Sawsan who embody what protection really means,\u201d said Marat Atamuradov, UNHCR\u2019s Deputy Representative in Yemen. \u201cShe carries the knowledge, the pain, and the trust of the people \u2013 and channels that into action. This is how we move from listening to real impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UNHCR\u2019s Sawsan Alashwal (left) and Ingela Andersson from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (right) in Sawsan’s home city of Taiz, Yemen. \u00a9 UNHCR\/Gregory Doane Perched at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,4,8,9,2,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights-for-refugees-news","category-humanitarian-news","category-protection-news","category-refugees-news","category-relief-applications-page-news","category-relief-news","category-un-news","category-unhcr-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions\/244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhcr.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/RF1445424.jpg\")
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