Yemen Needs Your Help, by Yahya Yacoob, from Yemen.

Yemen, Yemen, Yemen… a place that is filled with chaos, a place where everyone is trying to kill the other. A place where there is no security anymore. Even in the most religious places. A place where all memories are fading and being replaced by horrible facts. A place where no one is safe anymore. I have grown up in different places, however, my heart still belongs to my country of origin. My family and friends are still there – living and trying to survive. The past couple of days have been hard for the country but not my city. My city has been the savior of all the places. Many running away from the situation come to reside in my city, a city that combines culture, safety and the amazing beach. A city that once held several cultures, but not anymore. Today, I have been informed that my city is under attack by Houthi Rebels. The city that has been a place of safety for many people would be destroyed as well. The rebels, who began with the destruction of our beloved capital, are now expanding to take all of the country – these uneducated, unstructured, uncivilized people whose main object in life is to obtain power. They are brutal and have a different religious doctrine that they want to project with their power. Personally, I feel horrible. I feel incapable of doing anything, I feel like a prisoner of my thoughts, I feel pain inside. All I want in this moment is to stand with my family and friends against those rebels, to face them with education, to make them understand that life is not only about power, to make them realize that there is freedom of choice and freedom of thoughts, but who am I to stand against them? They are armed with weapons and beliefs, beliefs that drive them to do whatever they are doing, beliefs that are based on wrong perceptions. I have always tried to be a better person, to project that Yemen is not as it seems in the media. I have always put education as my first priority because it is the only weapon that I can fight with. I have become open-minded, seeking to understand this complicated world. I have done a lot to raise Yemen’s reputation. However, every day I struggle with a different aspect that I cannot identify myself with. A question that I am asking myself is, what more should I do? I am incapable of going back and standing with my beloved ones. I am incapable of being there, I am also incapable of standing against those murderers in any international court since I am still studying. I am unable to do anything. It’s a pain that no one can feel except me. Not being able to help any of your family, friends and relatives, It’s a feeling that brings depression and brings your life down. I am confused and do not know what to do. If my words would reach anywhere, I am respectfully asking that the United Nations help because Yemen has proven to its own people and the world that it cannot protect its own citizens. I am asking for intervention for the sake of humanity. Yahya, YaLa Young Leaders