The bony hand of Kaukab Ahmed, a nine-year-old Yemeni girl inflicted with acute malnutrition, is seen inside the malnutrition ward in the al-Sabeen hospital, Sanaa, Yemen on Aug. 18, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

Kaukab Ahmed, a nine-year-old Yemeni girl inflicted with acute malnutrition, is seen inside the malnutrition ward in the al-Sabeen hospital, Sanaa, Yemen on Aug. 18, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Fatimah Saleh was faced with a cruel and unlikely dilemma of whether or not to sell his cow, the only economic source of the family, to save his daughter from acute malnutrition.

"Of course, I love my daughter more than anything in the world," the 32-year-old Yemeni peasant said, visible pain written over his face.

"But the cow was the only source of my family. If I sell it, how do I in the future feed my family, my little Kaukab?" Saleh lamented, knowing that there were no viable choices for him, only worse ones.

Day by day, the situation of Kaukab, Saleh's 9-year-old daughter, was getting worse and worse. At a point, she became so weak that she could barely utter a word.

Eventually, Saleh made up his mind, sold the cow, and brought his daughter to the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa for treatment. Fortunately, after 11 days of treatment in the Al-Sabeeb Hospital, Kaukab looked much better than when she first checked in. She was lying on the bed with her beloved doll, energy and happiness returning to her watery eyes.

"Kauakab only began to recognize the people around her after two days of treatment," the girl's mother said.

"I am grateful that my girl has been saved. But I have to worry how I could feed my family when we return home because I sold the cow, the most valuable property of ours," Saleh said worriedly.

The malnutrition ward in Al-Sabeen Hospital, which was a primary medical center for treating malnourished children in Houthi-controlled Yemen, receives hundreds of malnourished children every month. Most of them come from remote villages, like Kaukab, where health services have been completely paralyzed.

"We have been living like this since the war began six years ago. It is always getting worse," Saleh said, when Kaukab was born, he hoped to give her a happy childhood, but now he could barely keep her alive.

Saleh is just one of the millions of Yemenis who have been corned with impossible choices amid the country's full-scale catastrophe. Every day, in every town, every village, there are people like Saleh who have to face excruciating dilemmas: some people have to choose between buying medicines for ailing family members and buying bread for the starving ones; some have to choose which of their children they want to save.

The United Nations describes the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as the worst on the planet, with hunger, acute malnutrition, epidemics, and economic blockade killing thousands of Yemen's children.

Save the Children, a humanitarian group, warned recently that the spike in food prices and collapse of the Yemeni Rial to historic lows in the past month are driving more children into poverty and hunger, with families unable to afford food in local markets.

The malnutrition rate among Yemeni children has soared to the highest level ever recorded as many children are surviving merely on bread and water.

"We have to go back to our home when Kaukab is cured because we can't afford life in Sanaa. But there is nothing left in our home. I don't know what to do. It's just one dilemma after another," said the Yemeni man.阿