In the time of Al-Houthi: Affordable families are unable to clothe their children and the poor are begging for Eid clothes
English - Saturday 09 April 2022 الساعة 01:02 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, a special survey:
Abu Muhammad al-Omari, a father of five, wanders through several shopping malls and clothing stores in Hael, Jamal, Qasr and Bab al-Yaman markets in Sanaa to buy Eid clothes for his children.
Abu Muhammad spoke to the representative of (NewsYemen) with great sadness, complaining about the unprecedented increase in prices, as he says this year and differently from all previous years, stressing that the prices of clothes for this year are crazy and almost unbelievable.
Deteriorating conditions and exorbitant prices
He said: We have been living in deteriorating economic conditions since 2011 and the lean years that followed, and the years of war came to make matters worse, especially with the interruption of salaries, and the suspension of a number of companies and some of them leaving Sanaa, however, as a result of the ability of some to find their own source of livelihood, as I am , where I own a small grocery that generates enough income to support my family of five children in addition to me and my wife, yet this source is no longer enough for me.
Abu Muhammad adds: I was working as an employee in the Ministry of Agriculture, and since salaries were cut off and many employees were dismissed and replaced with new employees affiliated with the Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, I had to collect all my savings and sell my wife’s jewelry and everything I had collected over the years of my life (50 years) and opened A small grocery store, thank God, became the source of my income, and through it I was able to maintain the lowest standard of living with my family, compared to many state employees who are now living in a state of extreme poverty as a result of their exclusion from their jobs and their replacement with new employees, then the interruption of salaries.
Abu Muhammad, like most residents of Sanaa and the Houthi militia-controlled areas, is trying to confront the difficulties of life by various means, but the deteriorating economic conditions and the crazy high prices almost rob them of even the ability to withstand these conditions, especially those who support families of more than three or four people .
Al-Omari continues, speaking: For three days, I have been roaming the shops selling clothes and the streets in which there are clothing stores. Unfortunately, I was unable to buy clothes for all my five children due to the outrageous high prices, especially this year, and what is saddening is that you find prices varying from one store to another and from one store to another. One street to another, even for the same commodity and for the same clothes, especially children’s clothes, as a result of the state’s lack of control .
Abu Muhammad continues by saying: Before the year 2011 and even before the Houthi militia took control of the state, I used to buy three types of clothes for each of my children on Eid al-Fitr and the same on Eid al-Adha, not to mention buying clothes as gifts for them throughout the year, but even when we had to clothe them with only one clothes during Eid al-Fitr and sometimes during the whole year, as happened in the last two years, we are unable to provide that.
And he concludes: So far, I have spent more than (150) thousand riyals, or nearly a thousand Saudi riyals, according to the exchange rate in Sana’a. However, I have so far only completed buying clothes for three of the boys, and I have two children left for whom I have not bought the Eid clothes until now because of the outrageous high prices of clothes , although I tried to hurry to buy the Eid clothing on the first day of Ramadan because the prices increase as the date of Eid approaches, and compare my situation, which is still affordable - praise be to God - compared to others who no longer have any source of income.
Nothing but the lie of exchange stability
In the City Max Center on Sixty Street in Sana’a, Umm Muhammad was wandering around looking to buy Eid clothes for her two children (the eldest is 15 years old and the youngest is 9 years old) and her situation is no different from that of other citizens. She told the NewsYemen delegate: The prices of clothes this year are so unbelievable that they are so hysterically high that many people will not be able to buy Eid clothes for their children.
Umm Muhammad, a teacher in a private school, in addition to her work as a teacher in a government school, added: The Houthis deafen our ears by talking about the stability of the exchange rates of the riyal against foreign currencies at (600 to the dollar against the riyal, and 160 to the Saudi against the riyal) and they consider this a great success, when the truth is that this is just A lie from their many lies, and the evidence for that is the prices of all food and other commodities, which have doubled, while the exchange rate is fixed.
And it demonstrates: I used to buy my son, Ayham (9 years old), a Eid clothing consisting of two suits for an amount of no more than (25,000 riyals), equivalent to (42) dollars, and now I buy one clothing for him at an amount of (35,000 riyals), equivalent to (58 dollars), and with You will find the Houthi militias talking to you about the stability of the exchange rate.
The poor clothe their children by begging
In another picture of the deteriorating economic conditions in Sanaa and the Houthi militia-controlled areas, many families, especially employees whose salaries were cut off, are unable to clothe their children during the holidays.
Abu Saleh, a sane, sane man in a neighborhood in Sanaa, confirms to NewsYemen that many families headed by people who were employees of state institutions are now unable to cover their children. He said: I know some parents who are living in poverty begging clothes for their children from some rich families.
He adds: Some of them are forced through the headbands of the neighborhoods or through personal relationships, especially among women, to search for clothing for their children from what some well-off families offer, and I witness to many of these cases and contribute to them as part of social solidarity.
And he concludes: Since the militia coup on September 21, 2014, this scene has become part of the picture that Sanaa and the Houthi-controlled areas live in, and every year that passes, the picture gets darker and the scene is tragic, and there is no hope on the horizon to change or change this situation.
The royalties of the Houthis are the cause of the outrageous high prices
In order to explain these conditions, NewsYemen asked a clothing merchant, whose answer was shortened to one sentence: Al-Houthi royalties are the cause of the high prices.
Ahmed said: People blame the merchants for being the reason for raising prices, especially clothes, and this is a great injustice. We do not raise prices by will or as a result of our greed, but we are forced to do so because of the royalties imposed by the Houthi militia on us, especially the so-called additional customs.
He added: We import clothes from abroad, and when they reach the sea or land ports, especially the ports under the control of the legitimate government, customs are imposed on these goods in accordance with the law, and when we transfer them to Houthi-controlled areas, we are forced to pay additional customs outside the law, which imposes additional burdens on prices These clothes are therefore forced to raise their prices to the citizen.
And he concludes: If you compare the price of any clothing for children, for example, you will find that its price in Taiz or Aden is cheaper than its price in Sana’a, and the reason is the additional Houthi customs, not to mention the taxes, zakat, and other royalties that we pay on merchants, especially large merchants, as a kind of extortion by officials. Houthis and all of this pays the price of the citizen.
The markets in Sana’a and the rest of the Houthi militia-controlled areas are witnessing a crazy rise in clothing prices this year, in an unprecedented manner, despite the militias’ continued blasphemy about the stability of the exchange rate, which places great burdens on the citizens, and even contributes to the inability of many of them to clothe their children during Eid al-Fitr, some of them even have to beg for clothes in secret in order to bring joy to their children for the Eid.
