WHAT WE USE YOUR DONATIONS FOR
As we already mentioned, the world, and especially the Czech media, do not bring much news about Yemen. That is why we, in cooperation with our interns from University of Ostrava, do internet monitoring and bring you all the articles we can find. You can find their links on our homepage under the headline NEWS. From the latest, the one that focuses on a social media and Internet war in Yemen is very interesting.
We would like to express our gratitude for the support, which followed an article by an editor, Mr. Milan Rokos, on www.seznamzpravy.cz. Thank you for an article on the current situation in Yemen, because there are not many of them, not even in the world media. Even though there is a long history of diplomatic and business cooperation between the Czech Republic and Yemen.
Pomůžu jak můžu is again offering a Certificate of Donation. Buy a good deed for your loved ones. Help the children, to whom others have turned their backs, whom the war took their homes, families, and food. If you donate food for a month or two, for one child or their mothers, or the whole family, we will send you an original Certificate of Donation. As a bonus, you will receive one of the Yemeni irresistible recipes. At least you will be able to taste the delicious food that is currently almost impossible to get for most of the Yemeni people.
After registering our organization in Yemen and a few other administrative steps, we were able to ask for permission to start a charitable collection. Today we sealed our two money boxes in the Ostrava Municipality and tomorrow we will use them for the first time in the second-hand store, which was started by Mámy pro Jemen for Pomůžu jak můžu in Centrum PANT. Come choose your own unique piece of clothing, jewellery or just taste Yemeni specialties, and then “try out” our new money boxes.
On Saturday 2 October, we were able to organize a meeting and a second-hand store at Centrum PANT in Ostrava, which we called ‘How ordinary women help ordinary women in the country, where children are dying from starvation and the world is silent about it’.
Thanks to the donations of our supporters, we are able not only to cook for 166 diners, but also to collect food, clothes, and other necessities for other people in need outside of our organization. ‘It is a great feeling of happiness and gratitude that our project, which is financed primarily by the Czech Republic, also motivates people in Yemen to donate what they can. It can be money, but also food, clothes, and toys. It either happens spontaneously or during some traditional holidays like Ramadan.” Describes Sabina Addailamy, the main initiator of our project.
Today, we present you with an interview, which was conducted by supporters of Pomůžu jak můžu. It’s a group of mothers who collect clothes and then sell them so that they can send us the money to support people in Yemen. In the introduction, you will also find one of the reasons that brought ‘our’ mothers to their charity activity.
In December 2020, an independent initiative of four women was started. They decided to give as much as they can to people who do not have anything and to support mothers and children in Yemen. They showed that anyone anywhere in the world can help. Even with small actions. Their original plan was to send food and clothing to children in Yemen, but that is not possible. The only thing that can be sent is money that they can use to buy food from locals. It is possible to collect clothes that are too small for children or adults.
Last week we received an email from our friend in Berlin. Some time ago, she decided to start a support in Germany, where she lives, for people in Yemen. She even engaged her husband, whose online fitness lessons may have been auctioned off to some of you. Now Martina and her husband Gabrielle have decided to use online fitness again. How? Read this article to see how Martina Teschnarova personally describes it.
Our supporters can read an interview with Sabina in a February newsletter of the Holy Trinity church on Corfu. They know Sabina and Pomůžu jak můžu because of Pavla Smetanová, who lives there, and they have been supporting the organization since the beginning. They regularly collect money and donate it to our account. They even collected enough to buy Sabina a new phone, so now we will have better quality photos and videos for you. We sincerely thank you for your support! (Not only to people from Korfu).
The Annual report summarizes the functioning of Pomůžu, jak můžu, z. s. in 2019. You can download the Annual report here. In case of any questions, we are at your disposal on info@pomuzujakmuzu.cz.
After some time, Pavla Smetanová, a writer, journalist, and ambassador of Pomůžu jak můžu had a chat with Sabina about her life in Yemen. The interview was posted on her blog ostrovanka.cz in a section called Czechs in foreign lands and we are about to bring it to you here as well. We thank Pavla and wish you a pleasant reading.
In September, our kitchen has been opened for a whole year. We managed to establish it in Sana’a to feed the hungry people, and down below, you can find the goals we set for ourselves and the way we succeeded in reaching them.
Although the last news we have provided you with were published in July (or in terms of Facebook in September) we have been very busy recently. After the first wave of floods ruined our kitchen in August, Sabina launched an emergency plan – she started cooking in a temporary space while searching for a new place for establishing the new kitchen. It was not easy to find a spot close to people we take care of, yet in a span of a few weeks we managed to secure a suitable place in a local mosque. The people in there are going to repair it by themselves and they set a special rent for Pomůžu jak můžu, being just a third of its usual amount. The rent then will be spend on helping the people the mosque is taking care of.
In countries struck by wars, the prices are always rather unstable, and Yemen is not an exception as the most recent incidents have affected mainly the price of oil. 24 ships are being held back in Djibouti and there are bombings in Sanaa as well. The prices are getting higher which hit also the market with gasoline that is distributed on rations and four times more expensive, so not everybody can afford it, and moreover, you have to wait for two days now to even get to buy gasoline. Besides that, the price of the meals for our families increase, too. It used to cost about 300 CZK to feed one person for a whole month, yet the sum is nearing 500 CZK today. This is a plain fact which we have to accept, and we need to believe that we will manage and keep helping also thanks to your support.
Four friends, all of them on maternity leave, decided to sort the wardrobes of their children, and once they amassed enough pieces of clothes they children were not wearing anymore, they sent them around the world. Not only were they hoping somebody else would appreciate the clothes, but also they were ready to donate the earned sum of money to Pomůžu jak můžu. The participation was not large, still they managed to gather almost 4,000 CZK which means meals for eight people throughout the whole month.
The month of June offers a bit calmer atmosphere after a couple of months during which we faced a series of various restrictions raised due to the pandemic. In countries like Yemen, the situation is different though.
According to the information disclosed by the UN, the sum dedicated to Yemen is going to be remarkably low this year. Most countries focus on solving their own problems connected with the pandemic, which results in only a few countries being willing to contribute their money on helping Yemen. Therefore, the aid and support of the women and children of Yemen provided by donators and organized by Pomůžu jak můžu gains even greater significance.
The current coronavirus outbreak has impacted Yemen as well. However, Sabina and her team are unstoppable! „Schools and some institutions that were open before are now closed. Everything is closed. So far, there has been no positive case of coronavirus reported, but everybody is trying to buy masks and protective gloves. Despite all that, our canteen is still open to our clients. We’ve bought some masks for our cooks. Unfortunately, the box with masks was slightly damaged and resealed when delivered. The delivery was slightly more expensive but still cheaper than now. Today the price for 50 masks is 25.000 YER, and God knows how much higher the price can increase. We’ve bought some extra Dettol and two Corrol Original Sprays. We’re trying to disinfect everything. Public gatherings are banned, so we are glad that our clients come individually one after another without overcrowding the kitchen. Here I send you some photos from these days,“ says Sabina on WhatsApp. You can find the photos in our gallery. This shows much strength these people have, in a country where the war has been rambling for over 5 years and no resolution seems to be anywhere close in the future. They have been suffering for longer than the rest of the world, they know that there is no escape but solidarity and community. Maybe we can learn something from people in Yemen.
Regardless of the current challenging situation, you have not forgotten about children in Yemen. Many thanks to all who made a contribution to our project, the list of contributors can be found at darujem.cz as well as a tour transparent account. Some of the names cannot be found there, one of them is Ms. Irena Alexander from the US. She lives in Arizona where she used to live as a nurse. She has met many Yemeni friends at her work and she fell in love with Yemen as her friends talked about the country. Her dream was to visit the country. Her plans were ruined as the war is still rambling. She stays in touch with her Yemeni friends and helps as she can. Last year, she has transferred 750 USD to Sabina, yesterday, she has transferred 700 USD more. Sabina would also like to thank for the donation from Abdullah Ali Ad Dailami who has supported the canteen with 100.000 YER.
© 2018 | Pomůžu jak můžu, z.s.
IČ: 075 95 930 | č.ú. (CZK): 2701537846/2010 | č.ú. (€): 2301537847/2010
www.pomuzujakmuzu.cz | info@pomuzujakmuzu.cz