Mr. Ahmed H. P., who lives in a small village in Hodeidah Governorate, has a small farm and a small flock of sheep. He used to take out the sheep to the farms to graze. One day, his three children insisted on going out with him, especially his youngest son, who was deeply attached to him, and wanted to accompany him all the time.
Deeply grieved and with tearful eyes, Ahmed recounts what happened to him and his three children on that day. He points out, “I was very careful while going out with the sheep and also warned my children to walk in a certain line among the agricultural farms and to take every precaution while walking.”
Suddenly, a small goat escaped into one of the farms, and my eldest son followed it. I caught the rest of the children. We heard someone screaming from afar saying, “Hey, go back. Be careful! Don’t move forward! There are a lot of cluster bombs around you.”
We did not know how to get back or get out. It was only a few moments until some bombs exploded on the goats. We were very horrified and tried to escape and hide ourselves from the bomb shrapnel, but unfortunately some of them exploded on us.
That day turned into a pitch-black day for Ahmed and his children, especially since they are now suffering from very severe wounds; and most of them may die if the doctors fail to provide them with appropriate life-saving treatments, especially as the hospitals are affected by the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led War Coalition.
There are many bombs dropped by the Saudi-led Coalition warplanes on many villages and places in Hodeidah Governorate, and some of them have not exploded yet. The lives of thousands of children, women and farmers in the region remain under threat. They are in real danger, if the international community does not pay attention to this tragedy and assume its responsibility and work to remove these cluster bombs that kill many civilians in various villages in Hodeidah and Sa’adah governorates in particular and other governorates in general.
