The war has reached my doorstep!

Ahmed on his graduation day

The war has reached my doorstep and I am helpless. I am standing amidst all the devastation, breathing in soot, dust and gun powder. I can hear screams, they are louder inside, outside they are faint cries of help or desperation. I never thought a crisis in a far away land would hit me straight in the heart. However, I can't feel the pain, I can only see it. The Yemeni crisis was just another war in some country for me, until my Yemeni student described his family, his home, his aspirations and his concern. Surprisingly, I don't see any fear in his eyes, there is hope and despair but no fear. Our usual conversations are about the fields and cities and way of life in his country. He occasionally spoke about war and it was just some distant tragedy to me until one day he looked up and said, "I want to go back, teacher. I want to go back and die with my family." And with these words, I was drawn into the war.

War torn Yemen
Pic courtesy internet