Saleem: I'm helpless and want to sell my kidney

 AbdulRazzaq Al-Azazi

Public sector salaries have not been paid for nearly two years, many private sector employees have been laid off, the value of Yemeni Riyal has been in a continuous depreciation, leading to a drastic rise in commodity prices. Yemenis face starvation in the face of a humanitarian crisis that Yemen has never seen before. Nothing in Yemen is optimistic or indicates that the crisis is nearing a breakthrough. Things are still getting worse and worse in a war-torn country intensifying what seems to be endless suffering of the people, especially the most vulnerable majority.

Under such difficult circumstances, S. Y., 32,  gives up, announcing on his Facebook page that he really needs to sell one of his kidneys in order to get the money to pay for the living expenses and the debts he has been burdened with since he fled Sana'a after receiving a threat of murdering.

He took an open leave from his job, borrowed a sum of money and went to Egypt where he stayed for a year trying to get asylum to a third country but he couldn't. He got a new threat on Twitter. Then, a group of African nationals came to the building where he was residing and were searching for his apartment. Thus, he was driven by fear and financial distress to leave Egypt and return to Yemen.

He returned after the war had broken out in the country. Given the deteriorating economic conditions, the employer had given him - and a large number of staff - open unpaid leave. Now, he no longer has any source of income. He has only the fear of being murdered and a heavy burden of debts accumulated as a result of a series of borrowing money to afford the expenses of immigration to Egypt and living there.

Living conditions have become more complex, and fear of hunger has increased. In such a bad economic situation as that in Yemen, and being unemployed, he couldn't even engage in a small project to earn sustenance for his family. He was, and is still, unable to provide life requirements, rents and debts have been accumulating with his wife's ceaseless demands that he should fulfill his family obligations. That hellish experience pushed him and his wife to commit suicide by taking a lethal dose of drugs.

His wife also lost her job and since then has been at home without pay. She suffers from depression due to job discrimination and harassment at the workplace. She tried to commit suicide with her husband, especially after the failure of their small project to sell vegetables. "We suffer from depression and take special drugs, which if we do not take, we feel like being imprisoned at home helpless, hopeless and trying to die. We carry a heavy burden of rents if not paid, we will be thrown out to the street", he spoke bitterly.

After the suicide failed, he had no choice but to sell his kidney. He announced repeatedly his need to sell his kidney and asked his friends to help him find a buyer. He had separated from his wife, family, and friends. He had nothing to wait for but death from hunger or by a shelling. He said that It does not matter how this should happen. The most important thing for him is to get rid of the burden of being a young man unable to meet his obligations to the demanding requirements of life.

He shut his social media accounts and is currently living in self-imposed isolation, resisting the frustrating thoughts obsessing him repeatedly. In order to be able to continue living, he clings to hope for a better future, although there is no indication of that.

Here is Yemen: the country of forgotten war, the geography that violates its citizens' right to a safe and dignified life met with disgusting indifference by neighboring countries and the world. Here is Yemen, which forced its finest youth to seek alternative options for living, however impossible or very difficult.

Yes, under this very difficult situation with brutal war spreading nationwide and no decent means of livelihood, people resort to harsh alternatives to living. Indeed, sometimes suffering generates innovation, so the unnatural in normal circumstances becomes natural in hard times.