Burnley and Pendle group's amazing fund-raiser to help tackle humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen

A group of kind-hearted Burnley and Pendle volunteers have pulled out all the stops to help people living in crisis in Yemen.
One of the volunteers for the Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity. (s)One of the volunteers for the Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity. (s)
One of the volunteers for the Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity. (s)

The Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity have filled three huge trucks with 78 tons of aid for the Yemen Container Appeal.

The every day essentials will make a six to 12 week journey to the port of Aden to help people facing a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 20 million Yemen people – two thirds of the population – are suffering from malnutrition and struggle to access clean water. The country has also been hit by the fastest growing cholera epidemic ever recorded.

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Volunteer Usman Khan said: "The Saudi regime still to this day are bombarding all of Yemen and have brought it basically to rubble.

Theevery day essentials will make asix to 12 week journey to theport of Aden in Yemen to help people facing a humanitarian catastrophe. (s)Theevery day essentials will make asix to 12 week journey to theport of Aden in Yemen to help people facing a humanitarian catastrophe. (s)
Theevery day essentials will make asix to 12 week journey to theport of Aden in Yemen to help people facing a humanitarian catastrophe. (s)

"The UN Development Program says that by the end of this year 233,000 Yemenis will have died. The onslaught of the Saudi coalition has also left 24 million people in need of humanitarian aid, created the world's largest food security emergency, and led to a cholera outbreak that has affected 1.2 million people.

"And some 85,000 children under the age of five may have died from acute malnutrition."

Usman added: "As myself and the volunteers are all fathers, we just had to do something.

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"Initially, when we received the first container we were sceptical about filling it but as word got out via leaflets and social media, the generous public - young, old, male, female - and countless businesses made donations with big hearts. We also can't forget the local charities that played their part in donating and getting the word out there.

The Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity have filled three huge trucks totalling 78 tons of aid for the Yemen Container Appeal. (s)The Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity have filled three huge trucks totalling 78 tons of aid for the Yemen Container Appeal. (s)
The Burnley, Nelson and Brierfield branch of charity Unite 4 Humanity have filled three huge trucks totalling 78 tons of aid for the Yemen Container Appeal. (s)

"Every penny which was donated was spent on aid and the volunteers just have a passion to help those less fortunate."

The group now hopes to send at least one volunteer to Yemen to help distribute the items. They are also aiming to fill seven containers across Nelson, Brierfield, Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn and Bradford to help people over the harsh winter.

Usman added: "We are just a very small group of volunteers who have taken time off from our jobs to successfully complete this project."

In the past, the team has also helped to provide meals to children aged four to 14 living in three orphanages in Morocco.