- Published
From the day they were born, just seven weeks ago, twins Raghad Hassan and her brother Raad have been battling for survival.
asserted
twins → publish → survival
They came into the world prematurely, as fighting surged in Yemen's long-running civil war between Houthi rebel fighters and government forces.
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fighting → come → fighters
When the Houthis reached their village in the Kahboub mountains in south-west Yemen, their family of seven was forced to flee amid bombs, missiles, and drone attacks – the twins protected only by blankets.
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twins → reach → blankets
What followed was three days on foot heading for the port city of Aden.
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followed → follow → Aden
"It was very difficult," says their father, Bajash Ali Sagir Hassan, a softly spoken shepherd.
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father → say → ?
"We didn't find cars or transportation.
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We → find → cars
One kind person brought us here [on the fourth day] while others refused."
"It was very difficult," says their father, Bajash Ali Sagir Hassan, a softly spoken shepherd.
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father → bring → day
"We didn't find cars or transportation.
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We → find → cars
One kind person brought us here [on the fourth day] while others refused."
As the family walked, the twins got weaker, according to their mother Lina.
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twins → bring → mother
"They were exhausted… there was cold and dust.
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They → exhaust → ?
Their vomiting and diarrhoea got worse."
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vomiting → get → ?
By the time the newly homeless family arrived at al-Sadaqah hospital in Aden, the twins were barely clinging to life.
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twins → arrive → life
"Just skin and bone," said a doctor, shaking his head, as he looked at their wasted limbs.
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he → say → limbs
Raad was the sicker of the two - his ribs visible and his chest heaving as he took rapid, shallow breaths.
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he → heave → breaths
He was barely bigger than the hands of the nurse who carried him gently to be weighed and measured.
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who → carry → him
Bajash looked on, worry etched on his face.
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worry → look → face
He told us the twins were fed twice a day, but sometimes he could only give them water - after the war drove up the price of baby milk.
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war → tell → milk
The diagnosis came quickly - severe acute malnutrition.
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diagnosis → come → ?
Hunger did not arrive with conflict, but it's spreading with the latest bloodshed.
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it → arrive → bloodshed
The United Nations says around 800,000 people can no longer receive lifesaving aid and more than 250,000 have been displaced, after an informal ceasefire collapsed in the summer.
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ceasefire → say → summer
Since then the Houthis have made a lighting advance along the Red Sea coast, and they have now completely cut off Yemen's third largest city, Taiz.
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they → make → city
The UN says civilians there are "at grave risk" and lacking food due to soaring prices.
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civilians → say → prices
The internationally-recognised government is fighting back against the Houthis - or trying to - with the help of Saudi air strikes.
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government → recognise → strikes
Caught in the middle of all this are fathers like Bajash, fighting to get help for their children.
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fathers → catch → children
We saw another mother with a malnourished baby being turned away.
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mother → see → baby
We followed Bajash as he rushed through the corridors, trying to get the all-important admissions slip.
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he → follow → slip
He found an ally, a forceful supervising nurse, Aisha Ragab, who had run from the war herself, back in 2018.
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who → find → 2018
"I feel for them," she said, "because I have already lived through the situation myself."
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I → feel → situation
Two beds could not be found, but Aisha was undeterred.
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Aisha → find → ?
"I will settle this by having the twins share a bed... so that we can save them.
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we → settle → them
By God, I will convince them [the doctors]."
Within an hour the twins were lying on a single bed, their tiny bodies taking up little space.
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bodies → convince → space
Lina was feeding them sips of fortified milk from a tiny bottle, but Raad could not keep it down.
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Raad → feed → it
He was cradled in her arms - his eyes wide and his cheeks sunken.
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cheeks → cradle → arms
Asked if she thought her twins would recover, Lina replied quietly, "God willing."
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God → ask → ?
As we walked through the unit with its pink walls, some doors were padlocked shut.
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doors → walk → walls
There are 22 beds, but staff told us only 13 patients were admitted at a time - the most critical cases - due to the lack of international funding, staff, and equipment.
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patients → be → funding
That's a bitter pill to swallow for Dr Noor Mohammed, a harried young doctor.
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That → swallow → Mohammed
"It's sad to say, but we lose patients [because of the conditions]," she says.
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she → say → conditions
"We don't have good equipment like ventilation machines, and oxygen bottles," she adds.
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she → have → machines
A lot of laboratory investigations... it's very hard to do them."
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it → do → them
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
