YEMEN: Struggling to pay rent in Al-Mehwar slum (video)

SANAA , 6 May 2008 (IRIN) -
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. Thousands of people flock to Sanaa, the capital, every year in search of work. But with few opportunities at hand many struggle to survive and are forced to live in cramped and dirty conditions.

Four thousand people live in Al-Mehwar slum in Sanaa. There is no formal housing so people construct shelter from rubbish strung together.

This video short gives an insight into the life of the Zaid family in Al-Mehwar. They moved to the slum in the early 1980s from a village in the impoverished Al-Mahweet Governorate in search of a better life, but more than two decades on, they can barely pay their rent.

sz/ed