Head of Orphans Sector at Al-Saleh Charitable Society for Development Huda Al-Yaf’ee:

“Our problem is that donors do not react with us as required because they rank us as a government or party institution and this is not correct. We are a charitable society that depends on donations to run its different activities”.

Head of Orphans Sector at Al-Saleh Social Society for Development Huda Al-Yaf'ee is a propagator and Islamic thinker. She studied at the Noble Quran House in Kuwait. She has been undertaking charitable and Islamic missionary work for the last 16 years.

Upon her arrival in Sana'a during Gulf war crisis, she taught Quran there and established Dar Al-Rahmah and ran it for three years. She, in collaboration with Al-Saleh Society, also established the orphans sector after being personally delegated by Balquis Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Yemen Post interviewed Al-Yaf'ee and came up with the following:

Yemen Post: How many orphans do you support in Al-Saleh Society?

Huda Al-Yaf'ee: Orphans sector has existed for eight months now, and the number of cases studied and registered reached about 3,000 and about 1,000 others are included in orphans' house of the society.  

YP: Don’t you think that the number is low especially when the number of orphans is huge, and your society holds the name of the highest ranking official in the country, President Saleh?

HY: I care very much about quality not quantity and the sector has been recently introduced.  Still, I think the number is big if compared to the short time and scarce resources.  

YP: How can you speak of scarce resources when your society is run by President Saleh's son?

HY: President Saleh treats the society like other establishments and societies nationwide, and further public opinion does not support us because we have the name of President Saleh, though it gives us no preference over others.  

YP: Where are your activities concentrated?

HY: We have studied over 3,000 cases and now we started to coordinate in Hadramout and Al-Hodeidah as well as Aden.

YP: Do you coordinate your activities with other societies interested in orphans?

HY: Work should integrate and not overlap and what is required is to coordinate in order to achieve equality and justice as we find some orphans registering with more than one society at a time.

YP: How do you categorize orphans?

HY: We have 3,000 cases belonging to 800 families. There are also dozens of solitary cases of homeless and displaced orphans especially those who are victims of family disintegration or those who lost their parents as well as relatives.  

YP: What are the issues that you give more interest?

HY: Through field visits, we found two main types of orphans. The first type is those who we can call 'real orphans' as they have no relatives at all. The second type are those whose problems were mainly caused by family disintegration and were forced to resort to begging and child labor.  

YP: What have you provided for them?

HY: We have come to know so many stories relating to family violence, physical torture and abuses in police stations. We tried our best to interfere and resolve these problems.  

YP: What are the services you provide to orphans today?

HY: We have classified the cases under five categories and our involvement starts with studying the case as soon as we get informed about it. Upon verification, we register the orphan and open him a separate file, and we either return him back to his mother and support him financially or refer him to our orphanage house inside the society. In case the orphan was 15 or older, we include him within the productive and development support project, yet we condition here that he continues his studies. When the orphan fails with his studies, we try to earn him some skills including computer and other skills. We also focus on raising the awareness among society members as for the rights of orphans.  

YP: How many orphan houses are there in your society?

HY: We have two houses for orphans: Al-Abtal House and Al-Liwa' House for female orphans.

YP: What are your future programs for orphans?

HY: You know that we are an agricultural society and we have programs that concentrate on developing the skills of orphans in modern agricultural methods, providing them agricultural lands and houses. We have also programs in different trainings.

YP: To what extent are you open to local and international civil society organizations?

HY: We are open to all civil society organizations and we have no conservations at all. We seek to achieve joint cooperation and we have right now cooperation with a French organization interested in children protection.

YP: Let's turn back to your orphan houses; how do your supervisors deal with orphans and are they qualified?

HY: We cannot claim that we are perfect; however, we are sparing no effort to achieve an advanced step and you know, for sure, that it is not easy to get those with expertise and scientific qualifications. When we look at things from a realistic angle; what is better, to have the child in the street or bring him into the house and provide him some sort of care. We can say that we achieved 50 percent of our goals, and we aspire to achieve better in future. Further, we are seeking to train supervisors in collaboration with Science and Technology University.  

YP: What is the volume of your financial support?

HY: the financial support does not exceed 5 percent of the society's general budget; however, the late establishment of the sector could be a factor.

YP: What are the projects you implement to help orphans?

HY: We have agricultural villages project which aims to provide residence and orphans stability, and we try to secure funds for this project from donor organizations. The project is to be implemented in provinces with abundant water like Hadramout, Lahj, Abyan and Al-Hodeidah.

YP: There are thousands of smuggled children, beggars and vendors; don’t you think that your society is responsible about them all?

HY: Frankly, if we find solutions to these issues, then there will not be a single smuggled or homeless child. The problem is gross and resources are limited, and the society is trying its best to help in this respect. We have a center in Haradh whose task is to contain the smuggled children, and a center for safe childhood whose task is to contain street children. However, giving the required attention to children is not an easy task, and all society members should help and support our activities to achieve these noble ends.  

YP: Don’t you see that some parties are trading in the name of orphans?

HY: As far as I know, the phenomenon is not as it was in the past and when some exploitation exists it is made under personal relations, something that is not controlled by official laws.

YP: Do you work with Islah Charitable Society (ICS)?

HY: We are holding talks with them to have joint programs in the future, and ICS is among the leading societies in serving orphans. 

YP: Is there political reasons that prevent such a step?

HY: For me, I think there are no such political motivations and President Saleh is among the senior supporters of the ICS.

YP: Does this mean that Saleh has diverted his attention to ICS only?

HY: People expect that the president will be the senior of our society's activities because it is named after him; however, he tries his best to achieve equality and favors no society over the other. Our problem is that donors do not react with us as required because they rank us as a government or party institution and this is not correct. We are a charitable society that depends on donations to run its different activities.  

YP: Are you free to take your own decisions?

HY: Orphans Sector was established according to generous promises by the society's directors to have its own policies and it enjoys relative financial and administrative independence. Our decisions are taken in accordance with the standard administrative framework.       

YP: Do you meet President Saleh in person and do you raise orphans problems before him?

HY: I have never met him in person, but among the society's specialties is that you can reach the officials and they cooperate with us including Col. Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh and Belqis Ali Abdullah Saleh. Finally, I thank the Yemen Post for granting me this chance and I wish them luck and prosperity.