Yemen family eats tree leaves after food aid ends

A 65-year-old woman in southern Yemen collects tree leaves each day to feed her grandchildren after the family lost food aid more than six months ago. Saeedah Mohammed lives in a tent in Al-Manij displacement camp near Taez with her two divorced daughters and their six children.

She gathers the leaves in a plastic bag, boils them with salt in a bucket over a fire made of branches and stones, then mashes them for the children to eat. "I add a little salt and boil the leaves until they soften. Then I mash them and give them to the children to appease their hunger a little," she told AFP.

The family has not eaten meat in years and reports recurrent diarrhea from the leaf diet.

Background on displacement Mohammed and her family fled their village of Al-Kadha in 2015 after fighting began between Houthi rebels and government forces. Fighters took their home and cattle. Yemen's civil war has displaced at least 4.5 million people and created a severe humanitarian crisis.

Aid from the World Food Programme stopped more than six months ago. The family now begs for bread, collects restaurant leftovers, or eats leaves. Mohammed said no one visits the camp anymore. "We go to bed hungry, we wake up without breakfast. We have nothing.

No sugar, no flour, nothing," she said.