COVID-19 in MENA: A day in the life of Muna
Ten-year-old Muna Zayed is one of around 1.7 million internally displaced children in Yemen, the world’s largest humanitarian emergency. The situation in Yemen is dire, and the need to reduce the additional strain of coronavirus spreading is urgent.
Muna lives with her family in Al Sha’ab camp in Aden, in the south of the country, after ongoing fighting forced them to flee their home in Taiz. Muna’s school is closed as part of efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But she still wants to show the world what her day looks like.
How Muna is staying safe from COVID-19
Muna walks with a school friend to the camp’s main water tank to collect clean water for washing and cooking.
On the way, they stop at the main bathrooms in the camp, so Muna can wash her face. She says residents try to keep the bathrooms clean to reduce the risk of catching coronavirus.
Muna says she tries to collect water when there are less people around, so it’s less likely that COVID-19 will spread.
Muna’s cousin brings some vegetables to the family’s home, so she cleans them carefully before cutting them up for cooking to help her mother prepare lunch.
“I hope corona never comes to us.
I’m happy that I’m with my family.”
Muna says she knows it’s important that people wash their hands regularly to help prevent COVID-19 from spreading. Residents in the camp don’t always have soap, but they still try to wash their hands thoroughly.
Hope for MENA and partners have been scaling up preparedness and response ministry across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including providing clean water, housing support, distributing food parcels and basic hygiene kits – to empower and enable the displaced families to protect themselves.