On the 27 th of February, youth across 7 cities in New Zealand came out in full force to join city-wide marches organized by Rise for Lives (RFL), a youth movement focused on bringing awareness and action for humanitarian causes.

Youth members of R4L from across the country staged a peace march with the goal of bringing awareness to the crisis in Yemen, asking for the NZ government and international governments to take action and move in the direction of peace.

“1 child dies in every 10 minutes as a result of this 7 year war in Yemen, due to the war, millions of people are suffering, yet it gets no attention from the public or the media. So, it was exciting to see hundreds of people come out and join us in the peace march. People have even joined us while we were marching across the cities.” Timi Barabas-Founder and National Coordinator Rise For Lives

The world’s largest humanitarian crisis Yemen is currently experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis the world has seen within the last 100 years. According to the United Nations 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview over 20 million people are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance or protection in Yemen—out of a population of just over 30 million people.

“Rise for Lives (RFL) was started in August 2020, with the hope of bringing attention to the war in Yemen. There are youth like us in Yemen who have grown up in the midst of this war—they see how it has attempted to take their future. We are determined to bring attention to this crisis and push for peace. This is only the beginning, “ Cassandra Truscott, Wellington Rise For Lives organiser

This is the first of future marches and events that R4L plan to organize. The proceeds from donations will be going to the UN’s Yemen Humanitarian fund (YHF) and Save the Children.

Donations to the United Nations can be made here: https://crisisrelief.un.org/yemen

Donations to Save The Children can be made via:

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/donate-for-the-yemenis-rise-to-save-lives

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