Yemen’s crumbling roads mean an arduous quest for water for Taiz villagers

Published 2 August 2026 · india

Poor road infrastructure is exacerbating Yemen’s water crisis, leading to hardships for thousands of people in Taiz governorate. Taiz, Yemen – Hiring a minibus to

Poor road infrastructure is exacerbating Yemen’s water crisis, leading to hardships for thousands of people in Taiz governorate. Taiz, Yemen – Hiring a minibus to the Ragem village market, 70km (45 miles) from Taiz, has become a daily challenge for commuters from outlying areas. Drivers routinely decline trips to these rugged areas due to unpaved roads, which make them impossible to reach for any vehicle bar larger four-wheel-drive cars. Hiring one of these costs more than triple a bus fare, forcing many residents to make a difficult 6km (4-mile) trek to the market by foot. “We offer them double the regular fare, but they still refuse. Only drivers from our village agree because they understand our suffering,” Abdullah al-Azazi, 31, told Al Jazeera. “Imagine workers and students who have to leave the village every day. They either walk daily or spend a fortune on transportation.” The 7,600 people who live in Ragem and its surrounding hamlets routinely face difficult transport decisions, while there are also challenges transporting supplies – including water – to these settlements. Authorities in Taiz responsible for infrastructure said they lack the resources to pave these roads. After appeals to humanitarian organisations for help went unheeded, members of the community took matters into their own hands, and three years ago, a grassroots initiative was launched to repair the region’s crumbling infrastructure. “Three years ago, a group of young people in the village decided to begin paving the road themselves, relying on donations from residents and vendors at the nearby market,” Ahmed Fuad, 26, a lead volunteer on the project, told Al Jazeera English. Volunteer work Volunteers prioritised the most treacherous sections of the road first, but roughly 500 metres (550 yards) of steep, difficult terrain still needs to be covered with concrete. “Our focus has been on widening and paving the road. We’ve accomplished a lot, but we won’t stop until the entire stretch from the village to the market is complete,” Fuad said.

After three years of volunteer work with the project, Fuad took on a central organising role two months ago. To streamline fundraising, he and other residents set up a WhatsApp group to track contributions from community members and local business owners. “Donations started at just 1,000 Yemeni riyals [$0.64], but the momentum grew. Eventually, single donations reached as high as 1 million riyals [$640],” Fuad said. Villagers who cannot contribute financially instead offer their time, drastically cutting labour costs in renovating the roads. “In under two months, we widened and paved over 124 metres [135 yards],” Fuad added from a worksite. “As soon as the concrete sets, we will open this section and move to the next phase. Once people saw minibuses actually reaching the village, it gave everyone a surge of hope and encouraged more donations.” He was confident the young people of the village could pave the entire road to the market by themselves, but assistance from the government or aid groups would make the task far easier. Water resources According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 14.4 million Yemenis remain in dire need of basic water and sanitation assistance. Unpaved roads make it difficult to transport water to remote villages, forcing Yemenis to expend time and energy reaching these water sources by foot. Before volunteers stepped in, securing clean water used to be a daily ordeal for the more than 200 families living in the al-Rahaba displacement camp in Taiz’s Jabal Habashy district. Women and children would have to make gruelling 3km (nearly two-mile) treks to reach water supplies while carrying heavy jerrycans. The 20 litres (5.3 gallons) of water they returned with was not enough to sustain a family for a single day. “Fetching water consumed most of their time. They would leave early in the morning, head out again at noon and make a third trip before sunset,” 44-year-old al-Rahaba resident Abzulaziz Shamsan told Al Jazeera.