Children: the treasure of future generations and of lasting development
When danger threatens a nation, the matter becomes grave. Decision-makers and officials must talk to all sides to find solutions that remove any threat from inside or outside. If these efforts fail and events slip out of control, wise leaders reach out and give up some of their powers to save the nation.
When every door is closed
But what if they reach a dead end, every door is closed and the parties refuse every solution?
The greatest disaster comes when chaos spreads, security is lost and those who wish the country harm celebrate the success of their plots. Yet in the end, whatever is lost can be recovered.
Schools can be built again. Hospitals can be replaced. Security and stability can return. Buildings can be rebuilt and the economy restored. All of this is possible within months or a year, if the means are there.
What happens to childhood
But what about childhood, if only its education is destroyed?
Within a few years, a generation will grow up unable to read or write. Its young people could become easy prey for terrorist groups or for agendas hostile to the nation. They could easily be drawn into crime and into undermining the country's security.
Holding misguided ideas, and with no faith in development, progress or the future of the next generations, they could undo any future development plan.
The state would lack capable hands to rely on in rebuilding the nation. Its leaders would face two choices: bring in foreign experts to run the country's affairs, or rely on this same generation. Both choices carry a risk that is hard to avoid.
A long road back
To raise the level of such a society would take decades. It would take that long to make people aware of how much the next generation matters, and of the need to educate and raise it in safety, so that the nation's development and progress are preserved.
That is why we raise our voices: save Yemen's children.