When a missile destroyed a house just 300 meters from her home, Samah immediately took flight with her three sons and two daughters. They fled at night, carrying what they could in cloth bundles.

When they finally stopped running, they tied the clothes to a tree to shade themselves from the sun and found crates to use as ground cover. They had enough money for ten days of food. When the money ran out, Samah knew her family would face starvation.

This is the situation for many in Yemen right now, where a horrific civil war has waged since 2015. More than 4.5 million people are displaced, many of them camping beneath trees or squatting in the streets of major cities. According to an ICR partner, 16 million people are on the brink of famine, and more than one-third of all schools are nonoperational.

Thankfully, before they starved, a humanitarian organization in the country provided Samah and her family with food.

DISPLACED

Ahmad noticed a man washing a car near the small shop where he’d stopped to pick up a few supplies. The man reminded Ahmad of his grandfather.

When Ahmad finished his purchases, he pulled his car across the street, asked the man to wash it, and began chatting with him. When he heard the man’s dialect, Ahmad knew he’d been displaced.

The man told Ahmad that he’d lived his whole life in his ancestral family home, until the front lines of Yemen’s conflict shifted into his district and the family house was destroyed. The man fled south, and now, at age 64, he was homeless. He and his family were living on the streets without shelter and, by washing cars, he could provide the family with just enough for a basic meal or two each day.

Ahmad’s heart grew heavy as he listened. Yemenis over 60 are among those most acutely affected by the food, fuel, and financial crises in Yemen. As he paid him for the car wash, Ahmad also gave him a hygiene kit he happened to have. The man thanked him so profusely that Ahmad had to turn away to hide his tears.

As he drove back to work, Ahmad kept thinking about the man. There were so many people like him with nowhere left to turn. “God,” he pleaded. “The needs are just too great! We need a miracle.”

HARDSHIPS FOR BELIEVERS

Even before the war, Christians in Yemen faced some of the most extreme persecution in the world. Leaving Islam is illegal and carries the death penalty. Known converts to Christianity were often imprisoned and tortured. Extremist organizations like al-Qaida and ISIS also targeted Christians and both Yemeni Christian leaders and foreign Christians have been murdered and imprisoned for their faith.

The main risk for followers of Jesus in Yemen has always been family and neighbors. Once they discover someone has converted to Christianity from Islam, they are at extreme risk of harm. Converts nearly always face ostracism from both their immediate families and their communities.

Now, the war has added layers of difficulty to Christians’ lives. They are hungry and need basic necessities like water and health care. Many believers are also among the displaced.

A believer living near a conflict area was grazed by a bullet last year. His injury was not serious, but it did prompt him to relocate. When Christians are dispersed, they lose contact with other believers they might turn to for encouragement. And in the chaos of war, neighbors who resented a believer’s Christian faith may target them.

However, alongside the unique hardships Jesus-followers face, they are also receiving encouragement. A mother named Fayrooz told of an experience she had. One night, she lay awake very late, worrying about her family’s situation and her children’s needs.

Once she finally fell asleep, she heard a voice calling her. When she turned toward the voice, “I saw a light,” she said, “and the voice coming from the light said to me, ‘Get up, my daughter, and give me your worries.’ I responded and said, ‘Who are you?’ and I heard the answer: ‘I am Christ and I’ve come to carry your worries and give you a blessed life.’” Three days after this dream, Fayrooz and her family’s circumstances improved.

Amidst all the challenges in the country, the church is growing, as people search for Truth.

Some find it through the internet or a radio program. Others find it through conversation with a follower of Christ, who answers their questions about faith.

And once a Yemeni believes in Jesus as the Savior they have so desperately longed for, they often tell others despite the risks, because they have found a pearl of great value.