AMMAN, Jordan - Catholic and other faith-based aid groups are urging an end to fighting in Yemen, where three years of war have created a humanitarian crisis, including "the world’s largest food security emergency,” according to the United Nations.
Children are bearing the brunt of Yemen’s conflict, the U.N. warned, with 80 percent of them in desperate need of aid and 2 million suffering from acute malnutrition.
"We were shocked about the numbers coming out of Yemen on famine and starvation, especially of children under the age of 5,” said Giovanna Reda of the British Catholic aid agency CAFOD, a member of the Caritas network.
Reda expressed concern that if the conflict continues to spiral, it will unfold into a "protracted humanitarian crisis.”
"God has created each person on this earth with purpose, dignity and worth. Whenever he sees people suffering, his heart is broken,” Harper said. "But he has also given people, like myself, resources and abilities, and I need to steward them in such a way that actually supports those in need, whether it is in my own neighborhood or halfway across the world.”'