Ruba Aleryani, a Yemeni student at Brown University, has creatively presented Yemen's catastrophe in eye catching and simple infographics while naming her source. Ruba is a 20 year old, double majoring in Development Studies and Middle East Studies and living in the U.S. She describes herself in her Twitter bio as an aspiring writer and photographer, often uses the hashtag #YemenInNumbers in her tweets to highlight what her country is facing after a month of war. She uses art to shed light on the untapped––whether it is using data visualisations to expose the humanitarian situation in Yemen or using photography and film to cast a different perspective on the country.
Arab coalition forces, led by Saudi Arabia, have been pounding Yemen with airstrikes since March 26. Their assault has not been limited to military sites or their main target, Houthi tribal fighters, who took control of Yemen's capital Sana'a from President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in January.
There is also massive destruction in the southern port city Aden, where the Houthis have been pushing their response, along with forces loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh stepped down after three decades as president following popular protests in 2011, and handed power to Hadi through a deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Saudi Arabia. The same countries are currently bombing Yemen. Saleh still controls most of Yemen's army units and wields influence in the world's poorest Arab country.
Ruba started on April 7 with these tweets before the number of casualties doubled. At least 1,244 people have been killed, according to figures compiled by UNHCO from health facilities and 5,044 people have been injured:
I'm starting a "#Yemen in Numbers" series. This is my first infographic based on #UN statistics (volatile/estimate). pic.twitter.com/jAXru4gtTd
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 7, 2015
Part two of my "#Yemen in Numbers" series. More to follow tomorrow. #YemeninNumbers pic.twitter.com/2nw7DuMCuh
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 7, 2015
She tweeted about Yemen's children killed in the war:
#YemeninNumbers: According to UNICEF, an estimated 74 children have died in the #Yemen conflict so far. #KefayaWar pic.twitter.com/83T81DfsVL
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 8, 2015
And those prevented from going to school due to the escalating violence that has affected 19 of Yemen's 22 governorates:
#YemenInNumbers: #UNICEF has reported that over 1M #Yemen-i children are unable to go to school due to the conflict. pic.twitter.com/rWxLBGfVue
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 9, 2015
She also highlighted the use of child soldiers in Yemen:
#YemeninNumbers: 1/3 of fighters in conflict are children. #Yemen #UNICEF pic.twitter.com/UGQ9kYe1vJ
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 10, 2015
Also read: At Least 115 Children Killed as a Result of War in Yemen
She didn't forget the Yemenis stranded abroad, now reportedly 10,000:
#YemenInNumbers: According to some reports, approximately 4000 #Yemen-is are stranded in airports around the world. pic.twitter.com/XaGcUHGu9a
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 8, 2015
Nor the Internally Displaced People who have trippled since her tweet:
#YemeninNumbers: internally displaced persons in #Yemen have increased by more than 100,000. #KefayaWar pic.twitter.com/ce5gFG1EoI
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 10, 2015
Also read: War Has Left Yemenis Stranded Abroad and Displaced at Home
On April 11 she focused on Yemen's food insecurity and dependency on imports:
#YemenInNumbers: 11.5M #Yemen-is were food insecure before conflict. #OpDecisiveStorm + #Houthis further insecurity. pic.twitter.com/seldP5qqsf
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 13, 2015
Ruba, constantly updates her infographics with the latest figures from United Nations sources:
#YemenInNumbers: #Yemen has an import dependency for 90% of its wheat and 100% of its rice. #WFP #FoodCrisis pic.twitter.com/RUck9cJX8n
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 11, 2015
On April 14, she pointed to the increase of food prices and medicine:
#YemenInNumbers: According to #Oxfam, food prices in #Yemen have doubled since the beginning of the conflict. pic.twitter.com/lz80KGTiC4
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 14, 2015
#YemenInNumbers: Medicine prices have increased by over 300% with the shortage of proper medical care/supplies #Yemen pic.twitter.com/qC23fNx3WQ
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 28, 2015
#YemenInNumbers: Wheat & flour prices have increased by 40% in a country where over 50% live under the poverty line. pic.twitter.com/BAGf9bZWtt
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 28, 2015
#YemenInNumbers: According to @UNICEF, 115 children have been killed in #Yemen and 172 have been maimed. #KefayaWar pic.twitter.com/XlanoXHXpR
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 29, 2015
She also made a video calling for the end of the war, entitled Voices of Yemen, supporting the #KefayaWar campaign:
Recently she wrote a satirical questionnaire for the mushrooming so-called “experts on Yemen” to take before thinking of writing a piece on Yemen, for Buzzfeed:
A screen shot of one of the 10 questions on the “Yemen Expert” quiz
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