IN PICTURES: CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Yemen famine: inside the crisis

Jack Hill, the Times photographer, travelled to Yemen to capture the disaster caused by a vicious war in which 85,000 children have died. He reveals how the suffering forced him to question the humanity of his work – and why documenting this crisis is so vital

Outside his newly-built stone house, Salim Abdul Nasser with his three children. He lost an arm and home in a “coalition” airstrike on a bridge near his home in Mokhala village
Outside his newly-built stone house, Salim Abdul Nasser with his three children. He lost an arm and home in a “coalition” airstrike on a bridge near his home in Mokhala village
JACK HILL/THE TIMES
The Times

Susan Sontag in her essay On Photography states that photography is non-interventionist and that it perpetuates the status quo. This is perhaps true in its most literal interpretation. The purpose of my recent assignment to Yemen, however, was to raise awareness of the country’s humanitarian crisis and raise funds for Mercy Corps.

Jamila takes part in a sewing workshop in Sana, on one of the Livelihood programs run by Mercy Corps
Jamila takes part in a sewing workshop in Sana, on one of the Livelihood programs run by Mercy Corps
JACK HILL/THE TIMES

Mercy Corps is one of The Times’s chosen charities for this year’s Christmas appeal and I was asked to travel to Yemen with Catherine Philp, the diplomatic correspondent, to report on the charity’s work.

During a 15-day stay, we travelled extensively across the country. From the mountainous Houthi-controlled north, through Yemen’s high mountains decorated with agricultural terraces and mountain top villages, to the semi desert areas of the south. We went north