“Once a Nation” by Alex Potter

Alex Potter, recipient of the 2019 Inge Morath Award is continuing her in-depth coverage of Yemen during this pivotal moment in history highlighting the strength and resilience of the Yemeni people.

In seven years, Yemen has fallen from an Arab Spring success story- a peaceful election and exchange of power-to a nearly-failed state whose government is divided by tribe, geography, political affiliation, and increasingly, religion. Numerous UN-brokered deals have failed, driving the country further into crisis and famine.

Having photographed in Yemen since 2012, long before other journalists rushed in to cover the war, I am uniquely equipped to tell this story. I speak Yemeni Arabic, I know the intricacies of working within Yemeni society, and my training as an emergency nurse adds a protective layer to my time in country.

Coverage of the current crisis and Yemen’s political trajectory is more important than ever: the United States Senate voted (and failed) to end American support of Saudi Arabia, who drop the bombs, and the UAE, who are leading the ground assault in Hudaydah.

Eighty percent of Yemen’s population - 24 million people - are in some need of aid, making it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Millions of Yemenis are starving, half a million displaced, and an uncounted number injured or dead from airstrikes and fighting on the front lines. Diseases usually contained by vaccination are resurging: cholera, diphtheria, and dengue fever abound. Foreign powers like the USA, UAE, and Saudi Arabia continue to seek influence in Yemen for its strategic position in the region, it’s shaky democracy, and its largely open borders.

Yemeni boys in the Houthi stronghold of Sa'ada raise their hands at school. The government was rebuilt between the previous wars and the revolution.

A Yemeni girl visits the graves of martyrs of the previous wars in Marran, Saada, the village where the Houthi movement started.

A Yemeni boy raises a flag with a Houthi slogan as the leader, Abdul Malik al Houthi, speaks from a loud screen about their political agenda and the Prophet Mohammad.

A Houthi supporter looks at the shell of an American-made cluster bomb, many of which still litter the slopes of Saada from the previous wars.

Hussein Hasan lays in bed on May 6, 2018 at Jumhuri Hospital in Hajjah, Yemen. Hussein was at the wedding when it was hit by an airstrike; he sustained severe abdominal and chest trauma and spent 10 days in intensive care.

Soldiers draped in the Yemeni flag walk in a march to commemorate the martyrs of the revolution.

Yemeni women march in support of the Houthis holding up their slogan and an image of the leader, Abdul Malik al Houthi.

A Yemeni man guards a Houthi gathering from a mountaintop outside of Sana'a.

Rescuers, mostly neighbors and local men, attempt to dig a family out of a collapsed home in the Old City on Friday, June 12, 2015 in Sana'a, Yemen. Four houses collapsed after a Saudi airstrike in the city. It is unclear if an unexploded rocked landed inside the homes, or the pressure of a nearby explosion caused them to collapse.

Rescuers and family members attempt to pull a man from the rubble of his home on Friday, June 12, 2015 in Sana'a, Yemen. Four houses collapsed after a Saudi airstrike in the city. It is unclear if an unexploded rocked landed inside the homes, or the pressure of a nearby explosion caused them to collapse.

Smoke from an airstrike on al Orthy Hospital rises from the Ministry of Defense complex in Sana'a, Yemen on June 9, 2015.

Al Joob Village, Amran Governorate, Yemen on July 7, 2015. Two airstrikes on July 6 hit a public market near homes and a mosque and farmers selling produce on the side of the road; the two combined killed over 30 civilians.

A nurse retrieves supplies at the malnutrition center supported by WHO on May 7, 2018 in Bani Mansur, Yemen. Photos of Houthi martyrs hang on the walls.

Wreaths worn by those celebrating at the wedding sit amid the rubble on May 6, 2018 in al Ragha Village, Bani Qais District, Hajjah, Yemen. The villagers had been celebrating late into the night when the airstrike hit; most of the dead were in pieces, the injured were taken hours later to the hospital in Hajjah, a rough 2 hour off road trek away.

Mohammad Abdulrab Qahed stands for a portrait with his wife, Um Saad , and children Imad, Wiam, and Dua'a, at a school where they now live in Sana'a, Yemen on June 10, 2015. They are just one family out of the nearly 1.3 million Yemenis forced to leave their homes since the war began.

Shafai (center) drives a boat near the shore in search of schools of fish to catch on May 9, 2018 in Fugum, Yemen.

Yemeni men prepare their mother for burial who was killed when a shell hit their home in Taiz.

Protest camp tents are tied together outside Sana'a, where Houthi supporters from rural areas gathered.

Ahmad Asaba sits as his friend Tareq cleans his wounds on July 4, 2015. Ahmad and his brother Muhammad were severely burned in a car bomb at Qubba al Mahdi Mosque.

Yemeni brothers climb the broken stairs of an apartment building damaged by airstrikes in the Faj Attan district of Sana'a, Yemen on August 17, 2015. Faj Attan mountain may have a large weapons cache inside, which, if hit by an airstrike, some assume could wipe out half the city.