The  street fish vendor, Mohamed Awadh, who is 45 years old and lives in al-Khassaf neighborhood - one of Aden's crowded quarters in the District of Seera - now moves easily in and about the alleyways of the neighborhood to sell his fish after the streets were stone-paved.

A work Opportunity

Mohammed Awadh describes the situation in the neighborhood before the PWP's intervention to stone-pave the streets under the YECRP – Funded by the World Bank and administered by the UNDP – by saying: "Small cars and taxis couldn't enter the neighborhood, and the sick and the elderly were carried over people's shoulders to the open areas outside the neighborhood." Awadh adds: "Heavy items, such as gas cylinders and water – when water service is disrupted- were transported by donkeys. It's as if you are still living in the rural areas and not in a city. Dirt and epidemics were widespread among the residents because of the unsanitary conditions cause by wastewater. Today, the situation has changed for the better, and cars can now reach the top of the hill. The hardships suffered by the sick and the elderly in trying to cross to the asphalt road have ended. Disease carrying insects and mosquitoes have all but disappeared and wastewater has become a thing of the past.

He said: "I used to be without a job, and now, after the stone-paving of the neighborhood, I became motivated to start selling fish in the streets, and the idea succeeded. And now, it has been over two months, I have been selling fish daily in the neighborhood without any interruption.

The School

Maram and her sister are  now going to school without any difficulty after the neighborhood they live in was stone-paved. The wastewater that used to overflow to the alleys, the solid waste collecting in the paths, and  the stray dogs, have all but disappeared. You can readily see the smiles in the faces of Maram and her sister, as they expressed their  happy feeling to see their neighborhood stone-paved.