As Yemen continues to experience one of the worst humanitarian crises of recent years, charitable organizations are circling the wagons in a bid to provide relief and save lives.
The latest donation comes from Karmagawa, a nonprofit co-founded by stock trader, teacher and philanthropist Timothy Sykes and photographer Mat Abad.
The $1.6 million provisioned by Karmagawa will be set aside to help feed and give shelter to children and families affected by the cholera and Coronavirus outbreaks, and civil war in the war-torn nation.
A tranche of this sum will also go towards helping families affected by the recent explosion in Beirut. It will help the island of Mauritius recover from its recent oil spill, build schools and libraries as well as feeding families that have been hit hard by the COVID pandemic in Bali, Indonesia.
Over 24 million Yemenis are currently in need of relief, including 12 million children, with many living in squalor and lacking access to clean drinking water, sewage disposal and a regular source of food.
To compound matters, half of the country’s health facilities have been put out of commission while the pandemic has left some 7.8 million children without ongoing education.
Turning Trading Profits into Life-Saving Food Packages
The bulk of Karmagawa’s seven-figure donation is being raised through fundraisers and charity merch sales while $600K has been donated by the organization’s millionaire founder.
For some time, Sykes, whose investment strategies have been watched by thousands of eager disciples, has donated his own trading profits to worthy causes, and the latest contribution is said to represent trading profits from June, July and August.
The bulk of the donation will go directly towards the distribution of life-saving food packages, with charity partners including Mona Relief and Partner Relief providing assistance.
Karmagawa
Karmagawa recently made sizeable donations to Color of Change, Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, and the Black Lives Matter Foundation. Although it is fair to say efforts have been internationalist. Belarus, Mauritius, the Galápagos Islands and Lebanon have been the focus of the company’s fundraisers of late, reflecting the nonprofit’s four key missions: food supplies, medical facilities, education, and plastic reduction.
At the time of writing, over $5.5 million in donations has been pledged to some 60 charities and campaigns, documented to 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
Additionally, Karmagawa has built 70 schools and libraries in developing countries with a goal of building 1,000+, with Sykes continuing to fund the donations from stock trading profits.
Yemen Is in Danger of Covid-19 Catastrophe
With rampant unemployment, corruption, disease, and food insecurity, the last thing Yemen needs is for the pandemic to wreak additional havoc.
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, coronavirus could exacerbate an already fragile situation and pitch millions of citizens into a deeper food crisis.
The country recorded its first case of Covid-19 on April 10, with 530 people having already died from the virus.
Meanwhile, aid agencies have warned that many more people could be dying undetected from cholera, due to fears of entering hospitals. Terrifyingly, there were over 110,000 cases of cholera in Yemen in the first four months of this year.
Sykes is living a life many people dream of, working a few hours a day, earning eye-watering profits from market movements, and passing his knowledge on to students via TimothySykes.com.
However, rather than spend the rest of time enjoying the fruit of his labor, the globe-trotting entrepreneur supports causes he feels passionate about, from humanitarian disasters to initiatives concerning endangered animals and the environment.
$1.6 million is the largest one-off donation made by Sykes’ nonprofit to date, reflecting the urgency of the needs of several communities in these difficult times.
