Yemen on my mind

Ahmed 'Yella' in Sana'a

Yemen has been on my mind for the past few months and ever the more so as things appear to take a turn for the worse...at least according to the news. It's not so much the politics, but the people I hold dear to my heart that have been in my thoughts.

After a year studying Arabic in Egypt, I chose to go to Yemen for a job teaching English and to gain fluency in the language-actually the very name of this blog was created when I traveled there in early 2007.  With most of my friends taking their backpacks and hitting the well trodden paths of Europe and South East Asia, I went in the total opposite direction and covered up with a black abeya dress in Yemen.

Yemen is comparable to Syria as far as far as the Arabic practice goes because people actually want to use their Arabic and not English...many don't even have the option to do otherwise.

Mostafa of Al Mukalla

If you really every want to master a language, then you have to immerse yourself in it, which is just what I did.  Yemenis are notorious for their hospitality and will have you sit in their homes for hours only to then try and convince you to sleep over.  You can drop in at people's homes unannounced and they'll immediately have a meal sitting in front of you and prop cushions under your arms and back to make you feel comfortable.
 As a foreigner, if you have Yemeni friends, they will come in groups to your aid and/or defense if you ever have a problem.  And as I learned from experience;  if you are sick, they will show up to your home as a family and bang on your door until you let them in to then sit with you for as long as it takes to ensure you will be okay and feel better.

Khadija who became like a mother to me

So here I am in Sri Lanka, watching events of what appear to be a civil war transpiring in Yemen knowing full well that my friends are there and in some way being affected by the instability.  To be fair, they've had experience with wars and instability and brush off the name Al Qaeda-but still that bring little comfort when you care about people.

The vast majority of Yemenis do not care about nor do they support terror networks, though it has taken haven in remote parts of the country and is all Western news sources report on...from what I read and see they never clarify the fact that the AQAP is an unwanted organization and viewed by Muslims as being immoral for what they do.  In 2007, I was smoking a narila in the home of my friend Khadija, pictured here, when we heard news of the attack on Spanish tourists in Mareb-a suicide bomber had driven his car into their convoy killing the six Spanish tourists and Yemeni driver.  Khadija immediately condemned the attack, yelling haram! (sinful).  She then brought out the Quran and showed me the passage written that states Allah condemning violent acts against others.  I remember her telling me to tell others in my county that not all Yemenis are like the crazy ones.  I have tried to follow through with the promise that I would do so.

  What really frustrates me is that the jihadi networks have been so damn blatant all these years and only now does it seem anyone cares.  I was there as an English teacher and had knowledge of the training camps and who was involved in the recruitment for jihadis, which makes me question both intelligence networks and political officials who clearly had to be supporting them in some way. 

Part of my Yemeni 'family'

It's unclear what will happen in the next year, though the outlook does not look good.  The south has wanted to secede from the north ever since the country unified in 1990...southerners often refer to the northern as 'dahabashi' essentially the equivalent of a southerner  calling a person of the north a yankee in the U.S.

Niazi and a really big sea turtule at Sharma Beach

The political and economic forecast of the country looks shaky at its best.  I'm finishing with my Masters at the end of this year and am in the process of applying for jobs.  From the way I see it, at this moment in time my career can take me in two opposite directions and I'm weighing out the pros and cons of a return to Yemen not as a teacher, but in a political or humanitarian role.  If tomorrow  the opportunity arose for me to return I would not even think twice about returning...I suppose it will happen in sha'allah.