My Yemen Blog

I’m so proud of myself, I remembered to go back to the Chinese embassy today. Learning my lesson from last time, I took a bus this time. I had cancelled my class because I didn’t know how long I would be in line, I had to do some things afterwards, etc. So I’m standing next to the door to the visa office, waiting for it to open at 12:00. Noon comes and goes, it’s not open. That’s not a huge surprise, everything is a little loose time-wise here. 12:15 goes by. At 12:30 I ask the guard when the office opens. “Bookra Bookra!” Bookra means tomorrow… Grr, I try to explain that I only need to pick my passport up, nothing else, but nobody cares. Argh!

I had gotten to the embassy early again, but this time instead of just hanging out on the corner, I decided to look around. The first thing I noticed was how close we were to Zubairi and the supermarket I wanted to get to. I knew I was in the neighborhood, but it was a block away. Walking along the road, I found a couple of spice shops. Spice shops here are a trip. They are a combination of cooking supply, herbal remedies, and traditional cosmetic care. One shop had recipes plastered all over the place, presumably to spur buying things you wouldn’t think of otherwise. There were anti-hemmeroid tea recipes, anti-acne, shiny hair, and many other recipes that I would never have guessed that I would find. One shop was rather narrow, the proprietor had to squeeze between his counter and his back wall. If I faced the counter, there were a bunch of cubbies to my back. Most of his more expensive stuff (various nuts mostly) were in glass displays in the counter. I did notice that he had a bin of saffron in the area in front of the counter and behind the customers if they were facing the counter. There must have been over $2000 worth of saffron there. At lest that’s what it would sell for in the US. I’ve never seen that much in one place before. Even the guys in the spice souk keep it behind their stall and in individual packets.
Another place I went to had an amazing collection of oils. Mint, linseed, clove, fenugreek, cod liver, saffron, rose extract, coriander, marrow(ew!), and more were arrayed in an island in the store. I’m pretty sure that these were intended for the hair because they had a special “For the hair” blend and it had many other hair products around them. In any case, I doubt that the oils were pure in some cases (what would pure saffron oil cost?) but probably diluted with corn oil or something. Still, interesting…

After I was shooed away from the embassy, I went back to one of the shops and bought about half a pound (1/4 kilo) of cashews. I don’t know if they were fresher, lacked the preservatives, were higher quality, or I was just much more hungry than I thought, but those were the best cashews I have ever had. 2 bucks, that’s what it cost for a half pound of perfect, whole cashews. Those, along with a glass of fresh squeezed OJ made up my breakfast/lunch.
It’s a good thing I did that before I went to the store. I only go to the actual supermarket for things like soap, tooth stuff, TP, etc. I loaded up on stuff that I had been waiting to get for a while. One of the things I go to this store for is Listerine, it’s the only place I can find it. It has always been expensive, around 7 bucks for a smallish bottle, but now they only have the size that is just a little larger than the travel size. At 5 bucks for that I finally had to look at some other stuff. I had always thought that the Listerine was expensive because not many people bought products with alcohol in them. Well, I found another mouthwash with alcohol in it for less than half the price, so now I have no idea why there is such a huge difference.
Anyway, I got all of my stuff and I had a bright idea, why not walk back a different way? Zubairi goes right by the store, and it also goes by tahreer square, which is where I have to go. I have always taken a more circuitous route because that’s the way it was shown to me and I had never made the connection before. So off I go, enjoying the weather (not a cloud in the sky, no humidity, low 80’s in the sun) and looking into the shops as I pass by. I had seen some landmarks that looked familiar to me, but after a while I didn’t recognize anything. Just after the thought “I’ve been walking for a while,” occurred to me, I noticed that the old city was on my left. Uh oh, that’s not good. I was expecting to walk to Tahreer and to make a right into the old city. I figured out that I was somewhere between the Bab-Al-Yemen (the door of Yemen, one of Sana’a’s most famous sights and the entrance to the main souk) and where I wanted to be. I could either walk along the wall around the old city, or I could try cutting through the city. Why walk more than I needed to? I went into the old city and tried to go in a diagonal towards where I wanted to go. The sun was directly overhead, and there are no “blocks” in the old city so I was soon turned around. I thought I knew were I was for a bit, I recognized one of the shops, but it turns out that I was going the opposite way that I thought. I wandered and wandered and ended up at… Bab-Al-Yemen. At least I knew where I was, on the opposite side of the old city from where I wanted to be.
I walked back via a familiar route. I had walked from a point about a mile from the old city, past it and onto the other side. I then had wandered aimlessly for a while only to end up at the far end and then walked home from there all with carrying my groceries, probably 7 or 8 pounds worth. I estimate I did around 5 or 6 miles in total. Good thing I cancelled class, I’m wiped out! Thank God I ate something and got some calories in me. In hindsight, I think that I veered at an intersection when I should have drifted. I’m pretty sure I can do what I had in mind, but that means that it is not Zubaiari that goes in front of Tahreer…At least my laundry was dry when I got home. With weather like this, it only takes 20 minutes or so for most things to dry, maybe 30 for my heavy socks, and probably just under an hour for my jeans. Forget about making hay while the sun shines, I’ve got laundry to do!

Isaac

It has come to my attention that some people that read this blog still think that Yemen is “dangerous.” This came up in some conversations in Malta with a certain cousin, and I get the ocaisional hint about it in my emails. I’m going to spell this out very clearly so that there can be no misunderstanding. The places that I have gone (and lived) in Yemen are one of the safer areas that I have ever been. There is no fear of mugging, there is no fear of robbery. The people are friendly and generally low key. I am more comfortable living here than in Northern Virginia as far as overall “vibe” goes. Yemen does suffer in comparison to the more upscale places as far shopping, food, and tourist services. I think that it is a facinating place and I encourage everyone to come over and see it. Not just because I’d like the company, but I think that this unfounded fear about the place really is symptomatic of American’s views on the middle east in general. If I can change one person’s mind about how “dangerous” and unhospitible this place is, I’d consider it a success. Plus, when’s the next chance you will get to see a place like this with a guide?

I wouldn’t have come over here if there was any danger and I certainly wouldn’t stay if there was any danger. This place is not dangerous, yes even if you are a woman. Keep in mind that men are forbidden to touch women here. That isn’t just some sort of law passed by the government, it is how they are raised and part of their religion. I’m not saying there aren’t any jerks here or that groping couldn’t possibly happen, but I think it would be less likely here than any city in the US.

So come over and visit!

Isaac

I recently read an article in the Yemen Observer and I was appalled. It’s a little gruesome, but I encourage you to read the rest of it OK, I knew that FGM (or female circumcision as it is euphinisticly called) is a big problem in Africa, but I never thought about it here. Yemen is very close to Africa, so it shouldn’t surprise me I suppose. Anyway, the most common method of doing this is to completely cut off the clitoris and labia minora. A more extreme version also sews the labia majora together leaving only small opening. This is done to girls somewhere between being newborns and adolescents. Since this is done in village settings mostly, no anesthetics are used. Some richer families will take their daughters to a health clinic where things are supposedly sterilized…

Why do people do this? There are a handful of reasons given, none of which are convincing of course. Some argue that it is for “hygiene” purposes, never mind the terrible complications due to blood loss, infections, abscesses, etc. This reason plays right into the whole “women are dirty” mind set… Some claim that it is necessary under Islamic law. This is totally false, there isn’t a single verse in the Koran about this, and I don’t believe any reputable scholar has endorsed this practice. As a matter of fact, a fairly straightforward argument can be made against it on Islamic grounds. To do this for the reasons stated implies that God made a flawed or purposeless part of a women. If you think you are “correcting” God’s mistake, you are committing blasphemy in the purest sense.

Then there are the people that get right down to it. They claim that by doing this they will make women less sexually active. This is supposed to lead to chastity before marriage and them being loyal to their husbands. Well, maybe it would, but my God! Talk about brutal! If a woman was crazy enough to want to do this for that reason, well, she’s crazy but at least it would be her decision. Can you imagine taking your 12 year old daughter to have this done to her? Can you imagine being that 12 year old? Or can you imagine finding out what had been done to you as a baby and “looking forward” to your wedding night? 

For me, this last reason is what it is all about. Arabic culture is accused of being brutal to women. Most people point to the veiling of women and their place in society as examples. To me, those things are a blend of culture and religion and I can’t definitively call them repressive. FGM is another matter, there is no excuse and it is nothing but brutality. FGM is a way to assert control over women and to deny them of sexual pleasure or even of sexual freedom. What really galls me is that the article gives short shrift to the “sexual problems”, possible physical complications, mental scarring, and the appalling lack of freedom that the daughters and mothers have in this choice and instead concentrate most of the negativity on possible complications during childbirth. “It’s all about having children!” is the basic point of the article. I guess the paper was playing to its audience, but I do wish that they had the guts to drive home the more repressive aspects of the practice. 

Oh, and the women that say “It’s a badge of honor and chastity” should just be shot. If its so damned honorable, why force women to do it? A really honorable woman would do it to herself following that line of “reasoning.” I suppose there is probably more than a little rationalization going on there. I guess if I had something that terrible done to me, I’d try to find meaning in it too… Anyway, I had heard of this issue before but I was never really aware of what was actually involved. I’m glad that I know about it now, but it saddens me to think that people could really do this sort of thing….

Isaac

I’ve been meaning to write a bit about how women dress here for a while. A common thought in the west is that men force women to wear what they wear here. I’m sure that there’s a lot of that going on, but I get the distinct feeling that most women here prefer wearing the balto/hijab/veil. Forcing them to not wear them would be like making a woman in the west take off her pants. Walking around in your underwear isn’t exactly scandalous, but it sure would be embarrassing to go to the supermarket like that. Wearing the whole getup is considered modest here, going without one of the items of clothing would be horrifying to most women here.

Having said that, if a (local) woman doesn’t want to wear some of those things, she’s in for a very hard time. Her family (male and female) will give her a very hard time and the men on the street will def. give her a hard time. Many women simply can’t choose what to wear because of their husband and/or family. As you might imagine, this upsets me considerably…

Then there is today’s Yemen Times. I’ll put the first couple of paragraphs up here…

”Fatima, 30, of Sana’a, who asked that her whole name not be revealed, was married and has three kids. Until recently, she was living happily with her family. Then, she was invited to a wedding party in her area. She prepared by putting on makeup and dressing up in a fancy dress to attend the party. 

At the wedding party, she spent a lovely time with the other women there. A short time later, her husband was at work, when a friend said to him, “if you want to see hot pictures, turn on your Bluetooth.” Bluetooth technology allows users to send information wirelessly from one device to another, say from phone to phone or computer to computer. Fatima’s husband was excited when he received the pictures, but when he saw them, he was surprised and angered in the same time, because he saw his wife in these pictures. 

He immediately went back to his home and asked his wife how her photographs got out. She did not know that some girls took pictures of her at the wedding party, and then sent them by Bluetooth to every mobile nearby. The husband did not believe her, however, and so he divorced her and the lovely family collapsed. Fatima is just one of the victim’s of the downside of new technology. While Bluetooth can be an excellent tool for working and communicating, it can also create serious problems when used irresponsibly.”

See the rest of the article



OK, there are so many problems with this I don’t even know where to begin. How about the husband’s hypocrisy? What if someone had spied on her while she was dressing/undressing? If the pictures he saw were of her in some sort of state of undress, he probably would have killed her. No exaggeration, I would expect it, and I’m sure that most locals would too.

At some point, someone has to say that it isn’t a crime to want to see a woman’s face, that it isn’t unnatural to want to see her hair. In addition, it isn’t any sort of moral failing, and it does not reflect badly on a woman if she wants to show her face. There are rumblings along those lines here, but that’s in the big city. In the villages, especially further north towards Saudi, this type of talk is not tolerated. 

Just when I am about to give this culture the benefit of the doubt, something stupid like this comes up. I don’t bother discussing it with the locals, it would only piss me off. Today is one of those days that I wonder why this society isn’t even worse off than it is. It is shocking to see how low an opinion the men have of women here, it’s also shocking that they lay all of the supposed faults with sex drive at the woman’s feet. I have read two introductions to Islam for westerners and both have explained the balto/hijab/veil in terms of rape avoidance. According to Islamic thought (and I don’t think that this is supported by the Koran but an interpretation from bedouin circles) women are raped because of their beauty. There it is, it is their fault. Make no mistake, if a guy is caught raping a woman, he is going to die. But frequently, the woman is killed to “preserve their honor.” So called honor crimes are on the decline, but they are still prevalent. 

Abdul Summit told me that Yemen is like America in the 70’s. Maybe the 1870’s, but then again, I don’t think we were ever as backwards as they are with women right now…
Isaac