Yemen

Well it is time for me to write about Yemen, something I have not done, despite being fascinated by this wonderful wild country for many years now, always hoping that things might settle there so I could visit it, but they never seem to, and now, well now they are very far from settled.

Many hundreds of people are writing about the political situation, some of them have actual facts, some are wildly reciting propaganda and fairy stories, trying to write on a subject that they have no knowledge of at all, so they will accept any rubbish and think it is true. But I won't write about this, because I feel, despite knowing more facts than many of the so called reporters, I truly do not know much at all. I live in Wales, quiet, rural, green and peaceful. The worst catastrophe we have is when a bus gets blown over in strong winds, and so I truly have no idea what it must be like to live in a desert land, where men are strong, and women are protected, and where guns, swords and battles are a part of life.

What I do want to write about is just how amazing the Yemeni people are, they are passionate, strong, true to what they believe in, caring, full of bravery and yet humility, fervently spiritual and yet not condemning of other people's faith. Yemen is the only Muslim country in the world where all branches of the Muslim faith live peacefully, even pray together, where even Christmas is celebrated in kinship with other faiths. It is a country steeped in tradition, where people know their family lineage for 500 generations. Yemeni people have the sort of humour that makes you laugh genuinely. It is so far removed from where I am right now, in every possible way, that it truly is like another world, but it is a world that totally fascinates me and fills me with love and admiration, despite its harshness.

I think of the vast tracts of dust and mountains, the flowing terraces of tended green, the elegantly decorated tall houses, perched daringly on top of the mountains, the bustling streets of colour, full of men with curved swords, guns on their backs, women covered walking together, or with their children, so beautiful so exotic and yet so totally natural, so earthy and true, so real. I have to admit that I am quite in love with this beautiful land, even though I have never truly seen it.

I want this land to always be, to always remain, to be ruled by these wonderful people who have kept it so perfectly for so long. Sana'a is one of the longest continuously populated cities on the earth, for over 2,500 years, and what is more, many of the buildings in the city are still just as they were, the day they were first built, glorious in their ancient construction. Built of the very clay that they stand on, decorated and maintained for so long. Almost impossible to imagine how such a building would feel to stand in, to feel that expanse of history all around, connected to the earth and to time so absolutely. I imagine it would feel very solid, and magical.

But Yemen is such a contrast, despite being so ancient, and traditional, it is a land of brave fighters. Of course, it would be, one must have to fight just to survive sometimes in such a place against invasions and the hardships of the desert. And yet too it is a land of learned people, who's tradition as philosophers and poets stretches back so far, to before Christ and further. A Yemeni can be speaking of death to their enemies in one sentence, then quote some beautiful passage of the Quran in another, passionate romantic love, poetry just conjured from a great Yemeni writer in the 2nd century, or political or scientific discourse of the most modern nature. But always full of genuine life and conviction.

So what to make of it all? What is my conclusion on Yemen? I don't think I have one, as every time I think I have understood this wonderful country, I realise how little I do understand. All that I can say, is that I want it always to be free and strong, and for it to always be allowed to continue and grow as it always has, so that at least there is one place on earth where people are truly all that they can be, and proud to be who they are.