Banned Countries Week: Yemen

Today was our 20th country, and the 5th in our 'Banned Countries' week: Yemen. 

A couple of quick facts: 

The capital of Yemen is Sana'a, they have a provisional government (which is never really a good thing), 99% of the population is Muslim, and they speak Arabic. 

Yemen is known for dates, sand, and cities made of mud. They also hang out there next to Oman on the Arabian Sea, and as a result, they have some world-class surfing. Our landmark in Yemen is 'Old Sana'a. It's one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and at an elevation of 7,500 feet, it is also one of the highest capital cities in the world. The old city is known for it's multi-story buildings decorated with geometric patterns. The religious and political history can be seen in the 103 mosques and over 6,000 houses all built before the 11th century. Unfortunately, the old city has been hit by bombs, and many of those special buildings have been destroyed. 

Sana'a isn't the only city with some seriously old buildings. The town of Shibam is pretty famous for the 500 narrow houses built out of mud bricks in the 16th century. It's known as the 'Manhattan of the desert' and the 'oldest skyscraper city in the world' because the buildings are the tallest mud structures in the whole world. 

In Yemen, women wear long black cloaks (an abaya) with a veil (niqab) that covers their face and hair, in accordance with the Islamic faith. They are much more covered up than say, the women of Iran who simply wear the hijab. The men in Yemen carry a jambiya, which is a dagger that is short and curved. The handle designs are an indication of their social status. 

Oh, and they have these crazy 'Dragon Blood Trees', because they produce a prized blood-red sap. 

Yemen has a lot of issues though. In fact, according to a ranking by Foreign Policy magazine, it is the 8th most unstable country in the world, and according to Transparancy International it's one of the most corrupt countries in the world; the money from the oil-based economy doesn't exactly stream to the people. 

 The country is dealing with a Civil War. There's a rebel group called the Houthis, and while they aren't a terrorist organization per say, they have been involved in trying to take over land, and the government. Again, I try and put things in the simplest terms (even though whats going on the Middle East is far more complicated), for the boys to get a very brief understanding of what's going on over there. Long LONG story short, the Houthi's basically were involved in ousting this one guy as president. But, the new president has struggled, and now they are working with the OLD president that they ousted! Plus, Al-Queda and ISIS run rampant in Yemen, taking advantage of the political instability. Even when they are driven out of areas, they leave behind landmines, making it very dangerous to travel. The US Department of State has one of those 'don't go there, and if you are there get out' travel warnings. 

And life in Yemen is hard, maybe the hardest out of any of the countries on the banned list. One of the poorest countries in the Arab world, 54% live in poverty.  The military conflict has significantly damaged infrastructure, limiting the availability of electricity and medical care, and making travel on roads dangerous. Diseases like Dengue Fever and Cholera are spreading through out the country. 

But none of that is their biggest problem. The biggest issue of the people of Yemen is a severe lack of food and water. Many people can only eat what they grow. In Sana'a, citizens only get tap water a few times a week (rural areas are even worse). In fact, according to the UN, it is entirely possible that Sana'a may become the first capital in the world to run out of a viable water source.  

True story: After teaching the boys about Yemen, Hayden said 'Man, I think I've been taking drinking fountains for granted my whole life.'  (Not 'clean water, mind you, but drinking fountains!) 

Anyway, here are the boys Yemen post cards... 

Yemen is also home to the Shihara Bridge. It was built in the 17th century to connect two villages in the mountains, specifically to keep Turkish invaders away! The builders made sure the bridge could be destroyed in just seconds so no invaders could enter Yemeni territory. Nobody would survive the bridge collapse- it's 328 feet down to the canyon floor. 

So for today's activity we built bridges. Each kid had 25 Popsicle sticks and 3 feet of tape to build a bridge to connect their two lands. 

Everyone went with a similar strategy. Calib broke his tape in two, and then put his stick side down to create a frame, and then he simply laid the sticks on top. 

Hayden used the sticky tape side up. 

And Peyton just used one piece of tape sticky side up. 

Then it was time to see how many Turkish Invaders (aka checker pieces) they could fit on their bridge. They earned money for their jars depending on how many they fit on their bridge before it collapsed. Hayden got 14. 

Peyton got 16. 

And Calib hit 17 and just kept going. 

His bridge held all 24 checkers! 

I totally screwed up taking a picture at dinner. We had a really late one (something like 7:15- which is really late for us!), and even though my camera was RIGHT THERE on the counter to remind me, I just totally whiffed on it. I knew it would happen sometime, I just didn't think it would be so soon! We're only 20 countries in!

But anyway... 

We had Yemeni Shakshuka with toasted pita to scoop it up with, a Yemeni Cucumber, Tomato and mint salad, mangoes, and Bint al Sahn for dessert. 

Of course, this is one of the few times that we pretty much ate every last bit of dinner. So, I couldn't really take a picture of even a partial plate! 

Oh, and we had a homemade Limeade to drink. 

The Shakshuka was awesome. It reminded us all of my dad's eggs, except probably way better for you, since it was missing that entire bag of cheese he used to put in them. You might remember we also had Shakshuka for Algeria day, but in Yemen, they have the eggs scrambled instead of sitting on top.  I snagged some Del Monte jarred mangoes from the produce section at Publix, thinking the boys might like those better than the other ones we've had (I was right, they did!), and the salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and mint was pretty awesome. They put little pieces of toasted pita in there like croutons, and they totally worked. 

Oh, and there was some dessert left, but only because Asa made 6 HUGE portions. We cut them in half for plating, and then you drizzle honey (Yemen is known for honey) over top. It was like a sugar cookie biscuit with honey, pretty good. 

20 Down, only 173 more to go!

Next Up: Iraq