Black Friday in Yemen by Kiran Desai

The Middle East is comprised of many countries, one of which Yemen is currently in a crisis. Currently, Yemen is getting raided by airstrikes, civilians are facing death and danger every second of every day. The reason behind this conflict can be debated, however a main reason is the failure of political transition between President Ali Abdullah Saleh to President Hadi. With Mr. Hadi in reign, there has been difficulty to maintain order and deal with terrorism acts. Mr.Hadi  also has had trouble keeping loyal soldiers and has allowed corruption to exist, with unemployment, and food insecurity. The Houthi movement, has taken a stand from Mr. Hadi’s weaknesses and has intentions to overturn the corrupt government. People in the movement, are made up of the Shia Muslims who are supported by Iran, who feel they can bring sophistication and civilization to Yemen. In this fight, the Arab Sunnis are backed by Saudi Arabia, multiple other large middle eastern nations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. These powerful forces, supply Saudi Arabia with finances, troops, and military weapons to support their air campaign. Though, the rules of war are practically being broken because of the vast destruction of schools, hospitals, and other harmless institutions - the resistance to the Saudi’s is growing because of the conflict they have created.

Moreover, it is important to note that in  Muslim culture, Friday is the day of prayer. Once a week, Muslims devote their time to prayer in a mosque. Americans are accustomed to Fridays symbolizing no work, free time, and rest. Further, Black Friday a day that one could consider a holiday is a day of consumerism where individuals splurge on sales and deals and buy numerous products. Ironically, on the other side of the world a Friday of prayer and worship can hold many more events. Fridays become focused on avoiding the death and demise inflicted upon Yemen by coalition bombings. The sentiment of Black Friday in America and the correlation to consumerism sharply contrasts the ‘Black Friday’ in Yemen, which in fact is funded partly by Americans.  As the United States debates over the next presidential candidate and whether or not to act upon terrorist acts, Yemen is being held in flames.  The so called happiness and luxury of Black Friday in America is completely an opposite situation for Yemen. Their one day of peace has now become an additional day of war.

Bader Humran, a gentleman born and raised in Yemen was interviewed as part of this assignment. Mr. Humran received an education from the United Kingdom, and returned to Yemen to support his family. Coming from an educated background he is a lucky individual compared to most in Yemen. Though he has a stable job and a decent family life, the difficulties of his life in Yemen were evident immediately in the attempt of a face to face interview. Utilities basic to Americans such as technology and electricity, are very difficult to utilize in Yemen, mainly due to the conflict. The interference of government and the coalition, plus the air raids contribute to major technological and electrical problems. For this assignments multiple emails, calls, and voice messages were exchanged in hope to schedule a face to face skype interview. However, due to the sporadic raids in the area, it became impossible to do so. Mr. Humran notified me of a recent air strike that made it impossible to conduct any sort of interview using technology. Furthermore, the coalition has made it a point to make discussion with individuals outside the country difficult. Adverse changes in daily activities such as walking down a street, going to school, and recreational activities are all results of this conflict. People like Mr. Humran have put their lives at stake for the benefit of others. He has paused his life, in order to support his family and make sure they received all the basic necessities. In times like these, it is important to realize how much we are able to have. From Mr. Humran we can learn to be positive regardless of your situation, and that with effort comes happiness. Though the  conflict in Yemen is creating a multitude of struggle for civilians, many stay positive and hope for a better future. We can hope for this ‘Black Friday’ to have a better outcome where the civilians of Yemen can live a life of peace and happiness.

Audio Messages exchanged with Bader Humran

 https://soundcloud.com/user-662546980/audio-messages

This shows the difficulty to contact or connect with those in the conflict zone. The interview is still pending due to the lack of necessary connection. 

Whatsapp Message Received on Monday December 12th 

"Good morning to you Ms. Kiran, i hope you are doing very well.
I am sorry, Please we have to postpone again our meeting for tomorrow as no way to do it today as we just hit by about 20 massive Saudi airstrikes, launched dozens of bombs over our heads, incl "sound" bombs. It is because of the gathering celebration on the Prophet Mohamed (birthday) event, all the social media's connections became jammed to be used temporary. that is why we got these challenges to have pure call signal while last week it was fantastic and all was normal. i am sure tomorrow things will be much better than today so we can do this interview for sure.
thus, I may ask you please to allow us to do this interview tomorrow if you dont mind ( at any time you want);thank you in advance for your kind understanding."