A Deserted School in Taiz a Safe Haven for Gangsters! [Archives:1999/33/Reportage]

By: Imad Al-Saqqaf and Farouq Al-Kamali
Yemen Times
Taiz
Walking on the street of Al-Horaish it is certain that you will never fail to notice a deserted place lies on the east side of the road. It is a large building on a large area. It is said that it is a school that has not been completed yet. WHAT WAS THE POINT THEN?
It is said that the building of this school started on bounds and leaps before the unification and that Saudi Arabia was financing this project.
However, after the breaking of the gulf war, all the projects supported by Saudi Arabia, this school included, have come to a halt. It is nine years since the unification and working in this school is not continued. No one has showed any sense of mercy for the destiny of this used-to-be-beautiful building and exerted some efforts to complete the two-floor school.
Years are elapsing one after the other and we are still cherishing the hope that people in charge may wake up and move to save this school from destruction and ruins. Unfortunately, it seems that they have already lost their face and therefore they have never moved a finger. So often, I pass this school and I heavy-heartedly wonder why it was not completed and the reason behind all this ignorance and carelessness.
It is a fact that lots of machines that cost us millions of dollars are not taken care of and are thrown outdoors till no use can be made of them. There are also a lot of loans and assistance we got from other countries for various projects, however, the implementation of such projects was either bad and not as per standardization or that they never see the light of existence. This deserted school is an example of those incomplete projects and one of those that are not paid even the slightest attention. It is a clear sign of corruption, carelessness and indifference. When I got in this deserted building a shiver went through my body for the building is very big. The rooms are a lot, the campus is well designed, all this makes it a perfect and exemplary place to study in. It is actually not fair to leave such a place in this situation. I was still inside this building when I felt a strange stillness and silence. In one of the rooms I found a hound of dogs and in another some torn clothes. I felt afraid as I got from one room to another for there is nothing inside expect for dogs and terrific quietness. The outside of the building as well as the inner side really attracted my attention for stones have become timeworn and ravaged. Most of the rooms and lanes are full of stones and mud let in by rains from Al-Horaish Street. The situation is certainly daunting! Practically speaking, the school does not need to be completed, it rather needs to be pulled down and rebuilt again. I do not know what would happen if our prudent government took over when Saudi Arabia seized to finance this project or is it still waiting for Saudi Arabia to have mercy on us and finance it again?
In front of the deserted school we had met the school keeper who lives in a small house in the campus of the school. We asked him about his name and the situation of this school and he said: My name is Hamood Kasem Abdullah and I have been the keeper of this school from the time they started building it. It was financed by Saudi Arabia and implemented by Saeed Abdu thabet Almiti, a Yemeni contractor. When the Gulf war broke out Saudi Arabia stopped all its projects in Yemen therefore the working in this school came to a stop. Until now he is still asking the government of Saudi Arabia to pay him the rest of his installments. 
The Saudi government has promised to compensate him for his losses. He is also claiming the Yemeni government to compensate him for his heavy losses on equipment and wood stolen from the school. After 94 war the president of the republic requested Ahmad Hail Saeed, the well known businessman, to complete what has been left from the school. After this Ahmad Hail paid a visit to the school and then said that he was not able to carry out this task for it has been damaged a lot and that it was almost beyond repair. Besides, there are a lot of problems with the land owners and the neighbors. Hamood Kasem also said that every year a committee of engineers and technicians came to visit the building and said that they would start working in it. However, what they say is something and what we see is on the ground is something else for all they say remain a talk, nothing more nothing less. In July 99 a committee from Sanaa came and started taking the windows’ and floors’ measurements. They said that they were going to complete everything either by the Saudi government as the Yemeni-Saudi relations has undergone a normalization course or through our government financing.
Hamood with signs of despair and sadness on his face went on to say that the school has become a safe haven for thieves, wine’s and narcotics’ addicts. When I asked him about the torn clothes he said that these are clothes stolen from the roofs of houses by these thieves. He also said that the school has also become a place for bitches. “Never be surprised if I tell You that I myself once found a dead body in one of the rooms in November 93 and I had informed the police. After the investigation, it is said that he has been choked till death. The case was recorded against an unknown killer.”, Hamood Said. He concluded his speech saying that he appeals to all the people in charge if not complete and save this school before destruction, shut off doors at the face of thieves, outlaws and criminals.
To make a long story short, what can we say about all this chaos and carelessness of destroying projects and public funds. The School that should have graduated students is now graduating thieves, highwaymen and gangsters. So will people in charge start acting to retrieve what can be saved before it becomes beyond control or are we going to wait for Saudi Arabia to finish it? I wonder what kind of mentalities our officials have!
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