Changes She WroteWhat documentaries do not reveal [Archives:2004/731/Community]

By Sadaf Shah
[email protected]
For the Yeamen Times
There have been a few documentaries on Al-Jazeera network about the use of 'qat' in Yemeni culture. The latest one, I believe, was a couple of months ago about the women of Yemen and 'qat'.
The documentary basically explored and showed women gathering together for an evening of 'qat' as a social event. What was not revealed was the fact that not all women in Yemen chew 'qat'. Basically, women from the northern parts of Yemen are more or less involved with such a social custom.
I know for a fact that on most weekends, women get together with friends to have a tea and 'qat' party. And this social event of the week does not occur in the rural or poorer areas of Yemen. Most very rich families in Sana'a and Taiz are devoted to this party like some kind of sacred duty.
The 'sheesha', which is some kind of a smoking device, is also available at these parties. Again, women from the northern parts of Yemen only are actively involved in chewing 'qat'. And this was the flaw with that Al-Jazeera documentary which failed to impart this very small, yet very critical piece of information. Most of my Yemeni women friends were outraged at the news agency for generalizing and categorizing all women in this country as avid 'qat' chewers!

The truth is
If you are a foreigner living in this country, and if you really would like to get an unbiased perspective of the people of this country, then by all means make some Yemeni friends! Get to know your neighbors and visit them in their homes.
The first thing I noticed when I first visited some women in Shabwah was the simplicity in their lifestyles and thoughts. There were no furnishings or elaborate decorations in the layout of their homes.
Of course it's different in Sana'a, but in other cities of Yemen, their lifestyle is so focused on just the basics of every day life. Their hospitality is second to none.
They treat you, the foreigner in their homes, like some kind of special guest from God. It is really embarrassing the lengths they go to to provide for your comfort and happiness.
Furthermore, you do not even have to make prior appointments or dates to visit these people. In Canada, the U.S or most European countries, you would have to make plans ahead of at least a week to visit someone or just to get together to go out somewhere.
I remember in university opening my day-timer to see if I was available on a certain date to have lunch with my best friend! Over here, you can call your friend and tell them you will be visiting the next day and they will have prepared for you an elaborate feast. Well, maybe not a feast, but some very exquisite homemade baked goods for sure.
When you talk to them with an open mind, your own open mind, you will find them to be almost the same as yourself; hopes, aspirations and dreams of a better future for the people of this planet. That is how 'normal' they are and that is exactly the vital piece of information that most documentaries conveniently ignore. Pity.
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