Insanity in Yemen becoming a norm of life [Archives:2002/31/Reportage]

By Ibrahim Addahan
Yemen Times Ibb correspondent
Taking a glance at the people walking in the streets of our cities, one gets amazed by the large number of poor people seen there. Stories full of misery and catastrophe could be told by thousands of poor Yemenis all over the country. Just looking at their faces, you will realize that they have a lot to tell. But those who may have more than anyone else to tell, but cannot tell anything are insane street people. Poverty, this horrible nightmare that has been spreading its claws all over the society was behind the insanity of most of those victims.
In fact, the panorama of sadness and tragedy occurring in our society is truly inconceivable and unspeakable. Life has become unbearable for the majority of the people and the phenomenon of poverty is becoming the norms almost everywhere in Yemen. It has become natural to see people taking streets as the home and it has become the norm to see people eating from rubbish bins. You would probably not be surprised to find men, boys and girls, old and young knocking at your door asking for alms. The economic hardship has taken its toll on the lives of the commoners.
As I said before, the other phenomenon linked to poverty is insanity. You can find insane people prowling all over the country. The phenomenon is eye catching to everybody visiting or dwelling the main cities. The situation has reached the boiling point as their number seems to be in the rise. From the psychological point of view, the continuously deteriorating living standards of the people in our society are to blame for this human dilemma.
Sociologists would probably bring social factors such as shock, tragedy, and other extreme incidents behind going insane. But interestingly, you will find poverty behind at least part of those factors. To my humble knowledge, all factors that might be raised to explain the predicament and its components will be all referred to the economy at large. This is because social problems among common family members are related to economy. Take divorce for instance. Most divorce incidents have economic and social problems behind them. However, insanity is not the worst among other consequences of deteriorating economic conditions. We have recently begun hearing about money-related homicide, matricide, patricide, genocide and many other evils. When a father finds himself helpless and unable to feed his kids or have a job to ensure their survival, he may very easily go insane if not kill his own children. The number of Yemenis joining the world of insanity every year is alarming and has reached dangerous dimensions. In other words, the economic hardships have taken much of the peoples mentality as well as their living standards.
Visiting people at their homes and seeing what kind of food they eat, one gets shocked and saddened. Most of the poor in Yemen have tea and bread as their lunch meals even on Fridays. If that is not enough to turn you mad, what else is? What a pity!
The pitiable people drifting aimlessly in our cities and finding none to take care of them need our help. But if the governments actions and economic measures have resulted in driving people nuts and make them starve, it should be the governments duty to take care of those victims. Taking care of the vulnerable in the society must be a top priority of the government, which failed to keep those insane people sound and safe. The scenery is very pathetic. Furthermore, these prowling insane people have become a threat to others as in some cases they throw stones at pedestrians including women and children and sometimes damage properties.
What is more remorseful than all that has been mentioned is when adult insane men or women expose their bodies by walking or sitting naked in public areas. This is not good for the reputation of the country. The government seems to be serious in promoting tourism. So it should tackle this issue as well.
Part of the governments plan should be to provide shelter and food to those helpless victims of a harsh reality. They deserve to be taken care of as they should be treated as normal citizens. The government should expand its facilities to shelter those people and prevent them from threatening themselves or others.
The spread of the mad people all over the cities causes people to get concerned about their kids, families, and properties, especially as they know eventually those mad people will be acquitted of any charge against them. It seems that only the low and middle class citizens realize the dimensions of this problem. The rich, including decision-makers and politicians may not realize the current threat of this phenomenon and find themselves oblivious to the tragedy.
Finally, will the people concerned do this philanthropic job of taking these insane people away from the streets and into appropriate shelters with decent living standards? That will not cost much, will it?

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