. . . Meanwhile: September 26, 1962: An American remembers [Archives:2002/41/Focus]

TEMPERANCE BLALOCK
[email protected]
I periodically read the website of The Yemen Times, and tonight when I read your coverage about the 40th anniversary of the revolution. A flood of memories came rushing back to me. You see, I was there, and I saw what Yemen was like immediately after the revolution.
My father was an American diplomat, and he was assigned to Yemen in August, 1962. It took a long journey to get from Washington to Taiz in those days – first there was a six-day trip via ocean liner across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Then there was a flight from Cairo to Asmara, Ethiopia, and then another flight to Aden. Then, the most exciting part of the trip – we were driven by Jeep from Aden to Taiz, on a long and dramatic route through the beautiful mountains.
Between the time we left Washington and the time we arrived in Taiz, the revolution had happened. I was only eight years old, so I didn’t understand the nuances of politics, but I did understand that something very fundamentally important had happened in Yemen, and that the Yemeni people had gone through a dramatic transition.
In some ways it was frightening, because Gamal Abdul Nasser had sent thousands of Egyptian troops to Yemen, to assist the new President Salaal.
Even small children could sense the tension in the air. That tension was compounded by the fact that this was during the height of the Cold War, and there were Chinese and Russians and Americans in Yemen, all competing for the attention and “favor” of the new Yemeni government.
Felt safe
However, we generally felt very safe, and the Yemeni people seemed to like Americans. We were very happy that we were not living in Saudi Arabia, where Americans were forced to live segregated in secluded compounds. We were living in the middle of Taiz, amongst Yemeni houses, we walked to school and back every day, we walked to the market with Mother, and we climbed beautiful Jebel Saber to see the dramatic view of vast mountains spreading to the horizon.
In summer we went to Sanaa, and my father drove the jeep to the surrounding mountain range, where we could look out on the enormous plain on which that beautiful city is situated. He also drove us on weekends to Mocha, where we dipped our feet in the warm Red Sea.
This is my perspective of the country. As for my perspective of the people, and how they were dealing with the changes of the revolution, I could tell that they were timidly considering which paths to take. In many ways they were held back by the presence of the Egyptians, who ended up staying in their country far too long, and sapping their energies, which should have instead been focused on building the Republic.
And then, unfortunately, they were lured in the 1970s to abandon many of their traditional agricultural practices, in order to earn money in the oil states.
Finally, there is the unfortunate situation with Gat. No country can be progressive or fully functional when a large percentage of the population is not only addicted to a drug that distracts them, but also consumes a great deal of their income.
I’m not exactly sure what the people of Yemen hoped for at the time of the revolution, and I’m not sure which opportunities they feel passed them by. I hope that the event of the 40th anniversary will be as happy an occasion for the Yemenis, as is the fourth of July is for Americans.

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