Sana’a Gardens: Enjoyment or Waste of Money? [Archives:2005/904/Last Page]

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December 19 2005

By: Adel Al-Haddad
Gardens and amusement parks are significant rudiments showing nature's beauty, environment and modern city life. Visiting gardens, especially on weekends, to spend time under shade trees and watch innocent children play happily in a green environment with fragrant flowers, is one of a citizen's rights that should be exercised in our capital. Our children have the full right to play and relax according to the Constitution and International Children's Rights. Sana'a lacks well-qualified public gardens and amusement parks. In this regard, there are many gardens and parks, but most are not used and not qualified for public use; whereas, the old city of Sana'a is a good example of how an ideal capital should look – full of good gardens which also produce daily vegetables and some fruits.

Children like an ideal place for playing, shouting and amusement. How nice when one observes happiness on children's faces as they amuse themselves! As mentioned above, there are very few qualified gardens. In this article, we take Al-Sab'een Garden as an example:

Ali Al-Harsh, the General Administration for Gardens, says, “Al-Sab'een Garden is the best park in Sana'a.” Al-Sab'een Garden lies in the southern suburb of Sana'a and has a total area of approximately 391,000 square meters. Private business and investment sectors, such as Al-Sab'een Garden Amusement Park, Pizza Hut and Fun City, rent many parts of Al-Sab'een Garden. In this regard, the following are accounts of citizens and children the Yemen Times interviewed, in which they express their opinions and impressions, noting pros and cons of the park's facilities:

Eight-year-old student Arwa Yahya Saleh said, “I am coming here for the first time with my classmates for playing and fun. I would like to use all the games in the park, but I don't have enough money for that.”

Army officer Ali Zaher said, “The garden is nice, but it needs a lot of improvement and development. There are few trees; we cannot find a good place to sit down and eat some fast food.” He noted the garden's size is not big enough, “if we compare it with other countries' gardens.” As a result, “We can use all the games here in only one hour,” he added. Zaher said prices are too high and in some countries, games like these are free of charge and if there are any charges, they are very low. He also hoped garden staff would wear uniforms so customers can recognize them.

Eight-year-old student Yousef Mohammed Al-Gaml said, “I like to come every day, but some games scare me. Really, I am not used to them.”

Nesreen Al-Goufi, teacher at Al-Nama Modern School, said, “I bring my students here to amuse themselves. What a pity the cost of the games is expensive for average Yemeni people. Thus, most fathers of the students cannot afford such prices. Moreover, the park is not very clean and fast food is not hygienic. In addition, some of the games are too old and others are broken, as you see.”

Ali Al-Hababi, an employee in the Ministry of Finance, said, “I can say the garden is nice, but we cannot use some games until other users are finished. Additionally, the time specified for each game is too short while we pay the high charge for them. For instance, if some fathers have many kids, they cannot afford to use all the games.” He also pointed out that some facilities are not well maintained; for example, the chairs parents use to wait for their kids are broken.

As the capital city, Sana'a should have many ideal gardens in which its residents, in particular its children, can spend a nice time and at least be worth the money they spend for it.
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