Yemen’s ray of light [Archives:2006/931/Viewpoint]

Editor
It is amazing how a simple ray of light can overcome shadows of darkness. I realized this when more than 50 teenagers visiting the Yemen Times on an educational tour recently bombarded me with intelligent questions and comments. The youth were students at the AMIDEAST center in Sana'a. As part of their educational program, a visit was arranged for the young boys and girls to get exposure to print media and the Yemen Times was chosen to host this tour.

We held discussions totally in English and their fluency and language comprehension was admirable. Yet it was their frank, almost blunt, remarks and questions that were most worth praising. The teens were aware of many issues and displayed a good grasp of life. They asked serious questions about politics, women's issues, freedom of press and expression – and even challenged Yemen Times policies.

Life in Yemen is not easy. In fact, life anywhere is not easy. However, what makes it more difficult in Yemen is that the country is going through a turbulent transition phase. The country as a whole faces many challenges, beginning with infrastructure and ending with governance. Yemeni youth face future uncertainty in addition to carrying the burden of the past. Unfortunately, the mistakes of this and previous generations will have to be borne by the coming generations. I feel sad when I think of the legacy we are passing on to our children and grandchildren. It's not enough that Yemen as a country is indebted to international donors to the third generation to come, but we also are consuming our oil, gas, mineral and other natural resources in an abusive way. The plans of today's leadership seem to lack vision and responsibility toward future generations. The mess Yemen's government has in its hands today is an accumulation of decades of bad management and I wouldn't blame the current government if all it could do is ad-hoc troubleshooting.

Despite the sinking ship, it seems there are some small hands building a lifeboat and those are our educated inquisitive youth. Not all Yemeni youth are given the opportunity for good education and adequate exposure. Yet, it seems that those who are, such as the students who visited the Yemen Times, will be the ray of light for this country. It takes only a few free-spirited youth to get the wheels running. I pray that the fire in the hearts of those special young people will never fade.
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