Faisel al Hemyri
Faisel al Hemyri is 28-years old. He looks like he’s closer to 40. He’s a police soldier. It’s a job he’s held since the age of 14. He drives around in patrol trucks every night, and sometimes during the day. He’s originally from a village in southern Yemen, but moved to Sana’a for his job 14 years ago. Today he lives in a small cinder block house with his wife, mother and four children – a small family by Yemeni standards. His house is in a remote village on the outskirts of Sana’a (but still within the city limits, and within the ring of security checkpoints that surround the city).
The drive to his house from downtown Sana’a takes about 30 minutes. The scenery and terrain gradually transforms from the dense urban bustle of the city center, to a gradually more industrial and sparse surrounding. Industrial should be qualified – small-scale industries like cinder block plants, construction businesses and auto repair shops. Periodic stretches of markets line the streets, and men mull about chewing qat and buying fruit and wares from vendors chewing qat.
After turning off a dusty side street into what can loosely be described as a village (more a collection of small, scattered houses with a periodic market), we arrive at Faisel’s house.
He welcomes us into his “living room.” It’s a 4’x8’ room at the front of his one-floor house, and is adorned with an old rug and foam seating pillows.
We discuss his job and living conditions. He says he makes 26,000 Yemeni Reals a month. That’s about $13. And he pays $5 a month in rent. So, he has $8 a month to pay for food, water, electricity, gas, and any other family expenses. He says realistically he would need a salary of 50,000 to feel comfortable that he can meet his family’s needs. That’s still only about $25 a month.
He says that he receives no government assistance. There are no discounts on water or electricity bills, or school fees. He wants the government to do more, and he says he’s displeased to see government officials driving around in expensive cars when so many people have nothing.
He does say that sometimes he receives random assistance – people offering money or clothes – from business people. Often it is tied to the end of Ramadan, when wealthy people go around offering charity. He says it’s nothing systematic or sustainable, just random charity.
Faisel says that his situation is typical for the people in his area in Sana’s.
But, he points out this is better than the part of the country where he’s originally from. There he says that in the past people were farmers, but now that there’s so little water, they can’t even grow crops. He says that single men in his home village can come to the city and look for work, but people with families can’t move unless they have jobs already lined up – but it’s not easy to find jobs remotely.
Faisel was able to save up enough money to buy an old motorcycle that he hopes to use during the day as a taxi to make extra money. Before buying the motorcycle, he would do any odd jobs he could to make extra money. His goal now is to save his earnings from the motorcycle business and eventually open up a communications center – basically a shop with phone booths for people to make calls.
Realistically, he does not have many options. He has a sixth-grade education. He says this is typical because most people in poor areas have to leave school to work to help support their families. He says his goal is to earn enough money to keep his kids in school, and put them through university. He’s not sure if that will be possible.
Faisel says that the mosques in his area try to help. They will ask the community to help individuals who are sick or having a difficult time. He says that the mosques and imams try to raise awareness about problems in the country and empower people to question the government, but they do not incite or advocate violence.
Faisel is worried about the conflicts in the country and sad about the people dying. He believes that the government needs to solve the problems in the country, but it needs some help from the international community.
Despite the struggles in his life, he’s optimistic. He says as Muslims he and his neighbors put their faith in Allah that things will get better. He thinks the government can change if there is enough will, and he hopes that will happen.
I asked him what keeps him awake at night. I was expecting him to say something about keeping his job or whether his children will be healthy. He said that he’s most worried about security in the country. He worries about whether the conflicts will get worse and the country will collapse. He elaborated and said that by conflicts he means not just the actual fighting, but the underlying social, economic, and political issues behind the conflicts. That’s what keeps him awake at night.