Where the Paved Road Ends by Han Carolyn;

Author:Han, Carolyn;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
Published: 2012-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

PART VI

NEW FRIENDS AND OLD TRADITIONS

32

SANA’A

If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.

—IVAN TURGENEV

“Many words in English are borrowed from Arabic,” I explained. The students looked dubious. “‘Alcohol,’ ‘alcove,’ ‘alfalfa,’ ‘algebra,’ ‘azimuth,’ ‘alkali,’ and many more …” I asked them to think of additional words, but they remained silent. I added “algodon” (cotton), “alquimia” (alchemy), “azucar” (sugar), and “azafran” (saffron). The word game did not hold the student’s attention—they listened for the adhan, call to prayer, which announced for them that the lesson had ended. They wanted test results. I had stopped passing out corrected tests before class ended because they frantically tore papers from each other’s hands.

“You’re only in competition with yourself,” I said and watched men run toward the door. Outside they compared scores. Mohammed hung back—his low score showed he had not studied, and he did not want his classmates to know. The women stayed in the classroom and snatched papers from each other’s hands.

For the past week, Mohammed looked gloomy. “What’s going on?” I asked as we left the classroom. “Do you want to stop for a Pepsi so we can talk?” He shook his head. “See you tomorrow—inshallah, God willing,” I said at the hotel gate.

“Inshallah,” he replied listlessly.

In a patriarchy, it is easy to focus on women’s troubles—hidden behind veils, women are often voiceless. They seem the sufferers, and, of course, they are.

However, boys and men in Yemen lead difficult lives—they are sometimes voiceless as well. At early ages, some young village boys from poor families are taken to cities and work selling tea, polishing shoes, washing cars, or begging. Education is out of the question because school uniforms and books are too expensive. Without education, they have few opportunities for jobs as men. Young men face unemployment rates of up to 40 percent and, lacking financial resources, they stay single until families can afford the costly bride prices.

Both men and women suffer when forced into marriages to secure family alliances and financial prospects. According to Islamic law, a woman must give her consent or the marriage is invalid. In the nuptial contract, she can include any condition she likes, including prohibiting her husband from taking a second wife. However, young uneducated people do not understand or know their rights. Out of a sense of duty or fear, they submit to the will of fathers.

The bride price has become extremely expensive. Girls—sometimes as young as ten years old—are sold into marriage to much older men. There is tribal belief that young wives can be fashioned into obedient wives as stated in a proverb: “Give me a girl of eight and I can give you a guarantee for a good marriage.”

In 1992 Yemeni law set the minimum marriage age for girls at fifteen, but in 1998 parliament revised the law and allowed girls to marry earlier as long as they did not “live” with their husbands until reaching sexual maturity. Ultra-conservatives with great influence in north Yemen defended early marriage using Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a nine-year-old girl as an example.

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