Posts Tagged Aden
written on the walls
Here are some writings and drawings on some walls in Aden, Yemen
I never saw anybody writing or drawing on walls, but I think it’s safe to assume that the authors and artists are children and teenagers.
Some of the drawings are very symbolic. I’ll leave the analyses to you.
Where possible, I have translated some of the Arabic words and phrases. Some don’t need translation.
The brick wall featured above is the outer wall of Qala’a Seera, or Seera Castle, an Ottoman (or Portuguese) fort perched on a small mountain. The fort looks over the Aden Gulf on one side and the Seera and Crater districts of Aden on another. Lots of young people come up here to chew qat and take in the view (and a few couples come up here despite the stares).
Skull and crossbone stuff in Aden is more popular than you might imagine; air fresheners, t-shirts, jewelry, etc. The Arabic words written around the image are names of the artist(s) and their friends, I think.
A Kalashnikov with bayonet on the right. The writing, from the top left and down, is hard to read, but a few words say: ”al Jihad..Hamas…men of Palestine” and the name “Othman” in the bottom right corner.
The word ‘Gaza’ is written on the upper left, next to what appears to be a military helicopter. ’The Arabs’ is written below and to the left of ‘Gaza’, near what looks like a faucet.
Hey Arabic readers, can any of you decipher this?
Again, I had some trouble with the Arabic, but this is quite possibly a rendering of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Drawings of the Dome, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, appear on walls throughout the city. 
Here’s another example of the Dome of the Rock. The word ‘Palestine’ is written across the dome.
These words are printed on a few walls across the street from a beach. It may be a private school or group. The word “Allah” is painted to the right.
Soccer is wildly popular in Yemen, but the Yemeni national club is nothing to write home about. According to embarrassed locals, the players chew too much Qat and chain smoke. European and South American clubs are very popular. On this wall, Arsenal gets a transcontinental shout out.
Kids and young adults play soccer just about anywhere it is possible to do so. One group of students I know practices on a ‘field’ that consists of two iron pipes at either end of a long, open dirt space covered with jagged rocks. The field sits atop a British-era landfill.
1 comment November 16, 2008
Get on the bus!
The following videos were shot from the minibuses I take to get around Aden.
2 comments August 22, 2008
My neighborhood
Here are a few videos of my neighborhood, Khormaksar (خورمكسر).
More soon inshallah.
2 comments August 21, 2008
Unification
This is a monument commemorating the unification of North and South Yemen. Many southerners, Adenis in particular, dislike the north. After unification, the more politically powerful (and populous) Northerners took over Aden’s port and began to send the majority of the profits to Sana’a. People have told me that Important government and economic positions were taken from Adenis and given to Northerners.
The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, is from the north and is widely reviled here in Aden.
This monument is adjacent to a wide swath of brick sidewalk that is used for pro-Government parades. A large painting of Saleh is hung above the whitewashed stone bleachers that look over the area.
Beyond the parade grounds is a neighborhood of embassies, delapidated houses, crumbling structures and a few new constructions. It is also where I work.
2 comments August 21, 2008
Walking to the Aden Mall
Walking into the main entrance of the Aden Mall.
1 comment August 21, 2008
Welcome to My Room
This is a video tour of my room.
1 comment August 14, 2008
A Jewish Cemetery in Aden
A Jewish cemetery in Aden
The following are pictures that were taken in what remains of a Jewish cemetery in the Ma’ala district of Aden, Yemen.
I have never taken any photos of a cemetery before, so I don’t know if doing so is offensive. I’m sorry if it is.
I don’t know much about Aden’s Jewish population, but there was a substantial Jewish minority in Yemen before 1948. Most emigrated to Israel or elsewhere after that, although a few Jewish communities stayed in Yemen, mostly in the north. There was a Jewish community living in tumultuous Sa’ada district, north of Sana’a, until quite recently. But they were pushed out of that area by the Houthi rebels, and relocated to a gated community adjacent to the American Embassy in Sana’a called Tourist City. I saw a few of them there when I was looking for a Russian bar.
The cemetery is situated on a slope, in between two roads, one that goes up and through a mountain ridge, and one that goes towards Ma’ala, along the sea, towards Tawahi, which was the seat of the British occupation. There is a tall brick wall separating the cemetery from the street on the lower side, and a flimsy guard railing separating it from the street on the higher side.
Like many other large, open spaces in Aden, this one is frequented, and seemingly inhabited by homeless men. On the far edge of the cemetery, which borders an area that is in the initial stages of some sort of development, there is a shack made of stones and cardboard. In that shack there are two or three more cushions, a radio, and a bushel of roses. The first time I went to the cemetery, there were a few men resting there. Next to the shack is a stone-enclosed area with a patch of grass (and a few cats).
If you walk from the shack towards the main area of the cemetery, past a deep and dry well, around a corner, you will find a crude two parallel stacks of cinderblocks which are used as a toilet. In between the stacks is a pile of feces.
I used all caution and respect when walking around the cemetery. I didn’t move anything or in any other way alter the landscape. Most of the cemetery has been reduced to piles of rock, although some graves remain intact. One of the stones in the picture dates back to 1905, so it’s safe to say at least some of the damage has come from neglect. There are also signs of looting and vandalism throughout the cemetery, from stones that were obviously stripped of marble to marble engravings that were clearly smashed or desecrated for symbolic value.
I wrote this and took these pictures not to judge any one or to make a point.
So please don’t assume that these photos or words are meant to promote some socio-religious, politcal, or cultural idea or notion. Like the rest of you, I grew up with ideas and assumptions and all the rest. But I have tried my best to temper them. I try my best…
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4 comments July 11, 2008
