Saturday, 26 March 2016

I have arrived in Sanaa

Sanaa - Tuesday 5 September, 1972

I have arrived in Sanaa!  Unfortunately my luggage hasn't - it was checked through from Beirut to Hodeidah, but it seems it wasn't transferred at Cairo.  The Aeroflot flight wasn't great but we had a pretty nice steak for breakfast on the flight, served by an air hostess who has probably only recently transferred from tree-felling or the construction industry.  It was grey and cloudy as we landed, and the cabin filled with steam from the vents.  When they opened the door of the plane I realised why - it was already incredibly warm and so humid it was like being in a warm bath.
Here is my entry stamp. I have to register somewhere in three days.

At the airport one of the other people was also going to Sanaa, and we went into "town" (it doesn't look like much) and then we got a service taxi from Hodeidah to Sanaa.  That cost 12 riyals (£1, more or less).  One of the people in the taxi was the head (I think) of the passport department in Sanaa who had come in on the same flight and also lost his luggage. The taxi ride took six hours because we kept on stopping for soup and meat every 40 minutes or so.

The road from Hodeidah to Sanaa is phenomenal.  It must be one of the best drives in the world.  The road is good - built by the Chinese.  The first bit out of Hodeidah is a long straight stretch, but then you go through a couple of low hills which they call the "Door of the mountains" and then the road winds up and down pretty much all the way to Sanaa.

When we got to Sanaa, the passport-office man told the taxi to stop near the British Embassy which is in a side street near the main road.  I was glad to see the British flag flying over it, so it was easy to find.  Prof S had said to contact someone at the Embassy called Ernest Noble, who took me round to the home of Richard Jarvis of the British Council.  He has arranged that I could stay at his house for a few days.  He is away in Taizz, another town to the south, but his servant is looking after me very well.  After dinner he took be round to see a Mr Bird, who gave me an idea of who the local British Council people are.  He said that over the next few weeks there will be a course for VSO volunteers which might be be useful or interesting.

Tuesday, 8 March 2016

The rest of the camp. Beirut. Final briefing

Beirut, 2 September 1972 (Saturday)

Tuesday 22 August - we dug another trench for a pipe and then collected some stones.  After that we sat and threw water at each other, then in the afternoon about 8 of us went round the village to look at people's wounds.  Lots of people have infected cuts and scratches - there was plenty to do.  In the evening a rather dull folklore presentation by a Lebanese group.  Would have slept soundly except that there was a major commotion at about 4 am.  Turned out that someone in another tent had had a nightmare and screamed so loudly that the camp leader had rushed down from the house he was staying in about 100 yards away.  The person who had the nightmare didn't remember a thing. Spent the following morning collecting stones.

Thursday 24th - starting to get the hang of the local Arabic. Have found "Voice of the Arabs" broadcasting from Cairo which has Arabic closer to what I am learning in Cambridge. Later, discussion about Palestine.  Some representatives from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine talked to us - separate groups for English, french and Arabic speakers.  I'd met one of them at Rafid camp last year.  He is the director of the PFLP newspaper, al-Hadaf.

Saturday - The brother of one of the camp organisers works at Lebanon's most important hydro-electric power station and gave us a tour of the power station, followed by an enormous lunch. We didn't get back to the camp till late.

On Sunday I travelled back to Beirut with the Czech motor workers who were leaving so that I could sort out my visa for Yemen and the Aeroflot ticket.  Failing to find the Yemeni Embassy on Sunday, I finally made it on Monday morning, had all the forms filled in by 10 am - and then had to wait for two hours for the consul to arrive.  But at last - here it is:
Thank you, thank you, Mr Murshid.

Less luck confirming my flight to Yemen from Cairo.  Aeroflot say they have to check with Moscow. So I head back to the camp with the mail for my fellow campers which I picked up from the Social Development Office.  I had to get a bus to Sidon, another bus on to Tyre, and then a service taxi to Maarakeh.  The evening's entertainment was supposed to be by a guitar and flute duet, but the guitarist was hurt in a car accident on the way, so the evening collapsed.

On Thursday I managed to go into Tyre and contact the Aeroflot office by phone. My booking is confirmed! Got back to camp and helped with the village clean-up that was under way, then found that someone had apple-pied my bed and taken my other shoes.  I found the shoes but they had been filled with jam.  Very funny ha ha. In the evening we had to dress up for a camp-fire get together. I put on my plastic mac, with a towel round my shoulders, cotton wool in my ears and carried a bucket of water because the French and Lebanese here always make a phenomenal noise and throw water at each other at mealtimes.


Yesterday (Friday) we packed up most of the camp and were brought back to Beirut, to the King's Hotel this morning.  The hotel was expecting us this time.  There was a letter from Prof Serjeant saying he was in town, and to meet him at the St George Club.  We chatted for about 3 hours with some very nice beers. His wife, Marion was with him.  I am to go to a place called Hajjah, north west of Sanaa, and he gave me a lot of advice (including "Don't insult anyone by calling them any sort of animal name" and "Make sure not to use any insult referring to a person's mother").  I gave him £17 for some Yemeni money that he had, and Mrs S gave me some spare pills for malaria and stomach upsets.  He advised me to have some English books sent out, so I shall make a list - apparently reading matter is a bit hard to come by.  He says I'll probably be in Sanaa for about three weeks (though I don't know where) till the beginning of October when the term starts.  I think this will be my last post before I get there - assuming I do.  Look out for my next one.

Saturday, 5 March 2016

On the way - Maarakeh, Lebanon, 21 August 1972

Maarakeh, Lebanon.  21 August 1972

Arrived in Beirut last Monday (14th) OK.  Someone had telexed through to say I should be met at the airport (no idea who) and they took me to the Kings Hotel, as per the instructions from the Office of Social Development.  Only the hotel was full, and they weren't expecting me.  I decided to go to the American Community School where I stayed last year and see if there was a room there, which there was.

Tuesday, went to the OSD to sort things out.  Picked up my things from the ACS, and was taken to a rather grotty hotel some way along the coast.  Had a swim and wrote to Prof Serjeant in Yemen, and to Aeroflot in Beirut to confirm the flight reservation.  Still have to sort out my visa.

Wednesday - we were bussed off to the camp, which is near Tyre.  More organisational issues: no food or water.  However that was sorted out, and so we put up our camp beds and dug a latrine pit and basically sat around until the power cut, which was rather nice because we sat outside and chatted by moonlight.  The campers are a mix - about half of them Lebanese from various parts of the country, the rest are from different countries.  Most are student sort of age like me though there are a couple of older guys from the Tatra factory in Czechoslovakia.


Thursday - drew the short straw and was part of the housekeeping team in the camp for the day while everyone else went off and visited local houses.  Housekeeping is things like washing dishes, making sure that the toilet trench isn't too stinky, and preparing vegetables.

Friday - we dug a trench across a road for a pipe in the morning,then went down to Tyre and had a swim.  In the evening there was a presentation of European music by a group consisting of a Frenchman, a Lebanese pop singer and the singer's girlfriend.  It all started rather late because there was another power cut.

Saturday - another trench followed by another swim.  I do hope that Yemen is a bit cooler than here.  We are about 6 miles from the sea and only about 1000 feet up, so it is pretty hot.  I took a couple of pictures today, and amused people in the evening with a bit of music played on my bicycle pump.  I have adorned it with transfers handed out by the Czechoslovakian men.

Sunday - an outing to Tyre and Sidon.  Now I can identify the pictures I took last year.  Tyre was the place with the rather unimpressive Roman ruins.  Sidon is the pretty little castle in the water.  In the evening we had dinner at Djezzine which has a very high waterfall, and is apparently famous for its cutlery.

I'm not using my (little) Arabic much here - most of the conversation is in French, though the Czechs and two of the English girls only speak English, which slows things down.  Another English girl is studying Arabic and Hebrew at Leeds and is having the same trouble converting classical Arabic into conversation as I have.  Discovered that all the intelligible Arabic radio stations here are Israeli.  The Lebanese campers got a bit agitated when I tuned into an Arabic speaking station which they said was in Israel.  The Lebanese radio signal doesn't seem to get this far south.

As I am flying off to Yemen on 4th, I will miss some of the free tourism at the end of the camp, but I am keen to meet up with Prof Serjeant when he passes through Beirut on his way back from Sanaa.  I haven't got confirmation of the Cairo-Hodeidah leg yet.

Thursday, 3 March 2016

A year in Yemen - Chartres, France: news from Prof Serjeant

Chartres, France.  July 1972

It's been a horrendously long day - had to cycle through two towns because their Youth Hostels were full, but thankfully the hostel here in Chartres (run, it seems, by a British couple) has a space for me.  I think it has been 80 miles since I set off from somewhere down the Loire.  Maybe from Blois via Chateaudun, but I couldn't swear to it, not being able to put my hand on my notes.  The bike is holding up well.  Quite often a passing Brit motorist will hoot when they see the GB sticker on the back.  Although it originally had drop handlebars, I'm glad that I was able to acquire some upright ones from a long-abandoned bike in the college bike racks.  It means I can sit up and enjoy the view when the going is easy. But it wasn't today...
Bike rest somewhere along the way

The bigger joy was that there was actually a letter waiting for me at the hostel. Professor Serjeant has arranged with the Minister of Education in Yemen for a couple of us to go there to teach English at schools in regional capitals, Hajjah and Zabid.  He says in the letter that the pay will be about 300 riyals a month - £20 or so - but accommodation will be provided and it will be an excellent opportunity to turn my classical Arabic into something that real Arabs can understand.  With luck, I'll be able to understand them too.

I've already applied to go on my second work camp organised by the Ministry of Social Affairs (or some such) in Lebanon, so my plan is now to hot-foot it (or hot-pedal it) back to the coast, and pack for Lebanon and Yemen.  I should be able to afford the air ticket - Mum is still working at Exchange Travel in Birmingham and is a bit of a wizard when it comes to working these things out.  I'm not even sure how you get to Yemen, or if the northern bit (where I will be going) has airports.  Come to that, I'm not all that certain that I know where Yemen is in relation to the rest of the Arab world.  I've only been to Egypt, a couple of years ago and last year when I got jaundice and missed the first three weeks of al-Bukhala, and Lebanon for their international work camp last year.  Well I can look it up when I get back home.  However, I do plan to spend a day or two here to catch my breath and take a look at the cathedral, which I believe is quite grand.