A trip to Sanaa

 Monday 30 October 1972

We left Hajjah shortly after 11am.  From the town it was a long, slow grind down to the bottom off the mountains at little more than walking pace for 2 or 3 hours, until we reached Suq al-Aman where we bought petrol (sold in jerry-cans).  From there to Qanawis which had the sophistication of a real petrol pump in the middle of a grass-hut village.  We continued on to Bajil, on the main road between Hodeidah and Sanaa.  The lowlands are now much cooler than a month ago.  There has been a lot of rain and some of the desert tracks have been washed away in the week since the Mission team came up to Hajjah.

1 November

We arrived in Sanaa at 2.15 in the morning of 31 October and I kipped down at Peter Dahlen's house.  The next day I was able to meet up with some VSO volunteers and the co-ordinator, Paddy Coulter, who gave me a run-down on who was in town - Richard Jarvis is away at the moment, and John Baldry has one of the VSO volunteers staying with him while his housing is being sorted out, but Paddy has offered to put me up for a day or two.

I was planning to go to the Cold Store to buy some goodies to take back to the hills, but first of all tried to get hold of some cash that my parents had sent out via the Midland Bank and the Yemen Bank for Reconstruction, rather than the United Bank.  Then I couldn't do my shopping because the Cold Store was shut, so I went by the International School, where I had a bite to eat.  I left the food at the Boyds and then went back to Paddy's via the Yemen Bank (shut) and a shop where I bought some shoelaces.  

Paddy's house is out of water, so no chance of a decent shower there - I shall have to ask if I can stay at the Boyds again as Paddy and his wife Angela are off to Taizz.

Hajjah is about the same size as Ferrette in Alsace, I guess, but there are several villages all very close.  Sanaa can't be bigger than 500,000 or so,but there are no accurate figures.  I shall try to get a lift to the hills above Sanaa so I can take a picture or two to give an idea of the size.  

Now we are into November it gets very cold at night in Sanaa - bitter, in fact.

I'm still trying to track down the £80 I was sent, and worrying that the pound is about to be devalued to $2.25.  After visiting the bank I went by the Ministry of Education to see Richard Jarvis (now back), and will be able to stay at his house for a couple of nights.

2 November

Visited the Higher College and met John Baldry and another British Council teacher.

Postcard to my brother, dated 2 November

3 November

Richard Jarvis offered to take a small group of us - John B, Mervyn (a volunteer) and Daniel (staying at John's) on an outing to a valley some distance from Sanaa called Wadi Dahr.  It was some miles away, along a rough track, but with spectacular views from the rim.

I've now tracked down the money from home, and now have about £180 in the bank here.  However, I'm wondering whether I should send some of it back - there are anti-governments rumblings here and rumours of a period of disturbance, if not of civil war.  The "Voice of the Free South" - a radio station in Saudi - is trying to get Royalist tribes west of  Sanaa to overthrow the government for agreeing to unite with the South.