Hope in The Sky
Adel Ben-Harhara, author
Hope in the Sky, volume two of Adel Ben-Harhara’s three-volume memoir, speaks about millions of Yemen’s Muwalladin (foreign-born Yemenis) struggling for equal rights and citizenship. He was one young man who spent a dozen years in Yemen, where he suffered from prejudice, discrimination, and the effects of civil war. He endured harsh treatment because he wore a dark skin, was born in East Africa, and was unable to assimilate into an underdeveloped society living according to primitive cultural traditions. He stood strong and managed to depart his ancestors’ land, not because he was tough, but because he had no choice. What happened to one of the oldest nations on Earth, the cradle of Arabian civilization, the home of the biblical Queen of Sheba, consort of King Solomon? Yemen, with ties to the Semitic lands to its north and to the cultures of the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea, is frozen in time and still practicing medieval traditions. Illiteracy and constant tribal conflicts serve as catalysts in suppressing development and modernization and in keeping the country and surrounding areas suspicious and threatening to the world. Want to learn the inner workings of Yemeni life through the struggles of a sixteen-year-old boy who immigrated to his ancestors’ land? Read on.
Hope in the Sky ni kitabu cha Adel Ben-Harra, ambacho kinaelezea maisha ya mamilioni ya Waislamu wa Yemen waliozaliwa nje ya nchi. Alikuwa kijana mmoja aliyetumia miaka kumi na miwili nchini Yemen, ambako aliteseka kutokana na ubaguzi, ubaguzi, na athari za vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe. Alipigwa marufuku kwa sababu alikuwa na ngozi nyeusi, alizaliwa Afrika Mashariki, na hakuweza kujipatanisha na jamii iliyokuwa imefadhaika na kuishi kulingana na desturi za kitamaduni za kale. Alisimama imara na kufanikiwa kuondoka katika nchi ya mababu zake, si kwa sababu alikuwa mgumu, bali kwa sababu hakuwa na chaguo. Ni nini kilichotokea kwa moja ya mataifa ya kale zaidi duniani, kitanda cha ustaarabu wa Kiarabu, nyumbani kwa Malkia wa Sheba wa Biblia, mke wa Mfalme Sulemani? Yemen, yenye uhusiano na nchi za Wasemitiki kaskazini mwake na tamaduni za Pembe ya Afrika ng'ambo ya Bahari Nyekundu, imekaa kwa muda na bado inafanya mapokeo ya enzi za kati. Ukosefu wa elimu na migogoro ya daima ya kikabila hutumika kama kichocheo katika kukandamiza maendeleo na kisasa na katika kuweka nchi na maeneo ya jirani ya kutiliwa shaka na kutishia kwa ulimwengu. Unataka kujifunza kazi ya ndani ya maisha ya Yemen kupitia mapambano ya mvulana wa miaka kumi na sita ambaye alihamia nchi ya mababu zake? Soma zaidi.