Yemen - Life in Perspective

In April 2005 I visited Yemen. It is an amazing place caught in a Soviet era time-warp from which it is slowly extracting itself. As with any place you visit, the impact most acutely felt is that made by other people, especially children. Two in particular really stand out.

Here they are, the two girls that impressed me most! Orphans. Street kids. Running around in a market in the centre of town – Sanaa. Filthy, on the nose. But gleaming and beautiful and proud, despite their circumstances.

The girl in the background was not crying, but stifling a giggle. Both were. Beautiful and fragile and unkept.

Here they are being very shy. The French woman is assuring them I am OK. She was the woman to whom they darted for a brief hug before pulling away and running around this upstairs veranda. Then darting back for another hug. Over and over in a game, albeit a serious one. Here, it seems, is their only wellspring of love.

After a while they let me take a couple of photos but until I knelt down and showed them the images on the back of the camera they remained highly mobile targets!

The image below was one of many that happened in the process of getting them settled down and used to the camera.

In the eighteen months since I have seen them I have haggled deals, worried about share prices, hired and fired, signed contracts and worked obscene hours. I wonder where they are now?! Somehow they make all the other stuff unimportant.