Gaber Abdullah Ghaleb, 40, is a member of parliament and one of the leading figures and the Chairman of the People's General Conference PGC  in Taiz. 
He is politically active in performing his duties properly.  
He was elected in the parliamentary elections in 1997 in constituency 70. 
He has good qualities such as, modesty, tolerance and philanthropy. He has good relations with different political leaderships. 
  Emad al-Saqqaf, YT Taiz Bureau Chief has met with him recently and filed the following interview.

Q: How do you respond to those who say that the PGC is a party which is not deeply-rooted in the past considering it as only a political bloc?
A: First and foremost, let me tell why the question is totally groundless at all.
The PGC is strongly established at grass root level. The majority of people have participated a lot in the political arena and each one expresses his opinion freely. PGC's National Charter is derived from people's faith . It is firmly established in the past where its singularity is incomparable.

Q: During the recent local council elections, the PGC did not win the majority and candidates at the Islah party won, how do you explain this aspect?
A: As a matter of fact, the PGC in Taiz won 315 seats out of 550 seats at the local council elections. In other words, the PGC won 57,28 percent, which is clear evidence of the PGC's presence at a major level.

Q: The role of the media of the PGC is not efficient, do you have plans to activate this role?
A: We have an intention to work and the PGC's political platform is readily accessible to all. There is no room for the PGC's achievements to talk about here. Actions speak louder than words and the PGC's permanent aim is to achieve the desired goals in an acceptable manner at all levels.

Q: How do you respond to those who say that women were a large factor for casting ballots and have nothing else, and this was clearly shown when women cast ballots in favor of Islah party during the local council elections?
A: Women factor at the PGC has a prestigious position since the establishment of the PGC membership in 1985. Men and female go hand in hand in the process of political participation, her access to PGC membership and the Permanent Committee. We have also branches for women' s sector in several election constituencies, local councils, Shura Council and General Committee membership.

Q: As a political party, what is the role of the PGC against the US campaign against terrorism?
A: Undoubtedly, the PGC is strongly condemned any terrorist acts in all its forms and support the campaign against terrorism.

Q: Why doesn't the PGC bring those who violate the law to court?
A: You know in any society of the world, there is the good and the bad and the PGC leaders have slight oversights with regard to this. There are of course several PGC leaders who violate the law and therefore they have been held accountable for their misdeeds. People trust too much at this party and undoubtedly, no other political party could win the tribal figures except the PGC and this is known to all. This is shown clearly through their active participation in all political aspects.

Q: How do you respond to those who say that women factor is existed for casting ballot and have nothing else and this was clearly shown when women cast ballots in favor of Islah party during the local council elections?
A: Women’s issues at the PGC have a prestigious position since the establishment of the PGC membership in 1985.
Men and women go hand in hand in the process of political participation, her access to PGC membership and the Permanent Committee. We have also branches for women' s sector in several election constituencies, local councils, Shura Council and General Committee membership.

Can you give us a brief account of projects performed by the PGC?
A: The PGC has been doing its best to implement vital projects since 1997.
In Taiz for example, there have been 495 development projects at the cost of YR 13,661,757,511 during this period.

Refugees, many of who are from the Horn of Africa, have been increasing in Yemen, and now are a noticeable presence in Yemeni society.
They have their own problems and obstacles which come with having a different language, traditions and culture.
That’s why the Partners for Development Refugee Community (PDRC) comes in. It has a role to support refugees as they adapt the new culture and the environment they live in.
On March 21-22 the refugee community center held a bazaar sponsored by Shamlan factory and an American individual sponsor. The Yemen Times spoke with Miss Heike Reidke, a program coordinator at Partners for Development about the center and filled the following interview:

YT:How many refugees are there in Yemen?
Heike: The total number of refugees in Yemen is about 60,0000 in Yemen. A large number, about 20,000 are here in Sana’a. This year we would like to expand our activities to other cities that have a big number of refugees such as Taiz and Hoddida.
Yemen is considered one of the few countries that host refugees, trying to offer many facilitations to them unlike some countries, such the one I come from, where it is difficult to put one foot down. You sent directly back on the same plane.
However, here in Yemen, for example, Somalian refugees can be accepted without a need to apply and this is something wonderful and appreciated of Yemen.

YT: Is it the first time you hold such a bazaar?
Heike: It is the third bazaar if it is not the fourth one. I am still new but what I have learned from the documents here there have been two bazaars held in the last two years .

YT: What can the bazaar offer for refugees?
Heike: Such a bazaar normally attracts refugees as it is held for them to get a chance to meet with each other and then everyone knows that he or she is not the only refugee. In addition, they can show their culture through exhibited food, clothes, handicrafts, music and dance and in same time they have a joy.

YT: Can you give us a brief idea about (PDRC)?
Heike: Partners for Development is an NGO. It was established in 1995. This NGO is an implementing partner to UNCR which is an international body to look after refugees. If they cannot provide their services directly, there others NGO to implement them with them.

YT: What do you do for refugees’ problems?
Heike: Whenever the refugees come directly to our office, we sit with them, interview them and listen to their problems. In fact, they have many different problems. Sometimes they have disputes at restaurants or they have problems with police on the streets or problem with each other. With a variety problems they come to us. We go to their houses where they live, or to the police if they have a problem with police or visit the police station and prisons to see if somebody is arrested there illegally, and we try to mediate with police officers.
We also offer training for the refugees which takes place here in our refugee community center.

YT: Do refugees speak Arabic? Do you organize Arabic classes for non-Arabic speakers?
Heike: Most of the refugees come with just their home language, without knowing Arabic. If they come from Sudan they are lucky because they all speak Arabic. So they don’t face so many problems. So we offer language training in Arabic and English at all different levels and also French.
We have also a daycare and can accommodate 50 children for working parents. They are here from morning to afternoon until their parents come back from their work and pick them up.
We also do vocational activities; sports, football, volleyball, basketball and chess.
There is also a small library so the students who are on language training can benefit from it.
We also offer a vocational training to refugees, not here, but in collaboration with other institutes like the Diploma Education Center, The Family Forum etc. They have different training courses and select refugees to attend training. They have hope after having completed their training, that they can get a job easier as maybe a housemaid or house cleaner.
We have computer training and technical courses by which they can work in any trading agency.
This year for first time we offer home economic courses, so refugees can produce food at home and sell it to supermarket or the general population.

YT: What kind of activities do you hold for the refugees?
Heike: Apart from these activities, last year 2001, we provided training for refugees on health issues. Most of the training has been on HIV and AIDS.
It was done in December and January.
The refugees have two days of training here in the refugee community center.
We also offer to them various testing to whoever wants to know if he has caught one of these diseases.
A big number of refugees, more than 70 % of all participants, want their blood to be tested.
This is a very big service because as you know, people are anxious and afraid to give it. It is confidential. We do not register any name. Instead we give a code.

YT: Any last word?
Heike: I hope that the people, especially Yemenis will be familiar with refugees’ problems and situations and can understand that it is so hard for them as a people who have already left their homeland. I hope people will try to offer what they can.

Murari Prasad
Faculty of Education,
Sada'h
prasadm1947@yahoo.co.in
The 4-day international conference on English Language Teaching (March 30-April 2), "Old Borders, Fresh Crossings: Thinking-Rethinking ELT in Arabia Felix" organized by the Department of English ,Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University concluded on last Tuesday. The first-ever conference of its kind held in the Republic of Yemen was attended by distinguished scholars from the UAE, India and Yemen as well as from Turkey, the UK and the USA. The path-breaking professional forgathering provided the local and expatriate teachers of English in Yemen a forum for productive and enriching interaction with their peers at the cutting edge of the discipline in cogent presentations followed by scintillating comments, incisive questions and immensely engaging discussions. Sure enough, the inputs yielded by fruitful disagreements as well as in the form of agreeable fruits of arguments will go a long way towards turning around the business of English teaching, and as Prof. Qassim Mohammed Berihe, president of Hodeidah University, said, creating " a teaching community that is contemporary in its knowledge, practical in its wisdom and empathetic in its pedagogic practices".
Among the issues discussed and deliberated within the thematic ambit of the conference included Phonetics and ELT, Teacher Education. ELT and Films as well as matters pertaining to literary translation. teaching language through literature, contemporary critical theories etc. Also, the current issues facing the discipline of English studies like expansion of the canon by decolonising and appropriately contextualising it engaged the attention of scholars and did trigger and sharpen the awareness of teachers participating in the conference.
Prof. Peter Ladefoged, UCLA Research Linguist and Professor of Phonetics Emeritus, outlined the auditory dimensions of vowel sounds and suggested that students should be trained to imitate the sounds of English vowels in relation to their own vowels. Rather than offer teaching strategies he merely adumbrated and asked the teachers to fashion the foundations of their work on their own. Prof. T. Balasubramanian, head of the department of English, Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University and conference coordinator, demonstrated the pattern of " misplaced accent" in 'Yemeni English' in great detail. He showed how word accent is the phonological core of intelligibility in both English and Arabic and shared his substantial research underpinned by umpteen examples with the participants.
The keynote address given by Kathy Bird, a teacher trainer and materials designer attached to Zayed University, Dubai, traced the evolution of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) methodology from its traditional antecedents to an enlightened eclectic approach which requires a teacher to develop into a professional educator. The concept implies constant monitoring and evaluation of one's calling and measuring up to exacting standards of professional work. The theme of teacher education was amplified by meaty presentations of Prof. Chhanda Roy and Dr. Jayashri Mukherjee of Hodeidah University and Dr. MNK Bose of Ibb University. Other components of the theme vitally valid and considerably enabling in respect of EF/ SL teachers were presented by Dr. Christine A Coombe, a faculty member at Dubai Men's college, Ms Olha Madylus, a freelance consultant, trainer and teacher in Britain, Dr. Ali Nihat Eken who currently teaches British culture, media studies and translation at the School of Applied Languages, Bilkent University, Ankara (Turkey).In her keynote address titled" Empowering Teachers as Testers" Dr. Coombe argued that teachers should be involved in all aspects of the testing process in that assessment and feedback are central to teaching. Speaking on the pros and cons of using mother tongue in the EFL classroom , Ms Madylus suggested to the teachers to maximize exposure to the target language in the junior classroom. Contrary to the received ELT wisdom on the matter , she maintained with sumptuous body language that while adult learners may use their mother tongue to enhance their English language learning , for children their mother tongue in the English language learning class is a distraction. To make teaching materials still more interesting and user-friendly and language learning engagingly experiential Dr. Ali Nihat Eken underlined the advantages of using films in the English language classroom.
With quite a few papers ranging across the issues of literary translation, culture studies and contemporary critical theories the lang.--lit. divide was bridged in the conference. Prof. Abdelrahman A. Abdrabou, vice-rector, Hodeidah University focused on the implications of cross-linguistic differences and cross-cultural barriers in text reproduction, for instance from Arabic into English. Unfortunately, the polemical potential of the presentation couldn't be fully shared and disseminated for want of time slotted for discussion. Almost the whole gamut of critical theories promulgated by Plato and his successors to the Postcolonial exponents was touched on with varied claims and contests which sometimes petered out into 'minor disasters' . Prof. P.A. Abraham from Sana'a University and Mr. Sivadasan from Ibb University interrogated Postmodernist postulates while Dr. Sridhar Rajeswaran, formerly at Hodeidah University, and Dr. M. Nagrajan, currently teaching in the Faculty of Arts in Hodeidah University , cast their net wide to embrace diverse hinge-points.
The issues facing the discipline of English language and literary studies in the EFL/ESL context were raised by Prof. Niloufer Bharucha and Dr. Khawalah K.A. Ahmed, and were further explored by no less a person (no prizes for guessing) than Prof. Damodar Thakur, chairperson, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Sana'a University. Prof. Bharucha, a professor of English in Bombay (Mumbai)University and currently teaching at Cologne in Germany, argued that a cloned version of English literature curriculum institutionalised in Anglo-American universities and in the former British colonies is no longer vitally relevant to the realities obtaining in the Third World universities. Even L1 students and teachers of English in Britain and America are warming towards literatures in English produced in decolonised locations like India, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean and Africa as well as in settler colonies like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While the postcolonial constellation is shining forth, British literature is down in the dumps. The Empire has struck back ; the boot is on the other foot. So , English literature is no longer the literature of England and curriculum planners in Yemen should take the staggering transformation of the canon on board. In contrast, Dr. Khawlah Kaid Nasr Ahmed, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts , Hodeidah University , contended that teaching perspectives in Yemen entail a fresh foundational commitment to the formation of the discipline which can fit the local cultural context, fulfill the needs of Yemeni students and meet the objectives envisaged by the policy makers. What she suggested was not to dislodge the discipline but to complement English literary studies with Arabic literature translated into English.
While addressing himself to the issue with enormous passion Dr. D.Thakur unfolded alternative enterprises within the space of English studies which can productively interface ELT and English literature , as well as literatures in English. In his paper titled" Teaching Language through Literature: Problems and Principles , Dr. Thakur amply exemplified the lang-lit. pedagogical nexus which has the potential for turning out not only efficient but elegant users of the language. His unique selling points were: (i) The English language is an intrinsic part of the global communication and easily the biggest exporter of intellectual property , so it is a proper prelude to professional career; (ii) literature fosters emotional intelligence and the reading of good literature becomes an enjoyable experience; (iii) grammar can teach correctness, not vitality in the use of language ; and (iv) the English speaking world has excelled in emotive, imaginative and experiential adventures plus, its intellectual attainments have been incredibly exciting. This is why the discipline full of utilitarian potential as well as signifying transactions for the readers' emotional wellbeing cannot be dispensed with. What we need is a methodological synergy to reap a rich reward.
Among other presentations of note were papers by Dr. Mahmood Ali Shamsher, Vice Dean , Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University. Prof. AK Sinha, Dr. CN Srinivasan , Dr. K Thiagarajan, Dr. R.P. Singh and Dr. Indu Bhushan Sharma of Hodeidah University, Dr. Indu Bhushan Sharma of Hodeidah University,as well as by Dr. Anil Prasad and Dr. Sadeq R. Mohammed of Ibb University. Interesting and quite promising attempts were also made by several students of Hodeidah University. Such offerings promise a catalytic decade ahead for the institution.
Fittingly enough, the conference had the entire cast in the business of English teaching on the stage: Mr. Adrian Chadwick, director, the British Council, Sana'a and Ms Marcia Bull , AMIDEAST , Sana'a--- the occidental owners and doorkeepers of the English language as well as its influential promoters; a large number of Indian participants responsible for the teaching of English in Yemeni universities , claiming a slice of postcolonial English language and literature as their homegrown stuff, and Yemeni students hooked on to the bandwagon of globalization, both bewildered and fascinated by English lessons and manual in their hand.
In the end , the conference was a resounding success, both academically and otherwise. Kudos to Prof. Bala , his colleagues and invisible backroom boys and a quite visible helping hand-- Mrs. Shanta Subramanian-- and, above all, to Dr. Qassim Mohammed Berihe, Rector, Hodeidah University, Dr. Ibrahim Omer Hugari, Dean, Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University and the generous patrons who warmed towards drawing a roadmap for English studies in Yemen in the fast changing world and put in place complex logistics and marshaled all their resources at a place with modest infrastructure to make it hugely successful.