18 - May 3rd thru May 9th 1999, Vol
IX
 
As
their efforts to spread awareness among Yemenis of the devastating harms
of this evil plant continue, can these young men and women win in their
WAR AGAINST QAT
It was like a breeze of fresh air blowing in. It brought with it new
vigor and hope. The five young men and women who were invited to the Yemen
Times premises to talk about their voluntary work in fighting qat carried
with them an air of having a mission. It assured me Yemen still produces
many noble-hearted young people.
I walked by them twice. They were in the waiting lounge. For some reason,
I wanted to eye them from a distance before I make my approach.
It was possibly because I was scared that yet another of my hopes would
be shattered. But my colleagues at the paper assured me the young men and
women were the real mcCoy.
Once they were shown into the talk-room, I appeared up at the door.
I started to fumble a few words of welcome. Then I expressed my feelings.
"I am very proud of you," I said. "The work you are doing has
a lot of meaning for our nation and its future," I added. Their faces
beamed with happiness. They appreciated the respect and recognition they
were getting. Apparently the admiration and respect was mutual. "It
is good to finally meet you," ventured one of the women.
Volunteerism is an old Yemeni tradition, though not structured or institutionalized.
For many young men and women, voluntary activities as a public service
to society is part of a rite of passage - a wobbly suspension bridge leading
to maturity. It gives young men and women the satisfaction of chipping
in, and of being accepted into the community. But for some people, the
depth of the meaning and extent of contribution can be an enduring treasure.
This story is a case in point.
Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf
|
It all started when a prominent community leader, Mr. Ahmed Jaber Afeef,
former Minister of Education, and founder of Al-Afeef Cultural Institution,
decided to take the first step in the long battle. A battle that is almost
impossible to win. It is the battle to eliminate qat.
Fortunately, Mr. Afeef was not alone in his battle. A number of
young Yemeni students, male and female, joined hands with Mr. Afeef, and
volunteered to take the first steps along with him. They are now active
members in the Al-Afeef's Qat Combating Society. Today we can witness the
small, yet effective, beginning of their campaign.
Part of their efforts is to spread awareness among Yemenis of the
dangers of qat. For this purpose, the Qat Combating Society has issued
a newspaper named "Yemen Without Qat". The title in itself is somewhat
a dream for now, but their ultimate goal is to achieve it. Can they do
it?
To answer this question, we sat and talked with five young men and women
from the Qat Combating Society.
We first asked them how the whole thing started.
 Mr.
Ahmed Ali Al-Zurqa replied that in 1992, a number of prominent intellectuals
and community leaders began a campaign against qat. They formed a committee
for this purpose. However, this committee's activities stopped because
of the 1994 civil war. In May 1998, the committee resumed its activities
when the director of the committee, Mr. Ahmed Jaber Afif, appointed some
young students to form two sub-committees. These groups carry out the task
of holding various cultural activities through seminars and lectures.
Mr. Al-Zurqa added that the committee then developed into a society
with the name "Qat Combating Society". The main goal of the committee
is to show people the harmful affects of qat on all facets of life.
Today, despite the committee's call for local sponsors, nobody has shown
us any sign of cooperation.
Ms. Bushra Al-Thahibi talked about the harms qat causes: "For instance,
the economic harm of qat could be seen when a qat dealer sells qat to people,
he is investing his money in damaging people's wellbeing and health. When
you ask me, what is the alternative for a person who stays home all afternoon
chewing qat, I tell you that our society is not responsible to find substitutes.
Any person who is asking for an alternative is in fact inventing excuses,
for he is unable to quit chewing qat. One can imagine the glory Yemen would
have had if Qat weren't there. Believe me, Qat is the main reason why we
are among the poorest nations in the world"
Mr. Bashir Al Ba'dani then explains: "We see that the national campaign
against qat is quite success. The reaction it received from locals, schools,
and institutions is so far favorable. The number of schools engaged in
our qat combating campaign has reached 150. Our activities consist of distributing
some posters and stickers." Al-Ba'dani also stresses: "The committee's
main goal is to illuminate the students on the harmful effects of qat.
The response we received from the students was quite encouraging. We know
that if the the idea were driven home, they could pass it on to their own
parents. The campaign for this year is restricted to the capital secretariate
but we plans to launch similar campaigns in other major cities in Aden,
Taiz, and Hadramout governorates."On the government's role in this
campaign, Ms. Sawsen Ali Al-Jowfi said "The government was represented
by a delegate from the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Ministry of Education
also has been supportive. Other contacts have been made with the Ministry
of Health and the Ministry of Religious Guidance, but unfortunately, there
has been no response. The society intends to continue its campaign and
there are many seasonal programs ahead."
The society has succeeded in addressing this problem to the younger
generations. A sign of this is the seriousness and will of the students
to help in spreading awareness to others in the best ways they can.
 When
asking her if there are ready results of the number of people who stopped
chewing qat because of their campaign, Ms. Sawsen Ali Al-Jowfi replies:
"There are no readily available statistics for now, but this campaign
is considered to be the first phase. However, we expect to face some obstacles
during our work. Many seminars and lectures have been given by some important
society members such as Mr. Hussein Al-Awadhi, Dr. Abdullah Al-Zalab, Dr.
Abdul Salam Al-Jowfi, Eng. Abdullah Al-Akw'a, Mr. Hameed Al-wadhi, and
Mr. Abdullah Ismail."
Ms. Najla Al-Maqaleh said, "Since its start on 13th of April 99,
our campaign was covered briefly by a number of official and independent
newspapers. This campaign has just started and intends to continue until
it fulfills its goal of eradicating this harmful habit of chewing qat.
In conclusion, we can say that we are a nation famous for its wisdom.
Today, Qat seems to have taken our wisdom away for good."
On another level, a team from the Yemen Times visited Al-Afif Cultural
Institution and talked to the man who is behind it all, Mr. Ahmed Jaber
Afif, the founder of this respectable establishment :
On how the idea began, Mr. A. J. Afif says "Combating the devastating
effects of Qat is in fact an old idea, but in 1992 there was an attempt
to revive it. To this end, we organized a successful campaign for a public
conference in which more than 90 intellectuals, writers and social dignitaries
took part. A delegate from the Ministry of Insurance and Social affairs
also attended the conference, which produced an administrative committee.
I was elected Chairman of this committee and we soon started to think of
relevant plans and programs. Unfortunately, the crushing political problems
which the country experienced at that time hindered these plans and all
of us fell victims to the pressure of the moment.
However, I tried some time later to communicate with the other members
of the committee but I found that their enthusiasm for the idea had grown
less for different reasons or, if I may say, excuses. In the meantime,
an idea to seek the assistance of young college students came up and already
I started to engage the interest of these students, who used to frequent
Al-Afif Cultural Institution.
 This
communication with the young people resulted in the creation of a new administrative
committee from among the students themselves. This committee, which includes
male and female students, designed an executive plan to practically fight
the unhealthy effects of Qat. We started our orientation campaign with
a bulletin and we had difficult time in persuading the Ministry of Information
before we were able to issue a permanent newspaper mainly created to fight
Qat. This is a brief background to this idea, which seriously aims to minimize
the sweeping dominance of this malicious and evil habit which is a real
catastrophe for this country.
On how the press responded to the campaign, Mr. A. Jaber Afif says:
"The Press response was positive and deserves thanks. In fact, all official
and independent press interacted generously with the campaign. So did the
official Radio and television stations to some extent. Our program is vitally
important to the nation, and I don't think there could be anyone opposing
it. Even the President himself is aware of the depressing consequences
of this phenomenon and we all heard him describing Qat chewing as a crime.
In fact, I was very delighted to hear these words from the president and
I sent him a letter expressing my gratitude for such a stand and encouraging
him to continue it. Let me stress here that this problem is not mine, yours
or someone else's, for it is above all a moral commitment for anybody who
really cares for the future of this country. What makes me extremely downhearted,
is that at the gate of the new millennium, our entire life is shockingly
wasted in consuming this tree in a way that can not even be compared to
the near past, where the amount of money and the time spent on qat were
insubstantial. At that time, qat chewing was exclusively practiced by a
certain group of people, namely the middle age and the old men. Now qat
is besieging everyone, male and female and at almost every age. Kids and
women are shamelessly encouraged to do it. What a waste! What a shame!"Whether
there is a long term plan for this campaign or not, he says, "No, we
have no specific plan, but we have determination and hope to continue work
in the same vein. Some pessimists would say that this problem is too rooted
in our social life to be eradicated in the near future. We are fully aware
that it's hard to do away with a 600 hundred years old phenomenon in ten
or even twenty years. But the overwhelming spread of Qat that has happened
in the last ten years is too much for me to describe, and if we continue
pretending that nothing has happened, God knows what will become of this
country.
Therefore, let us do whatever we can and more importantly let us continue
doing it. With time, results are certainly to show. On this occasion I
find it propitious to address through the Yemen Times all honest writers
and papers to join hands to at least check the scandalous spread of this
phenomenon. I say scandalous because this tree has completely distorted
our image before the whole world and I feel ashamed when I meet with foreign
visitors and see the look of contempt and accusation in their eyes. I would
also like to call on the state and every official in the government to
open up their eyes to the problem of chewing qat and begin by an annual
plan which aims at minimizing the spread of this tree. The future generations
invite us to secure a better tomorrow and the sooner we do it, the better."
On the geographical extent of this year's campaign, Mr. Ahmed Jaber
Afif says "This year's campaign is restricted to the Capital Secretariat,
and I feel indebted to Oxfam Organization which did a lot to finance this
campaign. To this Organization I can only say thanks for your generous
assistance. Next year we will be working to expand the campaign to cover
other major cities in Aden, Taiz and Hadramout and every year the campaign
will cover a number of governorates. Of course, we expect performance of
the volunteering young people to improve and their techniques to be more
dynamic than they are now. The time limit for this campaign is one month
and so far, the response of the public is greater than we expected.
"Every non-qat-chewing Yemeni is a member of this society" said
Mr. Afif. He has reached his eightees, and he added that as he is approaching
death, he feels sorry to leave his country controlled by this serious problem.
However, he summarizes the whole problem in one word: Faith. Once the community
starts to believe that this situation can change "we shall eventually
wake up to the day when Yemen has set itself completely free from this
dangerous epidemic." Mr. Afif says. He concludes by stating that a
comprehensive report on qat's negative effects will be published by the
13th of May.
|
Background from the Qat Combating Society
Qat is one of the old habits in Yemen that everybody sticks to. It does
not mean that people chew qat only when they have some free time. Businessmen
chew qat believing that these leaves could help them make good decisions.
Students dramatically believe that qat can help them in comprehending their
lessons and keep them awake. They ignore the fact that qat is only a temporary
alarming herb, its effect goes as soon as they spit it from their mouths.
The truth is qat is believed to be more or less another kind of drug.
Therefore we make a joint call for students, businessmen and to the
whole nation: "the habit of chewing qat is incorrect, people should
acknowledge that qat has a temporary and deadly affect on their minds and
their bodies. A dangerous waste of money, whether for those with limited
incomes or rich people." All local newspapers, including Yemen Time,s
appeal to the Yemeni people to stop this habit and think of the consequences.
Combating this habit that has passed from one generation to another
is a difficult mission. It requires a lot of patience and determination.
The following sources could be implemented to help in combating this tree:
-Media, especially TV, could participate
in presenting reports to citizens inside the country and outside; especially
about those who suffer from serious diseases caused by the harmful affect
of qat.
-Providing efficient employment opportunities
for the youths so they could fill their leisure times.
-Providing general libraries with different
types of books, and also holding cultural competitions with prizes that
might draw attention to books.
-Forbidding the import and use of insecticides
that help in growing qat trees.
-Encouraging farmers to plant other beneficial
crops such as coffee and fruits.
Qat's negative effects are many, but we could brief them in the following:
Parents who spend many hours chewing qat neglect their children and
family affairs, besides the money wasted on these leaves. Some types of
qat that come from remote parts in Yemen such as Hajja, cost around YR.
70,000 for a bundle. Lower quality types of qat cost between YR 15,000
to 4000 per one bundle. Other types, with many names, come from such provinces
as Dhamar. The price of this type of qat is between YR. 3,000 and 300 per
bundle. Many people living in Sanaa prefer the qat brought from Rada'a
City that comes in small bundles varying in price from YR. 10 to 50. Estimations
indicate that the daily profit of qat in Dhammar province reaches YR. 20
to 40 millions. People waste all this money for this harmful tree, and
besides money, they also waste most of their time. Studies indicate areas
planted with qat reach 5.26% of the agricultural land and 7.2% of the currently
used land and 73.6% of the total land planted with perennial products.
The percentage of land planted with qat has increased during 1980-1990
to 77.7% at the expense of the plantation of coffee and other crops. Data
indicate that the growing percentage of qat acres witnesses a 14% annual
increase. The lands planted with qat equal two thirds of lands planted
with coffee and tobacco together, and eight times more than the lands planted
with cotton, while lands planted with other vegetables and fruits are less
than half of the qat planted areas. Land allotted to qat is five times
more than the land allotted to grapes and dates and 10 times more than
banana planted areas.
The harms of qat are not limited to the economic and cultural aspects
of life, but also affect life in general. Qat plantations exhaust most
of the water resources in the country. It also occupies wide lands that
could have been planted with other corps. What makes things worse is that
qat irrigation depends on ground water sources, which are considered to
be a significant reservoir that should only be used in cases of urgency.
This unplanned consumption of water could lead to a catastrophe for a country
that suffers from scarce water resources.
A study on qat requirements of water indicates that each hectare of
qat in Sana'a area requires 12 cubic meters of water, according to the
statistics of the Supreme Council of Water in 1992. This means that a land
planted with qat needs to be irrigated to a depth of 1.3 meter during the
growing season.
In the seventies, most qat plantations depended on rain, but these
days qat farmers use water pumps to irrigate their plantations. These pumps
suck up water from 4000 wells. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
estimates that qat plantation's consume 800 million cubic meters of water
annually.
Qat plantations supplant other products such as coffee and grains. The
last few years witnessed a drastic increase of qat planting substituting
other less profitable crops such as coffee and grains. Studies indicate
that such a phenomenon is distinctively seen in the Haraz area, where coffee
used to be the main product. However, today 90% of the terraces are planted
with qat. In 1981, qat areas reached 40-45 thousand hectares including
terraces used to be planted with other products. In the mid-eighties the
area reached 60-85 thousands hectares.
In other areas in Yemen such as Haudh Sana'a, qat plantation reached
5% of the overall agricultural land. In Wadi Dhahar, the percentage is
8%. There is a visible indication that qat plantation is increasing dramatically
in the nineties where the areas planted with qat reached 92 thousand hectares.
In spite of all this, people still fool themselves into believing that
qat is not a dangerous plant, and even say that it helps us in comprehending
and understanding things better. |
Report by:
Khairiya Al-Shabibi
Yemen Times
#2
of a series
Career Women Dealing with
the Public
Name : Amani Hussein
Job Title: Lawyer
Being a lawyer I have faced many obstacles at the beginning of my career
because a woman was not preferred to participate as a lawyer in our society,
but now it's becoming natural to our society because of the performances
and achievements that woman had shown, proving that she could perform as
well as men can, and I would like to thank god because at the moment I
don't face any obstacles in my work.
I can see also, that my society is benefiting from my participation
as a lawyer, I keep on helping the innocent people in the society and try
to solve their problems as by doing so I have benefited from the job and
my Society also benefited from my participation, which I think that our
society is proud of.
Concerning how I spend my salary, I spend it in proving my mother,
personal expenses and some times participate when there is a need at home
and concerning the home expenses I think that my husband should adopt the
major expenses at home. Thank god that I don't face any obstacles but on
the contrary my mother and husband helps me and keeps on encouraging me.
I have been working since the past eight years and hope that I could achieve
more progress at my work and in the society.
Before becoming a Lawyer I have worked in various places; I worked in
journalism, as an executive manager in Bara Center for advertisement, in
Al-Afaak for printing and publishing, in Al-Thawabet Magazine and in the
14th of October News Paper, at the mean time I am employed general council
of the pensions and social securities.
Name : Latifa Ahmed Khamis
Job Title: Section Manager
Usually when a person is out of home faces lots of things, one of which
is being employed I have faced lots of obstacles either at work or with
other people the main point is how to face and over come these obstacles,
thank god that we are getting high appreciation from our society because
of our performance and as we are heading towards the 21st century we can
observe the acceptation of woman in the western society and their work
is accepted with appreciation and respection and that she is productive
same as man, she might not be more productive because she's having more
responsibilities than Man.
Concerning the salary payments of course the expenses will be different
though the salary will be distributed in which the large sum will be spend
on the life's need but at the same time there are some personal expenses
that's why I will have to spend the money according to the salary which
too small.
Thank God that I don't face any difficulties in my work and home because
of a very simple reason and it's organizing my time according to the needs
of my family and work in such a way that there is no negligence in any
of this and my love to my duty makes me overcome these obstacles.
I have been working here for four years and I hope to continue for
100 years, if health is there's we will work faithfully.
I was employed as a secretary in the Embassy of Kuwait, the Tax Authority
as a secretary and Industrial Bank in the Development Unit of Small Industries.
By: Ahlam Al-Muthwakil
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