Teacher Training Day

I sat at the table at breakfast time, practising what I was going to say at the teacher training meeting. Most of it was fine, but there were a few words I was unsure of and I was looking them up in the Arabic dictionary. My talk was entitled, “Vision and Values”, but I was still unsure what Arabic words to use for “Vision” and “Values” until I got there and asked someone.

Making up my own job title and contract

After breakfast, I headed off to Canadian Institutes, where I am now the Strategic Development Manager - a job title I recently gave myself when Adel, the college owner said to me, “What job title would you like?”. He also allowed me to write my own job contract document, in which I wrote, “The employee is allowed to take unlimited amounts of unpaid holiday.”




It seemed a bit strange to be giving a talk, telling them what their Vision & Values are, when I’ve only been working with them since just before the summer, but Adel was keen for me to communicate all the things we’ve been discussing recently, to the teaching staff.

Responsibility

I started by telling them about our Responsibility to help our students to succeed in life, in whatever way we can. We are starting a new Job Centre - much like the English one - which will let people know about job vacancies and help them to prepare for interviews, but will not be paying benefits to anyone. Also, we have a new project called Kickstart, which aims to help people to start a small business.

Integrity

The next value was Integrity. We always keep our promises, no matter the cost. We never give certificates to anyone who does not pass the test, no matter who they are or what they offer to pay. I asked them how often someone tries to pay them to give a certificate without passing the relevant exam. “About once a day”, was the reply.

I told them about our plan to combat corruption through our new Key Worker Training Program and our plan to combat software piracy through the Open Source Software Project.

I finished with our Vision, which is “To change people’s lives through training which has a specific goal and a plan for how to achieve it”

I want to cooking pan your teaching

I told them that one of my new responsibilities is to come and observe their teaching to try and see how I could give them ideas and help them to improve their teaching. They all laughed, because instead of saying “hassan” (improve) I said “sahhan” which means Cooking Pan.

My talk sparked a lot of animated discussion, most of which I did not understand, but they seemed to be excited about what I had said. I concluded by telling them that these ideas could do much more than just change a few lives - they could change the nation. “It’s a small seed which can grow into a big tree, but we have to start here in this room.”

The joys of Yemeni culture

Nothing is ever simple in Yemen! It's a cultural education whilst trying to get a "simple" letter written! I arrived at 9am in the doctor's university office and although the secretary was there, the doctor wasn't. Being accustomed to this, I'd brought some work to be getting on with while I waited. Various other people popped in and out asking for the doctor until she arrived an hour later!

A "simple" letter

It seems like a dance, watching the doctor work / network - talking to one person, whilst trying to sign a form for another, whilst being interrupted by a phone call. Everything in this culture is relational, and therefore a letter cannot simply be written or a form simply signed, the recipient must be telephoned and the matter discussed, then the paperwork done, then a meeting to meet the person and discuss the paperwork again!

So after 4 hours, the man in charge of organising visas for foreign visitors had been telephoned, a letter eventually drafted, then the secretary found to type the letter, then another telephone call to try to locate a different secretary with the university official stamp. The letter finally stamped and another telephone call to the visa man to find out where he was so that the letter could be delivered in person to him!

Everything must be stamped

Yet the process had just begun as the university visa man would write to the immigration office, which would write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request a visa for one of the doctors who will be visiting to give some of the teaching at the training workshop scheduled for October.

After some relaxing time in the afternoon, I went visiting with the children to our neighbours' house. I was greeted with enthusiasm as it was the first time to visit since coming back from UK. After we had settled ourselves on the meglis (thin mattresses) on the floor, one of the ladies remarked "Bless God, You've got fat!" I smiled politely, (cringing inwardly as I had put on a bit of weight in UK!) and said, "Yes, thank you". It's a compliment here to tell people that they've put on weight!

The traditional dress for weddings and visiting- it does make you look fat

We caught up on all the neighbourhood and village news whilst drinking sugary orange squash, which the children loved. One of the ladies had been ill over the past few months with an autoimmune disease affecting her skin and muscles / joints. She confided in me that she had thought it was due to the "evil eye". She explained, "I was getting fat (something to be admired!) and wore a new gold belt to a wedding. I think someone there must have been jealous and cast the evil eye on me, that was why I got all these strange symptoms and couldn't walk." There is great fear of curses and a lot of folk beliefs.

Pendants are worn to protect from the "evil eye"

Usually hot sweet milky tea is brought for visitors but this household often drink milky coffee instead. The first time I drank it I was perplexed and eventually summoned up the courage to say "I think this coffee has salt in it instead of sugar" to which the ladies replied, "Of course it's got salt in it! It makes it taste better!". So this time I was not surprised when the coffee tasted salty! Conversation moved onto other topics ranging from the best method of removing leg hair, why plucking eyebrows is haram "forbidden", the price of gold (now nearly 25 pounds per gram!), giving presents on Eid holidays and other things!

One spoon or two - of salt?!

It is amazing how different cultures can be and it's fun learning to adapt and enjoy living in another culture!

Computers and football

I arrived at the Canadian Institute at 8.30am to set up the computers ready for my lesson at 9am. The computers are all a bit old and have a few problems, but I have managed to get them all working, although 2 of them only work in failsafe-graphics mode, which means that they cannot handle any special graphics. The first student arrived at 9.10 and the second arrived at 9.15. I started the lesson with 2 students and, 5 minutes later, 2 more arrived.
Teaching computers in Arabic to groups rather than individuals has been challenging, but enjoyable. I can manage to communicate all the course material, but I sometimes have difficulty understanding their questions.

Useless but impressive

Today I was teaching them how to configure the special effects in Linux Ubuntu, which is of no practical use in the real world, but looks very impressive and helps people to believe me when I tell them about how Linux Ubuntu has many advantages over Microsoft Windows. The real advantages are that it is protected from virsuses without needing antivirus software, it is more stable, it is faster and it is free, but none of these things impress them as much as the fact that you can make the windows do all sorts of crazy animations when you minimise, maximise, open & close them. I finished at 10am exactly, cutting the lesson a bit short, but I am trying to teach them that if they want a full lesson, they must arrive on time. It may be a losing battle.

A Video I use to demonstrate crazy animation effects in Linux Ubuntu

Bank job

After the lesson, Adel (owner of the Institute) asked me to come with him to one of the big banks to see if they are interested in training in Linux Ubuntu. Even the big international companies end up using pirate software on their computers, because genuine copies of Microsoft Windows are simply not available. As a result they end up exposing their important data to security risks due to computer viruses and the inability to receive the latest security updates. Despite this, many people are skeptical about whether a computer is really a computer you're not using Microsoft Windows.


I followed Adel as he walked straight past all the security, up the stairs and right into the branch manager's office, without telling anyone what he was there for. Perhaps my presence helped him get away with this, since there are very few foreigners in Aden, these days. The manager was semi-interested at first, but was suddenly interested when we told him that the course can be taught either in Arabic or in English, depending on their preference. He might not be convinced about the need for Linux Ubuntu, but he is keen for his employees to come and improve their English by attending my course.

No technology in the technical college

In the afternoon, I was invited to go and speak about my course to some students studying computer science at university. I could not believe that this was the technical college when I saw that the place was falling apart and I did not see any computers anywhere. Their professor wanted them to hear about the course because he thought it would be beneficial for them, but they did not seem particularly interested. I later found out that they were about to sit an exam, after I had spoken to them, so their reaction, or lack of it, was probably more due to nervousness about the exam.

Numb Bum

In the evening, I went to one of the big squares in town, where they have been showing the world cup games on a big screen. The world cup is on expensive sports channels in the middle east and, although I have these channels on a shared satellite system in our neighbourhood, the picture is very fuzzy. It was not much better in the square, because the screen being used was too shiny and all the street lights reflected off it. Also, there were so many people watching, I couldn't get close enough. At half-time, my bum was very numb and I needed the toilet, so I decided to come home at half-time to watch the rest of the match at home. My neighbour tells me that there is another place in town where the quality of picture is better, so I may go there with him for the quarter-finals next week.

Low-definition fuzzyvision. Only available in Yemen!

Wedding Car Accident Escalates into Fight

The wedding got off to a bad start when there was a big argument between the bride & groom's respective brothers over the issue of gunfire at the wedding. In Yemen, it is a tradition to celebrate weddings by firing guns into the air, but this is now against the law in the main cities. The groom was a policeman, so he protested strongly about the desire of the bride's brothers to fire guns as they are still accustomed to doing, in their village. 'You can't celebrate properly, unless you fire guns into the air!', they protested.



Crazy cavalcade leads to crash

The air was still not cleared between the two sides, when they embarked on the traditional cavalcade through town, where every male wedding guest, who possesses a car, drives crazily through town, flouting the non-existent highway code and endangering everyone else on the road. Traffic police turn a blind eye, unless large accidents occur. On the way to the wedding hall, the bride's brothers' car bumped into the groom's car. The groom was furious, thinking that the bride's brothers had done this on purpose, in retaliation for his refusal to allow gunfire.


Gunfire disperses fighting wedding guests

The ensuing argument was intense and the groom threatened to refuse to marry the bride. Upon hearing this, one of the bride's sisters began shouting at him and, in the most shameful incident of the day, he responded by hitting her across the legs. This caused uproar and fighting between the two sides. The situation was temporarily resolved when someone fired a gun into the air, which caused everyone to run for cover. This was somewhat ironic, considering that gunfire was the issue which started everything going down the wrong track.

Smile for the camera!

The police came and arrested one of the bride's brothers and the bride and groom continued into the ladies' party, leaving the men outside to continue their argument. Upon entering the hall, the bride was in tears and the groom was still furious, but they managed to put on a smile for the cameras. I was there, videoing the bride and groom, having been requested to do so by the bride's family. I was told to be very careful not to video anyone else at the womens' party, except for the bride and groom, since this video was for the bride's brothers to watch afterwards.

The most tasteful Yemeni wedding I have ever been to

The wedding hall was very impressive. There were big round tables seating 10 people and room for about 500 people! The stage at the front was decorated surprisingly tastefully in gold and white with (fake) flowers and a throne for two. We'd been given a little bag as we came in which had a slice of cake, biscuits and drink so we tucked into these whilst chatting with our friends.

The bride looked beautiful in a traditional white dress with lots of sequins. She had what was considered very minimal make-up for a bride (which would be over the top by our standards!). Unusually for Yemeni weddings, the bride danced by herself in front of her husband and all the guests, then they danced together in front of everyone.

Egyptian wiggling is harder

Soon the music started playing and I was encouraged to dance with our friends. It was lots of fun! I can now dance the traditional Yemeni stepping dance quite easily and the Emirati dance, but I found the hip and shoulder wiggling of the Egyptian dancing a bit tricky!

Situation resolved but the shame remains

The gossip going around the wedding hall was that the bride's family would refuse to allow the groom to take her home after the wedding because of the shameful thing he had done to their family. Somehow it was resolved, possibly through the payment of some kind of 'shame fine' by the groom to the bride's family.

Unfortunately for both the bride's and groom's families, they now have to live with the shame of the incident and the knowledge that all their friends and family know about it, and that the whole community is now talking about it.



Shame-based culture

This whole story is an illustration of the difference between guilt-based cultures (like England) and shame-based cultures (like Yemen). If this incident had happened in England, the main talking point would be the issues of fighting, reckless driving and gunfire, because we immediately start thinking about who was right and who was wrong. The bride's brothers were in the wrong because they wanted to break the law by firing guns and they drove recklessly, causing an accident. In Yemen, the big talking point is the shameful act of a man hitting a woman, and whether or not the marriage could go ahead, in the face of such shame. The shameful thing done by the groom is infinitely more serious than all of the wrong things done by the bride's brothers.

A visit to a fishing village

The tarmac road turned into a dirt road then became narrower and narrower. We descended down the little track between houses closely packed together, trying to avoid small children and goats wandering about! At last we turned the last tight corner and arrived in front of a rather impressive mosque, quite a contrast to the fishing shacks and houses of the village. I was just trying to decide where to park the car when I noticed a man waving me enthusiastically towards a space under a tin covered roof. I later discovered he was the uncle of the family we were visiting and lived next door. He, and most of the village, had been informed of our visit and were ready to be very hospitable.

The Fishing Village

Something smells a bit fishy

We were visiting some ladies that we had met previously at a friend's house in town. There was about 7 women who were all related in different ways. I had to concentrate to understand the Arabic of the grandmother of the family but she was full of smiles. After being given cold drinks, the ladies suggested that we went to the beach. It was a short walk past the fishing shacks, nets and boats to the beach. There was a strong odour of fish! Most of the men of the village were fishermen and most of the families were related in some way. Our friend pointed out her nephew's house, uncle's house and cousin's house all nearby.

The Fishing Boats

Seaside scramble

The walk along the beach turned into a scramble over rocks to walk to the head point - not the easiest thing with 2 small children! Also probably not the easiest thing for our friends wearing their baltos and head coverings, but they were used to it! When we reached the end we were surprised to see some teenage boys swimming in the waves crashing against the rocks. Most people in Yemen cannot swim but these lads had grown up by the sea and were strong swimmers.

Conservative Swimwear

We scrambled back and sat by one of the fishing shacks on some of the nets. I asked if the fishermen minded us sitting and walking on their nets but the women said it didn't matter. I wonder how many holes in the nets the fishermen have to repair! Kira and Isaiah enjoyed playing in the sand and I had to chase Isaiah a few times to stop him diving into the sea (I hadn't brought any spare clothes). The local girls went in fully clothed and enjoyed splashing around.


No fish for dinner!

After returning to the house and washing off the sand we were treated to a supper of spicy potatoes and lentils and a local dish made of bulgar wheat as well as samosas. Surprisingly, there were no fish. A plastic sheet was spread on the floor and we all ate communally from the dishes.

We said our goodbyes and I was thankful once we'd navigated the narrow track in the dark without damage! Once home, our friends called to ask if we'd arrived home safely. It was once again humbling to receive such hospitality and see their sense of responsibility for their guests.

Kira's Birthday

When we went into the children's bedroom and told Kira that it was her birthday today. "It's my Happy Birthday today?!", she excited asked. She bounced off the bed and after getting dressed enjoyed a birthday treat of freshly cooked pancakes smothered in syrup! Then it was time to open the presents. Isaiah was more interested in the shiny wrapping paper than what was inside it, whereas Kira opened each present and exclaimed "look Mummy, look!" or "look Daddy, look!". She received a book, stickers, jigsaw puzzle, game, little chair and musical jewelery box.Scary family

Isaiah's bottom lip quivered and he began to cry when he saw Daddy wearing the Bat-man mask that Kira had been given. Kira put it on and the same thing happened, so she quickly took it off saying "don't worry Isaiah, gone now"! They were also both amused by the pink dressing up hair!

We planned to leave at 4pm to go to Fun City, an amusement and play park, with some of Kira's little friends. Kate had told the neighbours to be ready at 3.30pm, as Yemenis are not renowned for their time keeping! Malak and her mum arrived on time after a reminder phone call from Kate! But Susu and Masin with their mum and aunty were nowhere to be seen. We packed up the car then went to knock on their door opposite us. Susu answered but Kate couldn't understand what she was saying. 5 minutes later with lots more knocking and some shouting in Arabic, they all emerged from the hosue and we got on our way!

Segregated transportation

To accommodate the culture here, Kate drove the women and children in one car, whilst Paul travelled with our Western friends and their son in the other car. The local women said it wouldn't be possible for them to ride in the car with Paul if they didn't have any male relatives with them.It was the first time that the local children had been to Fun City and they were all so excited to be able to play on the slides, swings, see-saw, trampoline and climbing frames. Although Malak was the oldest (6 months older than Kira) she was the most afraid and wouldn't go on the big red slide or climb to the top of the climbing frame. She probably hadn't seen anything like it in her life before!
When the children were tired out and after going on the train ride and ladybird ride, we made our way back home. Some other neighbours wanted to pop in to give Kira a present, so Kate telephoned them and told them to come, to which they replied they would come straight away. We waited for a while but then got out the pink dinosaur birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" in English and Arabic. We then tucked into jelly, cake, sweets and biscuits. The other neighbours eventually turned up over half an hour later so we repeated the "Happy Birthday" singing for them too!
There was plenty of cake left over for the next day when Kate invited the rest of the neighbours and children round for a little birthday party with lots of party games. To save lots of preparation, she suggested they all bring some food or drink to share instead of a present for Kira!

As Kira said at the end of it all "I'm 3. Next Happy Birthday I'll be 4" but that won't be for another year yet!