Most of you do not know anything about the distant land that is Yemen. It is a Middle Eastern country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula right under Saudi Arabia and next to Oman. Yemen has been ranked as one of the worst countries in the world to be a woman, to be a Christian, and one of the worst for freedom and education. It is a failed state, with 80% of the country living without food security. Water runs through the pipes of the capital city of Sana’a once a week on average.
Thanks to our Western bubbles and news media, almost no one knows anything about what is going on in Yemen. Most people simply do not care what happens to strangers’ half-way around the world. After all, they’re Muslim and living in the Middle East, didn’t they practically ask for terrorism to come knocking on their doors?
But we should care. Yemen is going through the worst humanitarian crises the world has seen in our lifetime. Worse, even, than the devastation in Syria and ISIS in Iraq--not to lessen the tragedy of those events, or other crises around the world. Entire families are dying in airstrikes. Innocent lives are being taken every day, and no one in the Western world knows.
The New York Times publishes the occasional article about Yemen, though I’m not sure if anyone actually reads those articles and is prompted to action. Yemen is never talked about on the news. And when the Middle East is mentioned, usually in reference to terrorist attacks or government problems, most Westerners barely pay attention because it does not affect us.
We in the West are selfish. You are frantically denying that right now, but you are. So am I. In first world countries we are taught to be selfish, practically raised that way thanks to culture. Everything rotates around us as children—when is my practice, what do I want to eat, what do I like to wear. This practices continues later in life, so we hardly give a thought to the world that we do not come in contact with.
On an average day, you do not think about the protesters in Venezuela, the refugees from Syria, or the innocent victims of airstrikes in Yemen. You think about what you’re going to post on Instagram and how boring your professor is and when you’re going to call your mom. We believe that the world revolves around us and only our problems are real.
But we are all humans. If we can cry for the stranded animals in Hurricane Harvey, surely we can weep for the people in Yemen. These are our brothers and sisters who used to live in a beautiful country—a place literally flowing with honey and houses that looked like intricate gingerbread creations. Now all that is left is a war torn state that no one can find on a map.
Every day on the news people are crying for justice. The feminist movement, Black Lives Matter, and more are quick to point out the failings in our government and the people of the United States.No one cries out for Yemen. There are no protests over Saudi-led strikes against innocent people. Celebrities are not donating millions to help the starving, homeless, and destitute of Arabia Felix (the past title of Yemen).
