Glories of Yemen in digital detail

Mohammed al Qadhi, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: February 10. 2009 9:30AM UAE / February 10. 2009 5:30AM GMT

People move through the historic Bab al-Yaman, the main gate of the old city of Sanaa, May 9 2007. Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

SANA’A // It started as a graduation project: a multimedia platform to showcase Yemen’s heritage. But the idea caught the attention of the course organisers and the project has now taken on a new direction.

The three young women who came up with the idea – Aminah Al Ajamai, Lina al Maqtari and Abeer al Khashabi – all in their twenties, had taken part in a year-long course on experiential learning, networking, leadership and entrepreneurship skills run by the Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF), a non-governmental organisation.

“We have discovered during our work how rich Yemen is with heritage and we decided to initiate a project aiming at preserving this rich heritage. What is unique about the project is using multimedia and that it is comprehensive in scope,” said Ms al Ajamai, the project manager.

The project aims to create an “electronic encyclopaedia” of Yemeni heritage in Arabic, English and French, both on CD and on the internet, through a mixture of words, photos and music.

“There are plenty of old books and documents on Yemen heritage but we want to present this knowledge in an interesting way on CDs and target as many people as we can. Nobody has done this before and we are proud of initiating this project,” Ms al Ajamai said.

So far the project has looked at the old city of Sana’a, including its architecture, urban planning, markets and old wall.

“Any passing-by visitor to the old city of Sana’a will find many things to astonish him, but he will not go deeper to find out the secrets behind, for instance, designs of buildings and how there are rooms for each season. Everything has a secret and this shows the genius of old Yemeni people. We are trying to revive this past so that it is not left behind,” she said.

It took seven months to complete the first phase, including meeting historians, researchers and long-time residents of Sana’a to verify the information.

“We planned three months, but because of conflicts between information we received and the scarcity of resources, it took more than double that time,” Ms al Khashabi said.

In the next phase, the three intend to document the folklore, dress and traditions of the people as well as other parts of the country.

“We are planning to cover Unesco world-preserved sites like Zabid in the south-west, Shibam in the north-east, Socotra island in the Indian Ocean and other historically significant cities and sites,” Ms al Khashabi said.

Ms al Maqtari said the project aims to build awareness among Yemenis of their heritage, as well as to promote the country as a tourist destination.

“I have been living in Sana’a for about 20 years but have never paid a visit to the old city of Sana’a. I was astonished and stunned by the architecture and everything around me looked amazing. I then realised our country is full of many precious things that require our attention. I understand it is important this message get through to everybody. Our motto has been ‘your heritage is your future’,” Ms al Maqtari said.

The digital heritage project was one of three that won US$1,000 (Dh3,670) from the YLDF.

“Our course objective is to prepare young people for their next endeavours, mainly as agents of change in the civil society,” said Antilak al Mutwakil, the head of the YLDF.

The women said financing the project was one of their biggest challenges as they were often promised funds that never materialised.

The first phase of the project cost about $12,000, most of which they had to pay out of their own pocket.

“The financial and logistical support we got was not enough and, therefore, we had to put money we had saved into the project as people did not have faith in the project or in our abilities as young entrepreneurs to do something worthwhile,” Ms al Khashabi said.

More than 2,000 CDs will be available after the official launch of the project within the next two months.

“We do not have a fixed time for launching the project but we expect it within two months at most,” Ms al Khashabi said.

After releasing a CD for each of Yemen’s historical cities, the women hope one of the villages will be a hub for tourism and entertainment as well as set up a tourism company.

“This project is pioneering. I think these CDs can play an important role in promoting tourism in Yemen and this is pride to all of us,” the YLDF’s Mrs al Mutwakil said.



malqadhi@thenational.ae