We only had one choice for Y. Yemen!!!

You’ve might go heard of Yemen before. Well it is on the news a lot because of civil because rebels are attacking the very old capital of Sana’a.

Putting all the war behind, Yemen is very mountainous being on the relatively flat Arabian Peninsula. Socotra island has some wildlife that can be found no where else on Earth. It is sometimes called the “Madagascar of Arabia”.

Yemen is somewhat like its neighbors. Mainland Yemen has some date palms and other plants that can be found on the Arabian Peninsula. It also has some of one of the world’s largest desert, the Empty Quarter. It also has some oil that can’t be used because of the civil war. For more facts go here: Yemen Powerpoint

Interesting Facts

• Despite all the violence Today Yemen was once known as “Felix Arabia” or Happy Arabia.
• Like Oman, Yemen has no permanent rivers or freshwater sources
• Yemen has the fourth highest birth rate in the world

Food

Yemeni food is distinct and can be spicy and hot. But they also have sweet dishes but not too sweet. Yemen does shares dishes with other middle eastern countries. Yemeni’s always use flatbread to scoop up there food. We made some pretty delicious dishes.

Breakfast

 

Bint al Sahn Recipe – This is a Yemeni cake that was delicious and sweet that we dipped in Honey.

Shakshuska recipe – This is not the traditional Yemeni recipe which has scrabbled eggs mixed with the sauce instead of poached ones. I only ate the sauce and Andrew only ate the Eggs but it did taste great.

Dinner

Saltah Recipe 1  and Saltah Recipe 2 – We combined both recipes with the meat from recipe one and everything else from recipe 2. It did turn out very good and I thought it was one of the best dishes that we made on Playroom Passports. For recipe 2 you are going to need to make Hulba (Link in the recipe) and for Hulba you’re going to need to make something called Bisbas (Again, link in the recipe.) If you don’t have fenugreek than you can mix toasted mustard seeds with maple syrup.

Yemeni Flatbread Recipe – This is a very delicious flatbread that Yemeni people eat with most meals. Use it to scoop up the solid stuff in the soup.

 

 

Culture

Civil war = Extreme Poverty

How are 8 million people in Yemen are in poverty??

That’s crazy and I really wanted to help them. Most of the emergency food being imported to Yemen are actually not for the Yemeni People. There for the soilders fighting the civil war which what started the poverty. The Shia Houthi rebels and Iran fighting the government, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

All this bombing has led to extreme poverty which now makes 40% of the population in poverty. For more sad facts and more explaining and meeting the people go here:Yemen on the Brink of Starvation.

The main agency that provides relief to civilians is the International Rescue Committee so please can you donate because we want to help people in poverty. We donated 100 food packets in hopes of helping just a few people. IRC Food Packet Donations.