We were in Ethiopia during Eid al-Fatr, the end of Ramadan. During this major week-long celebration many Yemenis travel and the auto fatality rates skyrocket. The brother of our neighbor, with whom I’ve become close (his wife did Morgan’s henna), was one of the casualties. Along with several other members of his family, he was in a bus traveling to Aden that drove off a cliff (near Ib). Fortunately Abdula was the only fatality. So our last week, since returning from Ethiopia, has been characterized by attendance at nightly funerals (read: long sex-segregated qat chews).
Morgan attended the all-women’s chew the first night we were home, spending some 4 hours with the neighbors. They fed her and watched her eat, then chewed qat in the ladies’ mafraj (living room), while making her read from an English grammar book (horribly misspelled and riddled with grammatical errors). While Morgan hung with the women, I chewed qat in the building next door with the men, listening to them alternately state, “Adbul is dead, aluhumdu allah” and “Qat is good for…you know what.” Although Morgan opted out of the remaining nights’ funerals, I attended several more throughout the week. And now that the funerals have ended, wedding celebrations have begun, right outside of our house. Though I have no idea who the groom is (or bride for that matter), I seem to have been invited to attended all the festivities.
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