Asma Mohamad
A Voice from Yemen.
My name is Asma, a woman from a wounded Yemen, now in my forties. I am a teacher, gently guiding schoolchildren to read and write, a mother of eight, and a resident of Sana’a for the past seven years. I left my ancestral homeland—a place of ancient roots—for a new horizon that once brimmed with promises and hopes.
Before my forced exile, I lived in my father's village, a rural settlement perched on a hill, encircled by dizzying mountains, within a millennia-old tribal society. Its rigid customs resisted change, shunning any openness to the outside world. My life grew far more challenging after the launch of the so-called “Decisive Storm” operation. Losing my income as a teacher only deepened my already precarious financial state.
Desperate, with my savings drained and all my jewelry sold, I fled with my husband and our children from my native village. We sought to adapt to urban life in a sprawling city, where social differences collide in chaotic competition. I was thrust into an unforgiving world, transformed by war into a living hell. Amid relentless bombings, surrounded by corpses and rubble, I fought for my survival and that of my children. Yet I never lost my humanity. Clinging to traditional values, I remained stoic and dignified in the face of the material and moral desolation wrought by devastating chaos.
My thoughts remain clear despite the religious fog that surrounds me. My life is a constant battle—against rigidity, poverty, the harsh conditions faced by women, daily burdens, and at times, abandonment. In the story that follows, I recount my long march to nowhere in a cruel, indifferent environment, much like the majestic mountains that encircle and loom over me with their towering heights. Readers will glimpse a world sealed off from prying eyes, existing on the margins of human hubs, yet pulsing with vitality—forged by the harshness of a rugged, inaccessible land that has imbued it with strength and stubborn resolve.
Throughout my narrative, I occasionally delve into diverse topics that stray from the main storyline. These are necessary asides, woven in to shed light on a custom, a game, or a legend. I ask readers not to take offense at these detours. They are unrelated to my age as the story unfolds.