Yemeni Children march for more government funding (By Andrew)

Since arriving in Yemen on June 9th I have had the honor to work with The
Democracy School, a grass roots organization located about a mile from the
University. In addition to learning valuable lessons in aiding the community, I
have been given quite a number of Arabic classes in the director’s office; of
course, all the lessons have been free of charge. At the NGO Isabel and I have
seen the intricate workings of planning marches, distributing posters and
videos, and reaching all the people of Sana independent of age and social
class.

A few days into the internship, I witnessed the labor-intensive production of
the above-mentioned movies. The director of the NGO, Dr. Jamal, led us to a
room, no bigger than a student’s dorm room, functioning as the stage, art
design studio, and break room of a traditional movie set. The cast and crew
include one man responsible for the cutouts of the characters, another man
sketching the character’s features, and a woman adjusting the characters and
camera to an ?animation setting.? The characters appear to come to life as
her hands glide over the stage, moving the characters ½ inch as the camera
pauses every second. After eight takes, the Democracy School has filmed about 2
seconds of real time in their movie. Yesterday, I was able to receive a ?sneak
peek? of the movie and when asked what I thought I signaled two thumbs up and
a subtle excellent “momtaz”.

Besides witnessing the filming process, I participated in a march to raise
budget expenditures for children’s education in Sana. The march was a success
in gathering near 1,000 children in a very short time frame. Each child was
given a shirt displaying the theme of the march and small groups were handed
large banners to wave during the march. The organizer of this march was
Abdullah al-Thawr, a boy my age at the Democracy School. He intends to apply to
several U.S. schools for this upcoming academic year. When I asked Abdullah why
the march was not named after the Democracy School, he causally replied that
the march is not for the Democracy School, rather for the children of Sana. I
had never participated in something as breathtaking as the march from Taher
Square to Parliament. My task, taking photos, was simple because even someone
who had never picked up a camera could make this scene appear beautiful. The
energy from all those in the march was felt by every onlooker and god willing
the parliament will raise the budget. However, parliaments decision aside, the
march was a complete success in my eyes.