Yemen: Appointment Alert! - Part 2
From ExecutivePlanet.com
Dealing with tribes, continued
The concept of appointments does not exist in tribal Yemen because poorly maintained roads over rough country make it impossible to keep to a schedule. Even the day of one's arrival should be taken only as an estimate. Once within tribal boundaries, however, news of one's arrival travels fast, usually announced by rifle volleys, so that the shaikh subjects his visitor to minimal delay [usually only a few minutes] before greeting and receiving him. To keep a visitor waiting longer would be bad manners. A morning arrival, even though often entailing an overnight journey, is worth the effort because it will result in the visitor being guest of honour at a lunch attended by all the prominent men of the tribe. After lunch, comes qat, a substance and custom that requires explanation.
Qat is a bush local to southwest Arabia and East Africa. The leaves are chewed but not swallowed [except for the juice] in a communal setting where sheeshas [mada'at in the Yemeni dialect] are normally smoked as well. Although widely considered a narcotic, qat is actually a stimulant, being very rich in caffeine. During the civil war, battles were planned at qat parties and it is in this setting that friendships and alliances are now forged. A Yemeni qat party, therefore, serves a social function similar to the western cocktail party, save that they typically last six hours and, of course, nobody gets drunk. Qat is chewed in cities as well as the countryside, hence the inconsistent afternoon/evening opening hours for business. The taste is bitter-sweet and the immediate after-effects are temporary impotence, insomnia and constipation. The main damage of qat, however, is not to health but to the economy. As an easily grown, quick-profit cash crop, farmers devote to it land that could be better cultivated for food crops. For this reason, during the civil war, qat was the only issue of common policy between royalists and republicans. Both sided discouraged it with equal lack of success.
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