12 hours to go in the paradise known as San'a

To my dedicated readers,

I am so sorry to have been unable to update as much as I would have liked. You see in Yemen, as the saying goes, one has to be a magician, and pulling the ball through the ring has not been my forte, FILMMAKING HAS! And boy, what a production here!

Working with the dedicated Akram al-Hindi, the Yemen Assistant Director, a most superb collection of footage has been collected.

Yemen differs from anywhere I have seen, in good ways. There is one KFC and one Pizza Hut. Other than that, Yemen is as if the US doesn't exist in purely capitalistic terms. Of course, and ironically enough, most Yemenis that I have eaten with, chewed qat, drank a tea, and driven the crazy streets all dream of going to the US. It isn't so that they can vote for GWB, but to make the almighty dollar. As they say, the US is full of double standards. Supporting dictators in one country and killing others who no longer serve their purposes. I don't think there is a single Yemeni who would say that the US is good in terms of political policy, but they all love the American people. Of course, now if only the American people understood the Yemeni people all may be well in utopia that is the planet Earth.

Back to the production, I can hear the dedicated readers SCREAM, so I am happy if you are happy:

We called up one of the best working professional Yemeni actors, Sahar, who has won the best female actor award the last three years. Meeting over a delicious mango juice in the section of the restaurant where men, women, and children meet (there is another section for just men), she was a bit surprised when I said the position paid only $50 a day. She said that because I am a visitor to Yemen and the film is for a good cause, she will do it.

We also went to the village, Thulla, a most beautiful village of 5000 people with 25 mosques and no running water to shoot the water scene. Three years ago UNESCO renovated the quasi-cobblestone streets, but I guess they forgot the water pipes back in New York. But at least you can take better pictures - I doubt many tourists ever go inside a house. In the village, we found, or perhaps, he found us, a production assistant who would arrange everything: the house with the traditional kitchen still fueled by dung, gas, and kindling, the sitting room where you eat, drink tea, and chew qat as well as the two girls who would play in the film. We were originally only looking for one girl, but as one of the missions of this film, mind you a personal and professional mission, not a UN mission, is to invest directly as much funds into the local economy, we took both girls.

One of the girls and the boy (age 15 and 18) speak between 5 and 7 languages; I tell people I'm Spanish because at least I can pull that off with my two tongues, and yes, they speak Spanish, Arabic, English, Italian, French, German and perhaps a bit of something else. On the other hand, they cannot read or write in their native Arabic. Not a single word. The other girl we worked with, 12, can read and write bless her smart little head.

The girls are little. I'm at least two feet taller. Some tell me here at the USAID office in San'a that this is nothing, but I doubt it. There is undernourishment: the families range in size from 8 kids to 12 kids. That's alot of mouths to feed and to chew qat! Maybe its also because they put so much on their head. Could you carry 10 liters of water on your head and walk?

The girls were wonderful; the older one who can't read memorized her lines to a T. We made them walk and walk and walk shooting the hardships that girls across the world suffer from: getting water, and therefore no education, and of course with no education and reliance on a stagnent economy, no growth and living on a dollar a day. Perhaps the trained economist amongst you would say, Ah, Cortlan, please don't be so simplistic! The little girl in the village on the other hand, would tell me, yes, that is right! You are so clever.

Who's right? The economist who travels by private jet and hires his maid, cook and security guard or the person who only sees the F16's fly overhead, and who's job is to cook, clean and tend to the livestock educating in life instead of ivy towers? You decide.

The shoot went wonderful! We had a private security entourage - though I'm not sure how protective a three year girl and a six year old boys can be?

Instead of the promised $50, I broke my promise as any green-blooded American would due: I paid $80. In one day, I, or the project, invested four months salary for the typical Yemeni to some 50 people. That makes the project all the better.

Speaking of F16's, we saw 20 fly overhead on the way to the village on the day of the shoot. The president likes his jets I guess. Or is it that typically speaking the American government does not practice development. You see my friends, the MASS % of development dollars come in the form of military subsidies. Mr. Dictator, here's $ 3 billion USD (to Egypt's Mubarak for instance), now you must buy $2.99999999999 billion dollars of military hardware.

You wonder, no, here we are parading the world in bringing the almighty democracy and freedom. Just look at Iraq! Wasn't an Egyptian just kidknapped there? Now I ask you, those that voted for Bush for the second time, is a bomb freedom or is running water? Is the Peace Corps or the Marine Corps your idea of helping people? Please think about this. If we wanted to truly make a difference in the world, wouldn't we use our wealth so that the poorest (Yemen is one of the 30 poorest countries in the world) would respect the American form of "government." If you add up the difference:

(1) F16 must be hundreds of millions of dollars (or MORE!)
(100) Villages/towns could have running water; girls would be educated; girls would be productive in a more developed economy; and the world is a happier place!

And the dedicated readers, say, Ah, Cortlan, don't be simplistic. That will never work. And yet, if I am challenged on this project, it is only far that I challenge you, no?

No pictures until Jordan! Sorry, can't upload them easily from here, I'm busy practing my magic!