My Family History

   Growing up in one of the poorest Arab countries in the world, life in Yemen was not easy. My parents both grew up in the same village located a little more than a hundred miles south of the capital, Sana’a. Not a lot of money flowed in and out of this area so the income level was real low. As a kid, my dad was already given huge responsibilities. He had to sleep overnight in a tent to watch over the family farm from thieves, water each and every crop almost every three or so days since the climate was real hot and dry, and watch a number of over a hundred cattle, recounting the total every night. Then one day, he got a break when his family went for a visit in the neighboring village to see his uncle and aunties. Unexpectedly, it became much more than that.
   
    The village was only about five or ten miles away from my parent’s village but for some strange reason, the climate here was very different. Every time it would shower in my parent’s village, it would pour heavily in my dad’s relatives village (I’ve noticed this myself in the many trips i have made to Yemen). Upon arrival, my dad and his family exited the car and gratefully greeted their relatives since its been a while since they have last seen each other. Though he loved his relatives dearly, my dad never liked the visits out of their village. He always thought that they were boring as a kid because of his unawareness of the area. He would end up sitting down with adults and their boring conversations ranging from politics to weather, basically catching up on one another. When everyone was settled in the living room and began to have their conversations, my dad couldn't but help to notice a new face in the room. Unlike my dad, this kid looked fancy with brand new clothes, combed hair, and even his own wristwatch. My dad was curious: who was this kid? How did his parents get so rich in such a country? My dad decided to go greet him.

    My dad got out of his seat and away from the boring conversations and approached the kid. He sat beside him and greeted him and they got into a conversation. It’s been a long time since this day occurred so my dad does not remember the name of the boy so we’ll call him Tom. My dad found out that Tom’s dad moved to the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. There, he was able to carry a decent job and also support those back home in Yemen. Tom’s dad was a good friend of my dad’s uncle back when they were kids which explains their presence here in this living room at this very moment. They decided to leave the adults and go to the local bazaar and get a bag of chips and maybe a snack. On their way out, they noticed that it was getting real dark, a sign of things to come. Both, my dad and Tom are unaware that what they have coming for them is one of the huge rainstorms that come through here often, something they are going to get blindsided by due to the fact that they are both coming from two different places.

    As they walked along the dirt paths that served as roads for vehicles, it started to drizzle. That’s when they started walking at a faster pace towards the local bazaar, which was quite a distance from the house but wasn’t too far away. They walked past the corn crops that filled the area that belonged to the people of the village, past the cattle grazing on the rich grass, and past the wells that were built to water the crops sourced by the drizzling rain. Their walk down this path eventually led them to the bazaar. There were numerous displays of corn, papayas, watermelon, peaches, guavas, bananas, apples, lemons, oranges, mangoes, grapes of all variety, dates, figs, pomegranate and it goes on and on. All are freshly picked, organic, and ripe which made it all the better. All of this could not be possible without the help of mother nature. My dad and Tom decided to each get a pomegranate since it was the cheapest fruit available and it was all they can afford at the moment. Then, all of a sudden, things went for the worse.

    Out of nowhere, an enormous discharge of lightning was released from above the tenebrous clouds above them. The hearts of my dad and Tom nearly erupted out of their chests! They have heard thunder before but never so loud. Immediately after they heard the loud thud of thunder, a heavy artillery of raindrops barraged onto the ground. The bazaar stands were put away and locked up into their stores. All of the merchants went back into their stores and locked up their belongings along with themselves to hide from the shells of water being fired from above. My dad and Tom just stood there shocked and soaked while the lightning continued to light up the sky. Luckily, an elderly man invited them into his shed. It was dark and a candle kept light within the small shed but it was okay as long as it kept them away from the rain. The elderly man offered them a sheet to wipe off the water that filled their clothes but their worries were not over yet.

They had to get back home and the rain did not look like it was going to lay off and give them a break anytime soon. As they stood at the door of the shed, they anxiously waited for the rain to stop or at least grow weaker. Instead, a big ball of lightning lit up the sky and the ground beneath it, followed by an even bigger bang of thunder than before. And the rain kept pouring with even more force. That’s when my dad made the decision to go back home through the rain considering it was not going to lay off anytime soon. So at that very moment, my dad and Tom ran as fast as they could. About ten seconds into the run, every part of their body and piece of clothing was soaked which began to slow them down but they knew there was no time to slow down and persisted to run. Finally, they were able to take a rest under a piece of metal veiling over them that was connected to a house. Again, they had a plan of resting until the rain settled down a bit. Unfortunately, the same results occurred as before as the rain began to pour even harder. The rain got so bad that it was hard seeing what was about twenty feet in front of them. My dad nearly got to the verge of tears but knew he had to stay strong if he wanted to make the journey home.

So once again they ran and ran in the direction they came from. Snot was running down out of their noses and they were ice cold but they could not give up. Not now. The journey continued and they found another veiling shed from another house. This time, they weren’t waiting for the rain to calm down for it was obvious the rain was not going to settle. Instead they took about a twenty second break and went for another run. About a minute later, the rain finally started to settle but still continued to poor. To their relief, the house was now visible in front of them. They approached with a slower pace now that the rain wasn’t as powerful. They were about forty feet away from their house when another disaster appeared. Where once lied a empty ditch about fifteen feet wide and whose length seemed to go forever, was now a raging river! The force was so strong that when my dad threw a rock into it, it was out of their view in mere seconds.

Once again, my dad was almost on the verge of tears. He never wanted to leave his village in the first place. My dad looked over to Tom and he was going through the same thing. They tried to go through by holding on to each other in one hand and advancing forward slowly. But as soon as one of them put a foot into the shallow river, about four feet deep, their foot sank about ten inches into the mud. So helplessly, they sat next to the river in the rain, speechless. They tried one more time but this time, Tom fell in! My dad instantly grabbed him and pulled him out. Tom was now crying and my dad wanted to join.

About five minutes after the rain stopped pouring, there were kids seen playing in the same river! To their amazement, the river finally settled down! So one more time, my dad and Tom tried going through the same river that almost killed them and without force, they walked steadily and made it to the other side. Finally, they were home! They ran to the house but to their surprise, none of the adults noticed they were ever gone!

Why do you think this story has survived in your family? Why has it passed on from older to younger generations? What makes it significant to your family history and culture?

I think this story has survived in my family, specifically my dad, because of how much of an adventure it was to him. At one point, he thought his friend was going to die or that he would never make it home. These fearful stories in which they at one point keep us on the verge of tears, stay in our memories to be passed on to younger generations to come. It was passed on from my dad to me mainly because he wanted to share his childhood in which he went through numerous adventures, in which this is only one of them. He also wanted to share how his childhood activities differed from mine, where the only fear we see in going to the store and back is looking both ways and avoiding getting hit by a car, not a raging river and rain that flooded the whole village. It was significant to my family history because it symbolized the hardships my parents went through as children. My dad eventually left Yemen and traveled to Dubai to work as a police officer for a couple of years before making the trip to America. His hard journey to America was to help me and my siblings avoid the difficulty he had as a child and so we can live life to the fullest, which drives my motivation to achieve the best that I can in getting a good education.