{"id":13442,"date":"2020-08-25T09:11:51","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T07:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rnw.media\/?post_type=news&p=13442"},"modified":"2020-08-25T09:11:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T07:11:51","slug":"13442","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.rnw.media\/index.php\/news\/13442\/","title":{"rendered":"A personal journey through Yemen’s heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

RNW Media\u2019s Manasati30 platform is to continue its collaboration with UNESCO on an EU-funded project aimed at creating economic opportunities for young Yemenis through the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage. This follows a highly successful campaign for which the Manasati30 team, along with some 70 young Yemeni collaborators, created diverse multi-media content raising awareness about cultural heritage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yemen has been in conflict since 2015 and is a deeply polarised society. The Manasati30 team has seen that culture is a theme that can successfully engage young people from different regions and bridge the divides between them. That was also the aim of a series of videos made for the campaign highlighting the historic cities of Aden, Sana’a, Shibam, Dar Al-Hajr and Al-Mahweet.<\/p>\n

A personal journey
\n<\/strong>When planning the series, the team decided they should be like mini documentaries, illustrating cultural heritage through a personal journey. And they knew exactly who they wanted as host \u2013 popular Yemeni vlogger Somaya Jamal<\/a>. Somaya is a creator, presenter and producer for both social media and TV with over 300k subscribers across all of her channels<\/a>. She is living outside of Yemen and returned especially to make this series. It was, she says, an amazing experience:<\/p>\n

I loved it all! It was the most challenging, the most exciting, and the most emotional thing. I am thrilled with challenges usually, and I love the feeling that comes with overcoming an obstacle. 18 days, traveling to 4 cities in a country that is still a war zone, and making videos about an almost lost cultural heritage. I had to gather information the old way, asking random women in cafes about their traditions in marriage and their traditional clothes. I didn\u2019t sleep much but I was the happiest. Finally, I got the chance to lead an adventure in a country I left 7 years ago. Finally, I am traveling and exploring only tiny parts of the beauty of my home country.<\/em><\/p>\n

The videos have now been viewed almost 1.2 million times on social media and attracted tens of thousands of comments, shares and likes from viewers. A number of local Yemeni TV channels have also rebroadcast them, reaching the many Yemenis who are not online. All of the videos, subtitled in English, are available on Manasati30\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first video takes us to Shibam in the Hadramout valley. The city is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unique centuries-old architecture. The residents of Shibam were able to avoid natural disasters such as floods and expand their city by building upwards – resulting in the world\u2019s first high-rise apartment blocks. Young people in Shiban are preserving their heritage by carrying on the tradition of wood carving which is a source of income for many.<\/p>\n