At first there is agitation. Then a decrease, a relaxation. For the vast majority of Yemenis, khat is green gold. For a few - a cursed tree mentioned in the Quran.
This text has been auto-translated from Polish.
Stuffed cheek, tight skin. Chewed leaves of the edible chervil (Catha-edulis), also known as khat, should be held in the mouth. The valuable juices then flow straight to the brain, my interlocutors assure me. Due to its narcotic properties, the plant is used in Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. In Yemen, it is considered such an important part of cultural heritage that to any attempt to impose restrictions on its cultivation or use (for example, by police officers on duty), its opponents respond that it's like calling for the demolition of the Egyptian pyramids.
In 1972, then-Prime Minister Mohsin Alajni was forced to resign three months into his fourth term - precisely because of his determination to fight the khat. Also among those fighting are activists trying to get the country out of the habit, some Al Qaeda and some tribes in the Hadramaut region, for whom khat is haram. The fighters are the ones who have been fighting against khat.
March 2025 will mark ten years since the first bombings of Sanaa and the beginning of the war. In a devastated, hopeless country, even the staunchest opponents of khat are beginning to look at the phenomenon differently. How do you take away from people something that kills the feeling of hunger and relieves stress at least a little?
Saudi bombs, US bombs
The first seven years of the war saw more than 25,000 bombings, carried out by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia in an attempt to restore the Yemeni government to power (that evacuated to Aden when Huti rebels seized Sanaa in 2014, and then more swaths of the country).
The Saudis have one of the best-equipped armies in the world. They planned to get the job done in two weeks. On the other side were the Huti of the northern, mountainous Sa'ada province. Many times weaker, but at home. They took advantage of the natural conditions, which they knew very well. A $6 million tank proved an easy target for a $3,000 launcher. The Huthis not only survived, but began to learn and grow stronger.
A ceasefire agreement has been in effect since April 2, 2022. According to the most frequently cited data, more than 377,000 people had lost their lives by that date. People could be killed anywhere - in a wedding procession, a funeral procession, a mosque, during a school trip, in their own homes. The vast majority of victims were minors. And yet the targets of the raids were supposed to be military facilities.
Traditional male attire includes a belt, and on it a curved jambi dagger, now serving only a decorative function. During one bombing in Sanaa, in which several hundred people were killed, a man had to cut off a section of his son's leg with a jambiya to pull him out from under the rubble. According to some data, about 80 percent of children living in the capital suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Now, the bombings are mostly by Americans - most often the ports of Hudayda and the Sanaa area, key places for the Houthis. This is in retaliation for attacks on Israeli ships and vessels in the Red Sea.
The men, women and children are being killed
Khat arrived in Yemen about 700 years ago from Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia). Sufi men drinking coffee and chewing leaves somehow did not fall under Islamic jurisprudence. After all, they were doing it for religious purposes - not to sleep, but to perform the sacred practice of zikr. Not to sleep, students say many centuries later, justifying their attachment to the narcotic plant. They chew to better prepare for exams.
In the early 20th century, leaf chewing was a pleasure reserved for the elite. The stone residential towers for which Sana is famous are several hundred years old. The top floor is a mafaj - a room with a view. Windows on the four walls. Cushions and carpets. Nothing but to recommend and linger in awe, watching the sun set over Sanaa. You can enhance the experience by chewing on the leaves and surrendering to them.
In the 21st century, even before the war, women working in corporations were denied promotions because the key decisions were made in mafradah anyway - in the men's circle, during chewing sessions. This doesn't mean that women don't chew. They chew separately, because being among men outside the family is haram.
Children recruited by the Huti rebels for military training receive not only meals, but also a bag of leaves each day. Some parents prefer their minor sons to sit with adults, chewing khat, instead of playing ball with their peers. School playgrounds can be mined, as can fields and other areas around schools.
The Huthis recruit children for military and ideological training. The older ones learn to use weapons and may end up on the front lines. The younger ones learn the secrets of planting mines. Boys and girls.
There are no prospects, there is khat
Today's Yemen is economically two parallel worlds.
Two warring central banks. Different banknotes and coins. In Sana'a you will pay 550 rials for one dollar, in Aden more than 2 thousand. A bag of khat (the cheapest version, the leaves alone) in Sana'a is 3 thousand rials, in Aden about 15 thousand. A full-grown bunch - 8 thousand and more. Traditional Yemeni bread - once large sheets, now increasingly smaller - 100 rials for three in Sanaa, in Aden the same for one. If a family has the equivalent of a few dollars a day, khat occupies an important position in its budget. Bread and weak tea is often the only meal. More than two-thirds of families are unable to afford enough food. Between 2015 and 2018, over 85,000 children died as a result of malnutrition.
- Where do you get the money for khat? - I ask Yemeni refugees in the Markazi camp in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, known as the Gate of Tears. They shrug their shoulders. Sometimes a family will send money from abroad, other times someone will give a treat. There are about 2,000 people in Markazi on a permanent basis. In Yemen alone, the number of IDPs is approaching 5 million.
In the camp, they are occasionally given cleaning supplies, and occasionally small sums that they can use to charge their phone cards, flour or oil. Khat is perfectly legal in Djibouti. It can be bought on the street, in the bazaar or in an ordinary store.
Loza has been in the camp since 2015. Her father was killed in one of the first bombings of Sanaa. The mother took her children and came to Markazi. At the time, she was the head of the family. For the past few years, the eldest son has been her. When Loza was seventeen, he sold her to his friend. The tears of a teenager who wanted to continue her education didn't help, nor did her mother's cries. Most importantly, there was money for a few months. Also for khat.
Khat causes insomnia. After a sleepless night, a person is irritable. When there is a lack of ways to deal with emotions, aggression ensues. I have pictures of Louisa's bruises on my phone - this is how her older brother unwinds.
In the first five months of the war alone, the scale of gender-based violence increased by 70 percent, while data from the UNFPA (the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health) shows that between 2015 and 2020, the number of physical assaults on women doubled in Yemen, with a 35 percent increase in sexual assaults.
A Survey conducted in 2019 with the support of the European Commission and in cooperation with the Yemeni Ministry of Health found that 45 percent of the population has post-traumatic stress disorder, 27 percent has depression, 25 percent has anxiety.
According to WHO data, there were 46 psychiatrists in Yemen in 2016. Today, there are certainly fewer - how many, is unknown. The population fluctuates around 40 million. One psychiatrist per 870,000 people. But in the country few people reach out for this kind of help anyway.
Djibouti has high unemployment (27.5 percent in 2024). There are no prospects. There is no money to start a family. But for khat, they will always find some somehow.
