Sluggish eyes, sluggish eyes, mouth has been chewing non-stop, cheeks bulging sacs, like growing a large sarcoma...
Yemen street scene
This is not a film bridge, but a fragment of the daily life of Yemenis.
Although Yemen is located in the Middle East, its presence is not very strong.
Most people have the impression that because they are rich in oil, the people of the Middle East countries are probably rich in oil.
Yemeni architecture
Indeed, as a region extremely rich in natural resources, the Middle East is indeed a rich "feng shui treasure land".
After all, 60% of the world's oil is in the Middle East, and in this era of soaring oil prices, they can make a lot of money selling oil at will.
But Yemen is an exception to this fertile land.
Because of the perennial civil war, about 20 million people in Yemen live below the poverty line, and 5 million people are just one step away from starving to death.
Slums of Yemen
But even so, Yemenis still do not forget to be generous when buying "leaves", and even when soldiers go to the battlefield to fight, they will not forget to chew "leaves".
For ordinary people, this "leaf" is a necessity of life, they can not eat, but can not chew leaves.
If war destroyed peace, then "leaves" are the real culprits in the destruction of the yemeni state.
So, what exactly is this "leaf"? What's the magic? What could make Yemenis so obsessed?
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The leaf that Yemenis chew is called "Khat", Chinese called QiaoCha or Arabic Tea, and the locals affectionately call it "Chat Grass".
Khat
Although the translated name bears the word "tea", it has nothing to do with tea leaves. Chate grass, which seems harmless to humans and animals, is actually an addictive soft drug.
Chatt grass is mainly distributed in tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, according to relevant information, this leaf is native to the mountains of Ethiopia, Africa, and was introduced to Yemen about 1,000 years ago.
As early as the 13th century, people mastered the way of eating chalt grass, and they chewed young buds and leaves to help fight hunger and fatigue.
But chate grass is not an ordinary leaf, it contains an ingredient called cathinone (cathinone), which can quickly promote the body's secretion of dopamine, and eating it will bring people an extremely comfortable feeling.
It is precisely because of the desire to enjoy this "cool feeling" that people's dependence on Chat grass has reached the point of being unable to extricate themselves.
When chewing the chalt grass, people will feel clear thinking, full of energy, and even have the illusion of "good", but when the medicine recedes, the chewer is left with endless tiredness and depression.
Addictive things are often accompanied by a certain danger, and the same is true of chate grass.
People who chew chaut grass for a long time will become very anorexic and irritable, and may also cause cardiovascular disease, stomach disease, liver failure and a series of diseases that affect health.
Because the side effects of chewing grass are very harmful to the body, many countries have included chalt grass in the ranks of psychotropic drugs.
But for Yemenis, chatt grass has become an integral part of their lives, and they have reached a heinous obsession with the leaf.
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In the streets and alleys of Yemen, you can see everyone chewing on the chalt grass, and the degree of addiction of Yemenis to it has completely affected their normal life.
According to incomplete statistics, about 70%-80% of Yemenis aged 15-50 are eating this chat grass.
They spend up to 6 hours a day chewing grass, even before going to bed, to fall asleep contentedly.
Chewing grass has even become a new form of socializing among Yemenis.
In Yemen, from government officials to ordinary people, no matter what class of social interaction, all of them are inseparable from Chat.
When visiting a friend's house, chatet grass is the first choice for gifts. A group of people gathered together after eating and chatted while chewing grass, forgetting all their troubles.
Some families will also set up a separate grass-chewing room at home, which is specially used to gather people to chew grass, and the rich family will decorate this room very elaborately.
Chewing grass has become a special kind of hospitality for Yemenis, and if someone gives you a bundle of chatt grass and you refuse to eat it, it will be considered very impolite.
Like all drugs, chatet grass is divided into three, six, nine, and so on.
The tenderest bale of chaut grass costs 8,000 rials (Yemeni currency, about 230 yuan), which can be chewed for about four or five hours.
Slightly less expensive 2000 to 6000 rials (about 60 to 180 yuan), ordinary people generally eat 1000 to 2000 rials (about 30 to 60 yuan).
The oldest chatt grass is also the cheapest, and when it is put out, it will be snatched up by poor people, who are willing to spend most of their expenses on chatt grass even though they only have a few dollars a day.
The chalt grass is not only "corroding" the body of Yemenis, but also the harm to the country has penetrated into all aspects.
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According to an analyst from the World Health Organization, "In some mountainous areas of Yemen, it is common for children aged 6 to 7 to chew the chatt grass given by their fathers. ”
Fathers who chewed chatet grass for a long time did not hesitate to let their sons become "addicted" to "drug addiction" from an early age due to neurological disorders and herd mentality, even if they affected the normal development of the next generation.
Tiger poison is still not eating children, and the sad Yemenis have been completely lost in their hearts by the chatt grass.
Not only that, but the chatt grass is poisoning the present and future of Yemenis.
The consequence of the whole people chewing leaves is that the work efficiency is low, so that people have no intention of engaging in work and production, which in turn causes huge waste.
Where there is demand, there is a market, because the whole people chew leaves, farmers have given up growing food and switched to Khat trees, which has led to very little land in Yemen that can be grown, and a large number of Khat tree plantations consume nearly 60% of fresh water resources.
When the only rich land also began to desertify, the food problem became a huge problem for Yemenis.
Although it has become difficult to eat, the supply of chatt grass is still in short supply, yemenis often import chaat grass from Ethiopia, and the massive outflow of funds has also dragged down the entire Yemeni economy.
When a country's civil war is continuous, the economy is declining, and the people are not enough to eat, a series of disharmonious things such as illegal crimes will follow.
At the same time, young people who are addicted to Chate grass are often in debt because they cannot make ends meet. In order to control the addiction in the body, they even lock themselves up, but this method does not help.
In order to meet the needs of their hearts, they have no money to borrow and do not hesitate to take the risk to rob, and finally embark on a road of no return.
Yemeni drivers also like to "take a bite" of chalt grass while driving to refresh and wake up, but after the medicine recedes, they will feel very tired and sleepy, resulting in frequent traffic accidents and heavy losses.
Yemen's national grazing behavior has aroused great concern and discussion around the world, as early as 2009, Time Magazine, one of the three major current affairs weekly magazines in the United States, once asked Yemen by name: "Is it to chew yourself to death?"
Time Magazine reported
In response to this incident, the Yemeni government has also tried to introduce some policies for chaut grass, but the results have not been satisfactory.
It is also said that as a government official, you can't quit the chatet grass, so how can you serve the public?
The of a thousand feet collapses with the nest of ants, and the chamber of a hundred feet burns with the smoke of the gap.
Although the chatt grass is a small leaf, it has created a serious threat to the country of Yemen.
No one can save a man who is willing to fall, can he?
Self-awakening is probably the only way for Yemenis to "break their addiction". Text/CHU