Yemenis call "Al-Haijah", or "Al-Naqil", for every mountain slope that is difficult to cross and walk on easily. There is no suitable term in Arabic dictionaries similar to what the Yemenis have termed, which is a special Yemeni term, linked to the nature of the Yemeni land, and “Haijat Al-Abed”, which has gained fame in the recent times, is one of the most important Haijat in our beloved Yemen at all. It is considered as an excellent national gain. Because it is responsible for linking the national territory economically and socially after closing all the vital outlets.
This road, which was shoveled and paved by the hands, nails and humble capabilities of the regions people, has turned into a “miracle” road. It plays a role that the concerned authorities do not see now, because of the blindness and horrors of war. But because of such a road, the doors of life and movement had been opened for citizens after the war had subjected them to isolation. Instead of utilizing and exploiting its importance, it was neglected, unfortunately, same as all the service projects were neglected and we're subjected to destruction instead of improving its efficiency in order to save the lives of travelers, after the number of fatal accidents.
So, who bears the responsibility for the collapse of the most important road that link the country together from inside and the outside?
Why don't the concerned authorities make any maintenance for it, especially after the collapse of its bases and bridges, which no-one knows for how far that will go?
Two years after Yemen Unity Day, the United Nations office in Sana’a declared expression of interest to conduct a consultancy study to identify the most important interconnected roads between Lahj and Taiz, in order to reconnect the boundaries areas that were shoveled by traditional methods, and still in need for support to reopen it. Hence “Haijat Al-Abed” has been stuck in my mind since I was a child, I suggested that to be part of this interventions, where I was a member of its team.
The team moved from Taiz on its way to Aden through Haijat Al-Abed, which is the road that the people of the area travel through. We reached to Alakahilah before noon. The fog was overwhelming the area, and the car altimeter was indicating more than three thousand and eight hundred feet above sea level. So, the experts accompanying us believed that some malfunction had affected the car, but as soon as the clouds cleared, and the fog began to recede gradually, Al-Haijah road started to appear, which was paved initially, a road which wriggles just like a snake.
The team was terrified, and was reluctant to get down and how to make it! So, I suggested to let the cars go down first, and we walk behind it until we reach Toor Al-Baha, and then we continue our way to Aden which wasn't far away more than sixty kilometers and can be also seen from our place. Then we come back through Al-Butina and Al-Aghbra, to Albarh then to Taiz, on a trip, which will enable the team to see all the traditional ways.
We used to accept the citizens’ invitations to attend their social celebrations in "Almusiejeed" village at the middle of the road from the Al-Haijah, and to go there was taking three hours down and five to six hours to go back up.
The cars started to go down, and we were walking behind it. On the way, Sheikh Ahmed Saeed was waiting for us, who had been in charge of building the road since the beginning of the work. He accompanied us on the way down, to show us the road, and to explain to us some details that we might have missed. After that we knew that the people of the area, and the local council, had begun digging and paving the road around ten years ago. That was because of the residents’ continuous support, but the road was in need of various equipment and huge funding, neither the government nor the cooperatives were able to provide it, except for the main roads between the governorates. But in regards to the internal roads, which are considered secondary, they did not receive the necessary funding and equipment.
As we were going down, we came across a woman was carried over the shoulders of some men who were taking her to Al-Turba Hospital, but she passed away after they had taken her all that way long. It was a sad situation for us, and when we stopped at the only elementary school in the area, we understood that such incidents take place to them almost daily. Besides, the presence of teachers who were graduates from the Faculty of Education was an assist to the project, and the team knew from them the extent of the daily difficulties faced by patients and students in accessing health and educational services to Altorbah district.
The project was funded with around thirty million Yemeni Riyals at that time, which was paid to the government to complete the work, so the road project in Taiz governorate covered the rest of the costs, providing engineering plans, road paving machineries, engineers, and technical and engineering supervision of the project, which became entirely under their responsibility, and maintenance was provided without any breaks since its beginning, until the outbreak of war in 2015. As per the task of supervision and follow-up, it was under the responsibility of the local council.
To defeat Al-Haijah Road was a dream that many had in their youth, a generation whose journey ended at its outskirts. They did not trespass it as a result of their parents’ orders being afraid of the steep rocky slope, which can only be approached for a certain distance in order to look at the valleys, or see the villages under the slope around it. The travelers who go through it to Tor Al-Baha below that, pass through very narrow paths at night, so that the mules and donkeys carrying their baggage would not hesitate. As for the residents, they were cooperating to transfer the food and agricultural materials to the hanging houses in Al-Haijah, by tying them with ropes, or by passing them through pipes from the top of “Al-Jahili” and “Al-Sharaf”.
With the passage of days, dreams grew bigger to conquer that road, and to become able to climb to it, and getting down from it easily. But the fear of that impossible dream was growing with the long and arduous move to work, the narrow corridors in it collapsed due to rain, and there was no other way to avoid such sufferings, except taking a complete detour over the road which will take a distance of more than two hundred and fifty kilometers through Al-Rahida Road, passing through Taiz and Al-Turbah, and from there to Sabran Al-Rubiasa Mountain, and to Al-Akahilah and Al-Kifif. Then going down to the valley on foot, and that takes a whole day. Cars gradually started making their way, up to some villages hanging in Al-Haijah and its valleys, coming from Tor Al-Baha.
Also the villagers started opening traditional paths, very dangerous, under the pressure of need, to connect villages with administrative units, schools, and hospitals.
This stage has given a strong impetus to the people to continue making double efforts through the Cooperatives, by digging what can be done of primitive roads, and all that was achieved die to the correction movement in Yemen, and through The Civil Cooperative Work, and Local Councils. Therefore, the project found a justification to continue, as the cooperative work stimulated the local environments to provide a basic infrastructure.
The idea of the cooperative project was based on the partnership between society and the government, which depends on citizens laying the foundations for projects, according to their capabilities, and handing it over later to the government in order to manage it and provide cadres to make it operate same as in schools and hospitals which were built during the seventies.
This road, despite its difficulty and length of time that took generations, engraved memories associated with some stages of implementation, until the end of the initial stage, which helped some cars reach the top of Al-Haijah.
We used to accept the citizens’ invitations to attend their social celebrations in "Almusiejeed" village at the middle of the road from the Al-Haijah, and to go there was taking three hours down and five to six hours to go back up. The citizens used to sit watching our adventures to defeat Al-Haijah Road with cars; from the beginning of its set out, until its arrival. They watched the cars rushing forward a few meters, and returning back another meters, then getting down. The passengers follow cars to support it with rocks in so many times, so that it could arrive after hours of waiting, fear, tears, and anxiety. They always stay unsure whether the passengers would return safe and sound, or not. The road is not paved, and not even suitable for more than one car. It's surround with huge rocks on all sides, and the steep slope towards the valley awaits any mistake.
This road has been built as a result of the people's determination, their private contributions, and their efforts to achieve it, in addition to the efforts of the citizens of Al-Maqatirah, Al-Akahilah, Al-Rubiesah, Jabal Sabran, Al-Kifif, and Sharaf Sharjab. The aim of making such a road was to facilitate the movement of the local population between Al-Turbah, Tor Al-Baha, Al-Wahit and Aden, and linking their villages with the necessary service centers. Later, the citizens contributed by providing the suitable transportation for the road, to facilitate the movement of people with small expenses. Thus, Al-Haijah Road formed an engineering masterpiece after its completion. Officials and citizens are racing to visit it, and maintenance has not stopped since the completion of shoveling and paving it.
With the outbreak of war, the road network was cut across the country, and the movement of cars was forced to use Haijat Al-Abed road, in a chaotic manner, and turned it into an international road, for all types of cars and locomotives, with its limited capabilities, which decrease with the increase in use, and the decrease in services and the ability to carry heavy vehicles. And complete neglect of the simplest safety requirements on the road, so that this road no longer satisfies anyone, whether locally or nationally, as it was consumed under traffic pressure greater than its capabilities, without maintenance or expansion, and walking on it became extremely dangerous, at a time that would lead to a stop to a catastrophe for the region, and for the whole country, whose only artery has become subject either to stopping or the speed of treatment.
Is there a correct reading for Haijat Al-Abed Road importance, and to follow-up of the influential parties who have the decision to stop this absurdity, and who will force the Roads Authority to expand this truly vital artery road, and develop it for the sake of all of Yemen, before it is too late? Because stopping the road means stopping most of the roads that it connects, and all the projects that it covers. This means also to hinder all the people of these areas and everyone who uses it. A halt to life in all parts of the country, a crime that may break the backs of Yemenis more than the war!
Is there anyone who responds to save "Haijat Al-Abed" Road, and in the same time to improve and maintenan "Alsohi” road, which lies in the opposite side of the village and Hadrami adjacent to the city of al-Turbah. Or preparing and paving Al-Ahkom - Almosala road near Haijat Al-Abed, in order to support the Al-Abed road and reduce pressure on it?
