Uncle Ahmed, an old cobbler, is busy with customers in his shoemaking shop, which is located in the Al-Safiya neighborhood in Sana'a, whose area does not exceed two meters by one meter, to fix their torn out shoes and hand over the shoes that he has finished repairing to some other. Next to him, a twenty-year-old worker sits busy sewing brown shoes, and in front of him is a pile of worn-out shoes that he will repair one by one, as he told Khuyut. The young man continues, saying: “I am always ready to provide my services to people,” stressing that the number of customers has increased compared to previous years. When the young shoemaker was asked about the reason for customers flocking to the shoe repair shop, he said: “This is due to the economic crisis, people’s weak purchasing power, and the lack of job opportunities, which forced most people to repair their old shoes, instead of buying new ones, due to their high prices which reached to unaffordable levels unlike their prices two years ago".
The Shocking Collapse
Yemen in general is experiencing an unprecedented state of recession and economic and living condition deterioration, accompanied by a record collapse of the Yemeni riyal against the US dollar. The exchange rate in the southern and eastern regions reached more than 1,600 riyals to one dollar, which led to an exacerbation of the economic crisis and an overall all upsurge in prices, corresponding to a severe scarcity of cash liquidity in Sanaa and the areas controlled by the Houthis.
It is notable that used shoe repair shops and market stalls have flourished remarkably as a result of the economic collapse, in one of the poorest countries in the region. Shoemakers repair worn-out shoes often in traditional ways, using knitting needles, strong threads, pieces of leather, leather mats, brushes, and polishing materials, with the exception of a few shoemakers who use modern machines in fixing shoes.
The Yemeni citizen, whether in the southern governorates and areas under the control of the legitimate and internationally recognized government, or the northern governorates and areas under the control of the Houthi authority, have begun to practice severe and forced austerity living styles, as they have no options to escape from its consequences, after income levels have become insufficient to provide the necessary and basic requirements for the continuation of life, due to the downfall of purchasing power and the collapse of the value of the national currency due to inflation. For example, an employee who had an income estimated at 100,000 Yemeni riyals before the war, which was equivalent to 465 dollars, at that time was largely sufficient to provide the basic and necessary needs with some luxuries for his family. Today, there is no longer any income for most employees due to the interruption of salaries, or the decline in the price of the national currency. Therefore, people were forced to change their earlier consumption habits to a more modest manner. Many people no longer have the ability to buy new shoes or a clothes, according to the statement of the professor of political economy at the University of Aden, Mohammad Jamal Al-Shua'aibi, to Khuyut.
Al-Shua'aibi, told Khuyut that: “After the war, the value of this income fell to less than $200 in Sanaa, and less than $65 in Aden.” Pointing to the rise in the prices of goods and services due to the repercussions of the war and the ongoing conflict, and goods and services have become valued in foreign currencies, and are subject to the rise and fall of the exchange rates.
Consequently, this amount of income today is not sufficient to purchase less than a quarter or a third of the previously necessary requirements it used to buy. "The price of a bag of rice has reached to approximately $60, not to mention other basic commodities. Therefore, the Yemeni citizen is forced to restore and repair any old possessions or continue to use them, due to the difficulty of providing alternatives, in light of the tough economic living conditions." He confirmed.
Between the shameful profession and photography
On the streets of Sanaa, there are young people practicing an old-renewed shoemaking profession, which is abolishing and repairing shoes, as a professional activity for which demand has recently increased because many people are unable to buy new shoes.
Near the front yard leading to the entrance to Bab Al-Yemen in Old Sanaa, Fares sits on the sidewalk with shoe patching tools in front of him (needles, threads, nails, brushes, boxes of dyes, various leather pieces, small hammers, as well as a primitive iron anvils).
Fares told Khuyut: “I find myself forced to work in this profession, regardless of the negative perception of some people about it, because it has become a source of livelihood for me and my family, and through it I pay the rent for the house and buy the necessary needs.” Regarding his average daily income he earns from this profession, he said: “I earn from 7,000 to 9,000 YRs per day,” which is an amount that, from his point of view, is okay and provides some of the family’s needs.
Near the intersection of Al-Zubairi Street and Haddah Street, Hassan has been working for 14 years in a relatively old shoe repair shop. He sits with a sewing machine next to him, and next to him is his 15-year-old son, who aspires to be a photographer according to his father statement.
Hassan told Khuyut: “The shoe repair profession is very important and is passed down in the family, but I don’t want my son to pursue it permanently. He has chosen a different path, and is currently undergoing special training courses in photography, and spends long times practicing with the camera and downloading applications on the phone.” Hassan said.
When asked about the financial return, he says that it depends on the generosity of customers. He added that his work is different from the work of others, as he is keen to master his work more professionally and take care of customers’ shoes, in addition to repairing bags and other leather supplies, using the machine.
On the other hand, one of the customers, a middle-aged man, who was carrying a plastic bag full of old shoes at the door of the shop, said: “I often come here to repair children’s shoes because the circumstances do not allow us to buy new shoes, especially these days with the advent of the month of Ramadan and the approaching Eid holiday when the demand for goods increases and their prices rise.”
Many Yemenis go to shoemaking shops to repair old shoes and women's hand bags, upholster chairs, and other supplies because of the economic crisis the country is going through.
The war destroyed the economy, debilitated the national currency, and raised the prices of basic goods. The existence of two parallel economies in two warring authorities has led to the disruption of basic macroeconomic functions, in addition to the Houthi involvement in the Gaza war, which may lead to the imposition of additional sanctions that would further deteriorate the economy.
Beneath the Poverty Line
A recent international report stated that Yemen is still on the list of the 20 countries most at risk of new humanitarian emergencies during 2024, due to the continued economic deterioration and the high level of food insecurity resulting from the conflict that has been ongoing for nearly nine years in the country.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), in its annual emergency watch list in December 2023, in which it highlights the 20 countries most at risk of humanitarian emergencies in 2024, stated that Yemen remains on the list during the coming year 2024. However, it was dropped out of the top five this year for the first time since it was ranked in 2021.
Moreover, the committee added, in its report, that Yemen’s exit from the first places on the list comes as a result of the decrease in the number of people in need of humanitarian aid, from 21.6 million people in 2023, to 18.2 million people in 2024. Nevertheless, the main reason is that the UN truce, despite the end of its validity since October 2022, has reduced the chances of a return to large-scale conflict in the country.
Further, the report indicated that a decade of conflict led to the critical collapse of the country’s economy and widespread poverty. It said: “The war destroyed the economy, debilitated the national currency, and raised the prices of basic goods. The existence of two parallel economies in two warring authorities has led to the disruption of basic macroeconomic functions, in addition to the Houthi involvement in the Gaza war, which may lead to the imposition of additional sanctions that would further deteriorate the economy."
From Ethiopia to China
When I entered his shoemaking shop in the Al-Dairi neighborhood in Sanaa, the 44-year-old cobbler was searching in old shelves covered in dust, looking for pieces of leather to use in mending and restoring the worn-out shoes that customers had left in the shop. When he started talking to me, he complained about the high prices of the necessary supplies that go into repairing shoes, such as threads, leather, beading threads, and imported shoe soles, and this constitutes additional burdens in addition to the loads of renting a house and shop.
The prices of imported shoes, both leather and regular, rose to record levels, with the average price of shoes (sandals) reaching between 5 and 10 thousand riyals, and boots between 9 and 15 thousand riyals for regular types. As for well-known brand shoes, their average price ranges between $70 and $150, in addition to the high prices of children’s and school students’ shoes, in addition to the high prices of bags, belts, leather, and related materials. This is according to one of the owners of a shoe store in the Tahreer neighborhood (downtown Sanaa), who complains of the decline in the business activity and the unceasing rise in prices. "What I sell today at a certain price, I buy it from wholesale the next day at a higher price.
A shoe store owner, an Ethiopian woman sitting on a modern chair in her shop on Haddah Back Street, told Khuyut: “The leather goods in my shop are Chinese and Pakistani, and there are no Ethiopian shoes currently in the shop.” She added: "The goods we sold in the store before the war, most of them came from Ethiopia and were of high quality. However, with the closure of the Ethiopian embassy in Sanaa and the departure of the community, imports stopped completely." She confirmed.
