All I Had with Me Was My Bag and My CV

Yemenat

Mohammed Al Mekhlafi

I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of passengers getting off the bus. I turned to one of them and asked, “Where are we now?”

He replied, “We’re at Al-Wadiah border crossing. Take your bag and get off for inspection.”

I got off the bus and placed my belongings alongside the other passengers’ bags in the designated inspection area, inside a large yard where several buses were parked in rows. The sun was high, and I was exhausted from the long journey.

After completing the inspection procedures, I returned to my seat on the bus and leaned my head back.

Somewhere between being awake and falling asleep, my thoughts took me back to Sana’a, to the moments of saying goodbye, and to the voices of my two sons: Ayham, who is eleven, and Kenan, who is six.

On the day I was leaving, I deliberately kept my sons home from school because I wanted to spend some time with them before my departure. That morning, I took them to Al-Tahrir Square. We had breakfast on Restaurant Street, then went to Bustan Al-Sultan Park, which is close to the square.

There, I told them that I was travelling that day. Ayham prayed for me and said he would miss me very much. Kenan, however, could not hold back his tears. He started crying and said, “Dad, I want to come with you to Saudi Arabia.” It was a difficult moment for me, but I tried to reassure him.

Around noon, we returned home and had lunch. Then I started getting ready for the journey. It was raining, and thick, dark clouds covered the sky. At three in the afternoon, I left home with my family in a taxi, heading towards Southern Sixty Street, where the buses