People profile

Roughly 9 million Southern Yemeni Arabs speak Ta’izzi-Adeni Arabic, a combination of two regional dialects. Yemeni culture, like much of the Arabian Peninsula, is tribal. Yemen’s strategic location at the southern entrance to the Red Sea has been both a blessing and a curse. Centuries ago, it was a fertile and prosperous land, but today Yemen is the poorest country in the region.

A complicated, catastrophic civil war now rages in Yemen. It began in 2011 when the longtime, Saudi-backed, authoritarian president Ali Abdullah Saleh was ousted in the wave of the “Arab Spring.” The upheaval has grown into a sectarian Sunni-Shia clash and proxy war between world powers (Saudi Arabia, UK, USA, and Iran, among others). Children are being conscripted into military service and others are starving to death in what the UN calls “the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.”

Strategic prayer

  • In spite of the devastation of war, the number coming to faith is increasing each year. One report notes that even those who come from very different tribes and backgrounds meet together in a spirit of unity and have a vision to help others grow spiritually.
  • While most people live in rural areas, they have smart phones and internet access. Resources in the southern dialect include the JESUS Film, The Prophets’ Story, and other radio and internet resources that have been very fruitful.