It’s All About Schools

Sana, Yemen

Skip to next paragraph

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Thomas L. Friedman

Go to Columnist Page »

Related

Times Topics: Yemen

Readers' Comments

Share your thoughts.

• Post a Comment »
• Read All Comments (24) »

I took part in a “qat chew” the other day at the home of a Yemeni official. Never done that before. Qat is the mildly hallucinogenic leaf drug that Yemeni men stuff in their cheek after work — and sometimes during. My hosts insisted that qat actually makes your senses sharper and that you could chew and chisel the top of a mosque minaret at the same time. I quit after 15 minutes, but the Yemeni officials, lawmakers and businessmen I was with chewed on for three hours — and