Growing Up in South Arabia

There is a Hadhramaut gene encoded in all of us.

It passes through generations to keep us all tuned to the land, its history, its deep valleys, and especially its customs and values. Ahmad Al Sari was a boy born in Al Mukalla just two years after the end of World War II-a tumultuous and often difficult time for many people in the region. But despite any hardships, the Hadhramaut region, and the rich cultures and customs of the people living within its borders andbeyond, was instrumental in shaping his view of the world.This story revolves around the first ten years of the life of Ahmad Al Sari and the state of the Arab world in the 1950s, but it also explores broader concepts. He tells the expansive story of Hadhramaut and its people, who over centuries spread out across the globe sailing to Africa, India, the Far East, and parts of Europe, where they settled and raised families, they integrated and prospered, and ultimately changed their environments. The number of Hadramis in the Far East was recently estimated at 25 million. And yet they never lost their roots, the invisible tether that linked them to the motherland.