Padang – Asyam Hafizh, 21, a student of Al-baihani Islamic Institute at Yemen from Padang, said he could not go home to Indonesia yet as war was still afoot on the route to Mina Port.
Hafizh is a resident of Lubuk Buaya, Padang, West Sumatra, and has studied in Yemen since October 2013. He lives in a boarding house dubbed Arbith Attarbiyyah Al Islamiyyah wa Maraakizuha Atta’limiyyah in the city of Aden, around 500 meters off his campus.
Hafizh said he had been skipping classes for a week since students were not allowed to leave the boarding house as explosions and gunshots were still heard.
Hafizh, however, said he was not afraid of the present Yemeni condition as he believed that Allah would make it easy for those seeking knowledge to go to heaven.
“Insha Allah we can still relish this situation. We just hope that the government is quick with its evacuation because we don’t want our family to be worried,” said Hafizh.
According to Hafizh, the government had so far only sent ships to the port, but people had been unable to get to the port. “The road to the port is unsafe. We should be picked up by the authorities here instead,” said Hafizh. It takes about 20 minutes to go to the port from the boarding house.
Hafizh said there were around 150 Indonesian students in the boarding house, 25 of them hailing from West Sumatra. “We all want to go home. Our parents are worried,” he said.
The condition in Yemen is currently improving. Hafizh said Yemen was in chaos two days ago. “Bombs are exploding near the boarding house, just like in Palestine,” said Hafizh.
