Yemen is the home of the biblical 'Queen of Sheba' - the leader of a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years, including parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The idea of 'Africa' as a separate continent is very recent. The Suez Canal is a man-made separation. Europe, Asia and Africa are one land mass with very closely interwoven histories. In the Hebrew Bible, the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon with gifts of spices, gold and precious jewels. The Makonnen dynasty of Ethiopia claim descent from the child born out of that visit. There is no functional state and the area is ravished with war and blockades. A famine is underway affecting 17 million people. More than 50,000 children died from starvation in 2017. A painful reminder that despite our shared history, the importance of our lives is weighted by the random geography of our birth.
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