July 2011 ISSUE 8 Tayf the Soqotra Newsletter Issued By FRIENDS OF SOQOTRA and SOCOTRA CONSERVATION FUND FOS AGM 2011 Bern, Switzerland 23—25 September 2011 The 11th AGM and Conference is being organised by Dr Eike Neubert, Curator of Malacology at the Natural History Museum of Burgergemeinde in Bern. There will be a full programme of presentations and discussions over Saturday and Sunday; contact Eike to contribute and for more information at [email protected]. It promises to be a high point of FoS AGMs, near to several summits above 4,000 m! 2 Killed in 2010 Floods Traditional Soqotran greeting to FOS Chairman Dr Kay Van Damme A woman and a young girl were killed in Photo: Thanos Petouris late May 2010 in the worst flooding to hit the island in decades as winds Ten years of Friends of Soqotra! reached nearly 55 mph. Following tor- rential rains in the eastern areas water In August 2001 people interested in the future of Soqotra assembled at the Royal streaming down from the mountains Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and decided to form a charity to be called Friends of flooded homes in Hadibo, swept away Soqotra. The charity was to bring together people from throughout the world with many vehicles, killed scores of livestock an interest in the sustainable development of the islands and their people. and destroyed boats. Students were Over the last ten years the charity has been able to: unable to take their final exams as • Support a number of projects on the island, including donating sewing schools were shut down. machines, eyeglasses and stethoscopes, • Produce an annual Newsletter, in both English and Arabic, promoting and Alajooz village was ‘ravaged’ and many publicising news and research from the island to a wider audience, homes destroyed in other villages. Heli- • Provide major support to the RBGE Exhibition on Soqotra in 2006, copters were used to help people who • Hold annual conferences to discuss research and decide priorities for project were moved to refugee shelters at support, schools and government buildings. • Provide a website to promote the island and provide information on it, Yemen Post, Sahwa, others; Photo: • Help scientists working on Soqotra to develop their work and engage with others Sahwa net. to promote it, and • Encourage greater understanding of the island and her people throughout the world. NOT For Sale CONTENTS but News Pages 2-6 Eco-Tourism Pages 7-10 DO Photocopy! Life on the Island Pages 10-13 Tayf Newsletter is produced for Culture & Heritage Pages 14-15 members of Friends of Soqotra and is Publications Page 16 distributed free to them. Neither current nor back issues should be Research Pages 17-19 sold. Commentary Pages 20-21 Etcetera Page 22 People are welcome to photocopy the Contacts Page 23 journal for their personal use or to Soqotra Pictures Page 24 give to others. 1 NEWS Soqotra Public Library – Reading glasses donated by the Friends of Soqotra Update The 50 pairs of non-prescription reading glasses reading glasses donated by the On my last visit to the island (November Friends of Soqotra, originally for the Soqotra Public Library (See Tayf 7) have been - December 2010) I found the situation distributed. In November a number of Imams of Hadibo mosques were contacted in the library unchanged since I last with a view to donating reading glasses to various mosques for the use of wrote (Tayf 7). The joint Chairmen, Dr members of the congregation. They advised that, rather than leaving pairs of Sa’ad Qaddomi and Fehed Seleem glasses in the mosques, the best way forward was to donate them to individuals. Kafayan, had been unable to reach any Some of these were selected by Imams, some by the College, and some by other agreement with the librarian to keep the institutions, their names being presented on a list. Though by no means an ideal library open, nor had any of the way of distributing the reading glasses, it was the best I could devise, given the promised developments proposed from time constraints and pressure of other work during my visit. It did become clear, the Gulf taken place. The Chairmen and however, that the need for non-prescription reading glasses is great: there was a Library Committee have been unable to steady stream of people to my door right until the day I left asking for a pair for agree to return the funds still in the themselves or for an elderly relative. library account so that they can be used for other projects, and the rent for the library building continues to be paid Nuh Abdullah ‘Almihi awarded a Masters in the although the building is actually locked. Phonology of the Soqotri Language The books and other contents of the library (furniture, DVD player and DVDs) Friends of Soqotra would like to congratulate Nuh Abdullah Salim ‘Almihi on the are safe, but their future, when the Masters Degree he was awarded last year from Ta’izz University, with the title Al- funds run out, is unclear. This is sad Lahja Al-Mahkiya fi Jazira Suqutra al-Yamaniya (The Oral Language of the Yemeni news for all those who contributed their Island of Soqotra). Nuh and I had discussed various aspects of his language studies time and energy and funds to the in earlier years, and during my visit to the island last year Nuh was kind enough to project, and also for the many students bring me the only copy of his thesis to look at. Not only does it represent a huge who were enthusiastic users of the investment in time and labour - Nuh is also a teacher - but also he is the only library. Soqotri scholar I know who has taken on the considerable task of learning the relevant symbols of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) for transcribing Darwin House Closed Soqotri. This means that his work is available to a much wider and international The Darwin House in Hadibo, initially set audience. Nuh is very keen to pursue his language studies overseas, and we ask up by the Royal Botanic Garden any FoS member who thinks they might be able to help to contact the FoS Edinburgh as a home base for their committee at [email protected]. researches on the island, has been closed. Although, once the RBGE had TAYF Newsletters continue to reach the island withdrawn their financial support, the house continued to be used as a base The Soqotra representative of the Friends of Soqotra, Muhammad Amer, asked for for many researchers coming to work on many more copies of the Tayf newsletter to be sent to him. However, logistically the island, it became increasingly and financially this is not straightforward. However, thanks to FoS member Salwa difficult for me to fund single-handedly Barkwan whose brother has a publishing business in Al-Mukalla, we have decided to the rent and running costs as the try printing the Arabic version of Tayf in al-Mukalla. Muhammad Amer is numbers of researchers dwindled. In enthusiastic about this plan, as Soqotrans travel frequently to and from al-Mukalla addition, the availability of places in so it would be very much easier to collect copies and bring them back to the island. Hadibo to use as a research base has grown, and most have better facilities in terms of reliable electricity and more comfortable accommodation. So at the RORO Vessel Lost off Soqotra end of my visit in December 2010 I distributed all the camping and cooking The Dubai Moon, Panamanian-registered ship that originated in Ajman in the equipment among Soqotrans, the life- United Arab Emirates, sank in bad weather while en route to Somalia. It was vests to Fouad Naseeb for his marine carrying 5500 tonnes of various products. The 23 members of the crew of work, the tables and chairs to a different nationalities were transported by a Lynx helicopter from HMS Chatham, Soqotran friend setting up a café, and one of the British warships fighting piracy in the region. The Dubai Moon’s master other bits and pieces among neighbours reported that the ship had gone off its normal course to avoid pirates and could who had been so kind to us over the not find shelter from the storm. He praised his rescuers: ‘They were the only years. people to respond to our distress call; we owe them our lives’. News provided by Miranda Morris [email protected] Yemen Post and Shipsmonthly 2 NEWS Turtle Monitoring Over 300 foreign visitors The Songs and Poems The Environmental Protection Agency touring 'charming of Soqotra has completed the Turtle Monitoring Socotra' Program for 2010, focusing primarily on Over 300 foreign tourists, mostly An article by Miranda Morris will be the Abalhen Marine Reserve where Italians, were visiting Yemen's published in Wasafiri, Volume 26 Issue many turtles nest during the Monsoon Archipelago of Socotra during one 2, June 2011 - a special issue on the season. Local community members and week in January 2011. Mubarak Indian Ocean. Later this year a members of the tourism police took part Amir, director of the Socotra Tourism permanent web-page with recordings in the program in addition to the team Office, said a programme had been will be established. prepared for the guests that included from the EPA. visits to tourist attractions, monuments and nature reserves. SOCOTRA: Workshop on Management UNKNOWN TALE His excellency Mr. Abdurrahman Fadhl The Tourist office in the island said Al-Iryani, Minister for Water and the that about 2,590 tourists visited A documentary film premiered in Socotra last November.