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National Geographic : 1979 Aug
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Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle, a popular weapon in many Third World countries. At his waist was the ornate horn handle of a jambiyya, the traditional dagger with a boomerang-shaped blade (page 254). From the top of his loosely wound turban to the hem of his skirtlike fuuta, the host looked every inch the hawk-faced desert no mad-living on dates and yogurt, one would think, leading his family from oasis to green fringed oasis. In fact, he was a trucker, haul ing goods from Saudi Arabia to Yemen. Like about one in three Yemeni men, he has worked at intervals in that oil-rich neighbor ing country, earning money to send home and to buy his cherished pickup. "Life is better now than before we worked in Saudi Arabia," he said. "Today we have money to buy more food, tea, and kat." That plant, ubiquitous in Yemen, is chewed for the stimulant alkaloids in its leaves. Remittances from expatriate workers are the cornerstone of North Yemen's economy. The country's import bill was 834 million dollars in 1978, and exports, principally cot ton, coffee, and hides and skins, offset less 4A
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