By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UNESCO on Monday said in a press release issued in New York that Harbia Al-Himiary a young Yemini female engineer has a special connection to Sana’a, whose war-damaged buildings she is helping to restore, as part of a UNESCO-supported initiative.
Harbia Al-Himiary said “There is a common language between me and the buildings. In every house I try to preserve. I feel that the city is grateful to me, and I am grateful to the city because it has taught me a lot”, described her relationship with the Yemeni capital.
Ms. Al-Himiary has been striving since childhood to achieve her dream of preserving the heritage of Sana’a, and ensuring “the continuity of our history, one of the greatest civilizations.”
Harbia Al-Himiary as a project officer in the Cultural Heritage Unit of the Historic Cities Authority in Old Sana’a, is working on a UN-backed project to restore dozens of historic buildings in Sana’a and across Yemen.
“There is no difference between a man or a woman when it comes to preserving this historic city,” she said.
She stressed the respect between all members of the team, as well as the residents of the neighbourhoods in which they work.
“It is true that we face challenges and difficulties but, by working as a team, we go beyond it. Now there are a number of female engineers in the project, proving every day that they are competitive in this field, all contributing to the preservation of this jewel.”
Ms. Al-Himiary has tried to find opportunities for women and girls on every project that she has worked on.
“For example, when I was based in the old town of Zabid, we trained a number of girls in traditional building crafts, such as woodwork, wood decorations, stucco decorations, and carpentry. The more opportunities for training we opened up, the more we found an equal turnout of boys and girls. In some trades, girls outnumbered the boys.”
One of the girls told Ms. Al-Humairi that by restoring the wooden decorations in her home, she was both exercising her rights as one of the owners of the house, and preserving her, and her family’s, privacy.
“My advice to any girl is to choose the field she likes, because as long as she loves that field, she will definitely succeed in it,” Ms. Al-Himiary said.
Ms. Al-Himiary concluded “With patience, diligence and perseverance, you will surely succeed in achieving the ambition you desire.”
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