Sharjah24 - AFP: Scooping up handfuls of white crystals from coastal pools, a group of women in Yemen harvest salt -- a traditional industry proving to be a lifeline after seven years of war.
Zakiya Obeid is one among nearly 500 women who work in the industry in a village overlooking the Gulf of Aden, on Yemen's southern coast.
"We cooperate and take shifts because it is a sisterhood and we know each others' difficult circumstances," Obeid told said.
Employment is so scarce that the women work in rotation to allow more people to benefit. She said the women are divided into two groups, with each working for 15 days while the others rest.
In bare feet and mud-spattered abaya robes, the women dig basins at low tide and return when the seawater has evaporated to dredge up the salt for packaging and selling.
The time-honoured livelihood has been passed down from generation to generation.
It is now a means of survival, providing many families with their only source of income. The women earn about $100 per month for harvesting the salt and packing it in plastic containers.
Since the formation of the Al Hassi Association for Sea Salt Production in 2020, the women are able to transport the salt to be ground, packaged and sold across Yemen.
"Before then, we used to do the same work but could only sell the salt raw," Obeid said. "But that is no longer the case, with the association providing us with bags and transport."
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