Why would a media company based in Yemen want to shoot at Alia International Airport in Jordan?
Dealing with the worst living conditions, volatile, and unsafe circumstance. Reaching the most dangerous places without knowing if there is a chance for going back and seeing your believed ones again. When you overcome the most difficult situations to deliver a loyal message, then the answer to this question becomes spontaneous and convincing to make things done.
Yes, crises may be a strong reason for persuasion and approval. Indeed, we had more than just an answer. The definition of a decent life may differ from one person to another, but we can all agree that a decent life is the most basic right. However, in Yemen, it may differ somehow. Every Yemeni, from North to South, has one definition of a decent life, which is life without war.
The Yemeni citizen is suffering from the deprivation of the most basic rights, which is traveling from Yemen to another country. In fact, the Yemeni citizen does not want to travel for pleasure, but for other reasons. Either to look for better life, or to get a chance for survival; and herein lies the importance of the second.
Many people in Yemen need a bridge for connecting to the world before it is too late. The Mercy Bridge was the beginning of hope for all Yemenis to get the simplest right. In coordination with the World Health Organization [WHO] in Yemen, we had to begin documenting one of the most important moments that every Yemeni was waiting for, which was traveling through Sanaa airport to Jordan for obtaining emergency medical care. After years of conflict and the enclosure of Sanaa airport, every Yemeni regains hope because of this flight.
All that listed was sufficient reasons beside many other procedures to allow us to film the arrival of this flight through Alia International Airport in Jordan. Documenting this event needs a new strategy to consider as we had to film and photograph these joyful moments in both Sana’a and Jordan at the same time. We got the approval and started acting immediately. in fact, The World Health Organization could have commissioned another company in Jordan to document these moments, but their complete confidence that we would be able to complete the task successfully from Yemen was completely another reason motivating us to do everything we got to make it happen as expected. Yes, we have already successfully passed the challenge.
We had to pick up our best teams to deal with these scenes that may not happen again. Our team in Jordan was waiting for the arrivals and the other one in Sana’a was documenting the moments of departure, smiles and happiness. An event like this requires dealing quickly and sharing the moments with the world on the same day. Large team of YPN was coordinating with the WHO communication officers and with the authorities in Yemen and Jordan. Another team of filming, editing and supervising was managing everything behind the scenes. Everything we have documented has been published around the world. Whether through, news agencies, NGOs, or TV channels.
The challenge was difficult, but the suffer of the people in Yemen was the biggest and strongest motive for us to conquer the difficulties. The Mercy Bridge was the beginning of hope and as long as there is hope, there will be peace one day. This is not the only experience for us outside Yemen, but it is definitely the unique one because it was full of love and mercy
YPN is proud of such achievement