Question

How do most people in sana's city make a living ?

Answer 1

Yemen is a very unique country. I first traveled there in 2009, but have been there as recently as late 2014. It has changed significantly during this time period; I love Yemen, but unfortunately, I don't think too many can say it has changed for the better. 

I will start off with the positives and then transition...

Yemen is an culture-rich place with a lot of historical sites and beautiful architecture. Sana'a, for example, is a ~3,000 year-old-city which has no comparable city in the contemporary Arab world. The old city is amazingly beautiful. Other UNESCO heritage sites are Zabid, Shibam Hadhramout, and Socotra Island. 

The climate is another big positive in my opinion. The landscape is varied and includes desert, ocean and mountains. I mostly prefer the weather in the mountain regions (Sana'a), where it averages 37-72°F in the winter and 56-80°F in the summer, yet it is very dry so you never really need air conditioning or heating. It is almost always sunny in Sana'a, you rarely need to worry about rain or inclement weather, although they do have a rainy season where it precipitates more often. Amazingly, it has even snowed in Yemen a few times.
Nevertheless, because the weather is on the drier side, it is overall very dusty and there can be dust storms sometimes and also regions where they have very thick fog. The coastal regions do not adhere to the temperatures stated above and they can get quite sweltering in the summer with Aden hovering around an average lo/hi of 82/97F, which is why most Yemenis travel there during the winter months, when the weather is ideal.

I personally think the cuisine in Yemeni is very unique and that is a positive attribute to the country. Dishes like shafoot, saltah, lahooh, bint al sahn, zurbian, malwah are traditional dishes which are not really replicated in other countries. (Disclaimer: I blog about Yemeni food/recipes so I'm not exactly neutral :) ) Lahooh is similar to Ethiopian Injera bread. Shafoot is a savory yogurt salad and Saltah is...I can't really describe it in familiar terms so I would just suggest you try it out. 

The people in Yemen are very welcoming, especially to foreigners. This is pretty much in stark contrast to what you would imagine after reading the news, but it is true. I would like to say I have never met a more welcoming country, alas, Somalis do rival Yemenis in their graciousness and generosity (keep in mind, this is despite both of these countries being on the very lowest end of GDP).  I remember the first week I had traveled to Yemen, we were a group of westerners, and we me this young man on the street in Old Sana'a city. He invited us back to his house where we met his family, they were three brothers and the older father and mother. One of his older brothers was married and me and my girl friends in the group met his brother's wife as well. There was a big language barrier at that point, but basically we understood that she was married and she showed us pictures of her wedding. I guess we were about the same 21 years, but our priorities seemed very different. She mentioned that she although she had been married for three years, she still didn't have any kids, which was unfortunate, I guess. At least that was what came across. If I met her today, I would have told her that she still had her whole life ahead of her and that three years trying for a baby isn't too much. But at that time I just didn't have the understanding or the language to communicate that. 

So that brings me to another point, if you are a westerner thinking of traveling to Yemen to live, prepare yourself to not understand a lot of things at first. The culture is very different and I guess you could call it insular; the average Yemeni doesn't interact with foreigners on a regular basis.  It's not that they wouldn't like to, but its not easy for Yemenis to travel outside their country nor is it easy for foreigners to travel to/within Yemen either.