Watch Biking for Yemen

Bushra Al Fusail is a young photographer living in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. The city has been under siege for weeks now, ever since the civil war swelled into a geopolitical conflict involving Iran and Saudi Arabia. News from Yemen is scarce, images few and footage of everyday life non-existent. Now that driving has become so expensive, men often use bicycles. Bushra Al Fusail's idea for Yemeni women: Let's ride bicycles, too! Using Facebook, she invited eighty women to come for a bike riding lesson followed by a ride through the streets of the capital city. Bushra took pictures and filmed the event, and posted the footage on Facebook as Bike4Yemen. These brief moments of freedom caused an uproar in the country. Bike4Yemen swiftly became a political issue, and participants feared their identities would be made known. News of the initiative spread. From New York to Cairo, from Australia to Paris, solidarity bike rides were organized.