IT is both strange and rare to find a man who has lived apart from society and other people for 30 years. He voluntarily isolated himself because he wanted to stay out of trouble. For three decades, he has mixed with only a few travelers who came across him by chance. His name is Hassan and he says that staying away from people was the best thing he has done. He lives in an old house in the Suhaila area of Jizan. The road leading to his house is a rough one but Sayidaty persevered and visited him. He welcomed us to his small dwelling which contained only one bed and is really only big enough for one person. Hassan said that he was unaware that his story would interest anyone.

What is your name?

My name is Hassan Abdullah Sultan. I do not know how old I am. What I do know is that I was born in a year when there was a smallpox epidemic in the Arabian Peninsula. On my identification card, it says I was born in 1930 and that was the year of an epidemic, especially here in the south.

You say that you were born in Yemen. How did that happen?

My Yemeni mother married my Saudi father, Abdullah Sultan. She lived with him for a while and then they decided to separate. My mother returned to Yemen where I was born. She married another man who mistreated me; my mother died after a few years and I was left with my hateful stepfather. At the time, however, I didn’t know that he was not my real father. When I was 12, another child told me that the cruel man was not my father and so I decided to search for my parent. I asked my relatives about my real father and they told me that he lived near the Saudi border.

They said I had an aunt there who would help me. I set out alone on the journey, getting food from people along the way who sympathized with me. When I reached the village, I found my aunt but my father was dead and so I decided to return to Yemen where I worked as a shepherd.

Did you go to school?

No I did not because at that time, most people could not afford education.

Did you get married?

I married a divorced cousin a long time ago, but we divorced after three months. Then I married another cousin and we were happy. After becoming pregnant for the first time, she lost the child; she got pregnant again but both she and the baby died in the ninth month. I decided that I would not marry again and that I would live alone.

Hassan criticizes people who say that he is crazy. “People are sick. They run after material things in the world and allow their personal interests to govern their lives. Here I live in total peace; I live with nature, away from disease and danger.” In fact, he originally lived with a number of goats, beehives, two cows and some dogs. Because of his age, he could no longer care for the goats and cows so he sold them. In time, the dogs too left. Visitors are rare but Hassan does have a nephew who visits him regularly and travelers who find him by chance. “I get visits from many Yemenis who cross the Saudi border. I provide them with food and shelter and some of them decide to stay with me until they find a job. Some worked with me in the past. These days, they come for few days and then they leave.”

Hassan was asked whether he had encountered any drug or weapons smugglers or thieves. He answered, “I may have met but I didn’t know it since they do not announce such facts to me. They hide whatever they bring with them so that I don’t see it. As for thieves, I don’t worry about them because I have nothing to steal.”

He talked about how he had helped people who had come to him by chance. “A traveler sick with malaria came to me once. He was very sick and I tried to help him with some medicine that I had. I could not cure him so I tried to get help from some villagers but they refused to help him because he was an overstayer. Finally, I used my donkey and took him to a nearby hospital. I made sure that he got the treatment he needed and that he got better. He thanked me profusely for my help; he stayed with me and worked for a while and then he left.”

Hassan said that he himself had been diagnosed many times with malaria. He has been bitten twice by snakes. He said, “Many of my relatives asked me why I don’t come and live in the village. I always refuse because I am happy here. I prefer to live away from people where it is very quiet. I consider my life better than the lives of rich people who are always lying and cheating. All I want from people is that they leave me alone. I want to live in peace and die quietly.”