Summary

Over the next three months, Mokhtar visited all 32 coffee-producing areas of Yemen, explaining his plan and collecting coffee samples from each place. Some of the places were relatively advanced farms, while others barely produced any coffee at all. Mokhtar soon encountered health-related challenges, such as malaria and other illnesses. He recuperated when necessary and continued to visit coffee farms whenever possible. Mokhtar’s trips often took him into areas of potential tribal conflict. He brought with him a knife and pistol for protection. As Mokhtar traveled between rural and urban areas of the country, he began to realize that antipathies and mutual misunderstandings between these regions contributed to the country’s instabilities. In Chapter 23, after gathering enough coffee samples, Mokhtar made plans to travel back to America. At a cousin’s request, he agreed to accompany the cousin’s six-year-old daughter Dena on the...