There is a lot to be said about the ways humor can keep you going in times of hardship. Yemenis, who are all too familiar with adversity, have recently adopted a new favorite joke about their Ministry of Electricity. The ministry, people say, has tasked itself with supporting population growth, given that it is delivering less electricity to homes and sending Yemenis to bed that much earlier and often. Electricity cuts are nothing new in the country, as Yemen produces around 1,000 megawatts, just a third of what is needed to power the country. Tribal attacks on the power grid in protest against unequal electricity provision have been common for years, but the problem has escalated: the state-owned power grid was hit on 59 different occasions between May 1, 2012 and March 15, 2013, according to Yemen’s Al Masdar media outlet, and in recent months the attacks seem to occur
