It seemed like a bit of a longshot to the Northeastern University students studying international relations. But it takes only five minutes to write an email, they reasoned. Plus, who better to ask about the conflict in Yemen than someone at the country’s embassy? So they reached out to the embassy by email.
“It was just an idea that we threw out there — we thought if it works, then great. If not, no harm done,” recalls Leopold De La Torre, a second-year student at Northeastern. But less than two hours after sending the email, the students had a reply: Would they like to interview Mohammed Al-Hadhrami, Yemen’s ambassador to the United States, on Zoom and on the record. “I think it was really cool that we were able to make that happen,” said Rania Kolluri, a second-year student at Northeastern.