Good Earth

March 5, 2010

A regular job with a private company cannot douse the passion for farming in this young man, who eagerly awaits Fridays to pick up the spade. Salim Joseph joins Ishaq Mohammed Al Nadhabi, ‘a farmer with a difference’, as he tends to his beloved saplings on his farmland in Samail.

In a quick gesture, he leans down to cut with a sickle a bunch of fresh lettuce from the green patch and holds it out. “Just try and see how differently it tastes. And ask me for more,” he chuckles.

He can no more be identified with the men bearing those monotonous looks that had gripped them ever since they secured a permanent job in some government or private firms. He is now the creator, enjoying a farmer’s unity or oneness with nature or his power that has its roots in the vast knowledge that has traveled from generations to generations.

Ishaq Mohammed Al Nadhabi inherited not just the farmland but also the passion for farming from his forefathers. But when the young men of his era went in search of newer pastures, in businesses and employment in various sectors, he thought he shouldn’t be left out. And Ishaq had no problem in finding a job in the credit control and collection department of a private firm.

But how could a youth who joined his father to dig the good earth with picks and shovels at the age eight or nine renounce his basic instincts or let his passion die for objectives that don’t worth it? Ishaq eagerly waits for Fridays, or any holidays to stay at the family-owned 10-acre land in Samail, a farm-belt in the wilayat of Bidbid, and work along with the few farmhands he has employed.

“My father died around 20 years ago when I was entering my teen and my brothers are all employed in various Ministries and in the Defence. It’s me who now looks after the farm, which our forefathers had tilled for some 200 years or may be much more,” says Ishaq. And it’s not just date palms, lemons or mangoes that grow in his land blessed with plentiful ground water, but plantains, vegetables and very rare medicinal and flowering plants.

A farmer with a difference

What makes Ishaq stand out from many other farmers in the area is his enthusiasm in taking his friends, colleagues and others who are interested to visit his farm, tirelessly briefing them on various crops and rare herbal species and their uses and frequently offering the curious guests a taste of the raw leaves, bulbs and seeds, fresh from his garden.

“Throughout the year, a lot of people come to my farm just to have a look at it and I take them around,” he says. And when friends come with their families, what attracts the children most are the ducks, rabbits, chicken and cattle that are a part of his precious and charming property. “I had kept poultry in a big way before, but rodents were giving me a hell of a time always,” Ishaq has to fight rats to keep his chicks safe.

Agriculture, he says, is the backbone of any country and here in Oman, the farmers enjoy full support from the government, whether it’s with regard to supply of seeds or provision of irrigation facilities. “It’s my firm conviction that the youth from farming communities don’t have to desert their farms for high profile jobs elsewhere. They at least can find time to manage both,” Ishaq asserts.

Married and father of two girls and two boys, Ishaq doesn’t believe in just preserving what was bequeathed to him. “We need to improve, be innovative and expand. May be I need more money for that, but I can’t help it as farming is in my blood,” he says.

It cannot be otherwise, as Ishaq has taken a month’s leave from last week to work in his farm. “Some people think I am crazy taking leave to work in my farm. But I have to and I always have that longing to be in my farm,” he adds.

Off the Samail-Sur main road and nestling beneath high mountains is a calm and cool plot which Ishaq is now developing into a lemon and orange farm. And adjacent to the farm is a park taking shape, for the public. “It’s for the local people and tourists who will definitely enjoy the place for it’s sheer beauty and cool climate,” Ishaq says. Apart from a children’s playground, the park will have a basketball court and a swimming pool.

“I was a basketball player and all what I do is connected someway to my natural instincts and passions,” Ishaq beams. “And I feel so happy and content when I have guests here who are so eager to see and know about everything in my farm,” he says as he breaks a pod of a wild pea for all to taste. “Hmm…it’s a bit sour, but tastes good,” they say, ready to imbibe more from the nature’s lap.

The ancient abode

December, 2, 2011

Having turned his abandoned ancestral house in Misfat Al Abriyeen into a guesthouse, Ahmed Al Abri, a former employee with the Ministry of Tourism, has ventured into a novel initiative that offers tourists overnight stay in an Omani house. Salim Joseph steps into the ancient abode for a unique experience

The Sabah Al Muqubrah (the main entrance) is bursting with people – the families and groups on a weekend trip to the beautiful interiors of Oman. We pass them and proceed through the old alleyways winding through the ancient houses built on rocks and mountain slopes.

The board erected by the Tourism Ministry at the entrance had said that we could look out for Bait as Saffah (houses on flat rock), Bait al Baitayn (the two houses) and Bait al Ambah (the house beside the mango tree). But we are heading to a 150-year-old house that’s now making a mark in the whole concept of sustainable tourism.

Many in Oman, especially those enthusiastic travelers to scenic places and green terraces tucked within the rugged mountains, may have been in this village that speaks of more than 1500 years history. And one can just imagine the impression this picturesque village that features mountain tracks, old houses, long-winding falaj system and terraced plantations of date palms, bananas and lemons would have made on the visitors.

Misfat Al Abriyeen, a village that lies at the foot of Jebel Shams, overlooking wilayat Al Hamra off Nizwa has been a major tourist centre in the Sultanate thanks to the large number of visitors who throng the place all year around. It’s here that a young man is trying to add great value with a novel initiative – offering tourists a unique experience of staying overnight in an Omani house, from where the rocky staircases lead down to gardens and pools!

He is Ahmed Mohammed Al Abri, a graduate in Archeology and Tourism, a trekker who played a vital role in marking trekking routes in Oman while working with the Ministry of Tourism and above all, as the name itself suggests, a local lad who grew up in this old village still teeming with life.

For a unique experience

With a dream to create something new, unique and different from a hotel or other guesthouses, Ahmed transformed his abandoned ancestral house into a place where one can get closer to the Omani traditions and culture. Misfah Guesthouse, as he call it, could be the first project of its kind in the country which offers overnight stay in an Omani house and the taste of authentic Omani food besides familiarizing the guests with various activities that have kept the village a living example of Omani customs and traditions.

“I grew up in this house and it got abandoned five years ago when my family shifted to a new house in Misfah. It lay abandoned for two years and then I thought of taking it up to fulfill my dream of creating something new in this country,” says Ahmed. Besides, his intention was to benefit local people also from the project.

Ahmed started welcoming guests to the house, his close friends, some Omanis and westerners, to get a feedback and suggestions. “Based on the feedback, we did a major renovation last year mainly to improve the toilet and shower facilities and bedding, still maintaining the structure built of rocks, mud and clay to retain the ancient architecture and the genuine ambience. We just upgraded it to a higher standard,” he points out.

Now being run in a proper way the house on the slope overlooking terraced gardens and mountains, has seven rooms, four sharing toilets and showers and can accommodate a maximum of 14 adults at a time. At present, a total of six people are working with the project.

Ahmed has also involved some families from the area to provide food, pure Omani food, he says, besides trekking guides to offer the guests a complete experience in an old Omani village. “The whole place is a tourist attraction and the village is still alive unlike many abandoned villages in Oman. There’s life, history, the heights where people can relax and daily activities like farming,” he says.

Ahmed says the price of RO25 per person which includes dinner and breakfast is something reasonable and ‘we are selling not just an accommodation but a different experience, which you wouldn’t get anywhere else in the country.’

He has plans to expand, hopefully by next year. “I have identified another house close to this and would like to add more,” he says. Of course, Ahmed has every reason for his expansion plan: “Last year we received around 500 people. The tourist season in Misfat is all year around and though the peak season is from October to May, we still have local tourists coming during summer.”

The bookings at present can be done through the tour operators or by sending e-mail to bandbmisfah@gmail.com. “We have done a good marketing and majority of the tour operators are aware about this facility,” Ahmed says.

But he is not at all interested in mass tourism. “We are not looking for a big number of guests to our facility. We like to have people who can really appreciate what we sell. And we easily can spot the wrong people from their very inquiries,” he asserts.

Determined Doc

September 7, 2012

He came to the Sultanate three decades ago to set up a health clinic in Ibri, which lay undeveloped amidst Bahla and Yanqul infamous for superstitions and witchcraft those days. Salim Joseph meets up with Dr. Seetharam Bhat, an authentic eyewitness to the gradual societal transformation in Al Dhahirah region in Oman

What anyone could expect when he lands in a semi-desert plain where development is just at its infancy? May be no roads, no electricity, no proper buildings, no telephone connections…Dr. Sitharaam Bhat had no great expectations. But he was a modern medical practitioner and he had in fact landed in a place where people knew little about modern medicine. Majority of them even could not tell between a general physician or a veterinary doctor!

That was July, 1979 and Dr. Bhat, in his late 20’s came from the Indian state of Karnataka to Ibri in north Oman to set up a clinic. A house made of wood and mud was transformed into a clinic and he was alone, not even a nurse to assist him. The Government hospital at Tanam, some 15 kilometres away from Ibri, had five doctors and in the area there wasn’t another single health clinic.

There wasn’t electricity and his sponsor had given him a lantern to survive the nights. There wasn’t a single shop in the vicinity from which he could buy some soft drinks or other provisions. It was extremely hot and he slept on the terrace of the clinic, which was to be also his residence for the next 23 years. On day one he had just one patient, two next day and none on the third day. But slowly patients started trickling in. Some came on donkeys and some in the pickups from remote villages. His life as a doctor in rural Oman had begun, and he thought the time machine had landed him in the preceding century.

Reasons could have been aplenty for anyone to believe so. This region that lay tucked between the southern foot of Al Hajr AI Gharbi Mountains and the Empty Quarter was ‘inhabited by jinns’. Wilayat of Ibri was trapped between Bahla and Yanqul where people said witchcraft was in practice. Even the traditional treatment with hot metal rods (wasem) could be seen only as uncivilized if not savagery by a modern medical practitioner. And people talked about ‘atheisa’, a big fly who hit them often causing breathing problems and allergic reactions.

“But the Ministry of Health already had its presence in the region with its office and Tanam hospital. They were creating awareness among people on modern medicine and they guided me as well and provided me support,” recalls Dr. Bhat. A couple of doctors who came before him to set up private clinics in Ibri had left for unknown reasons, but he was to stay. He did stay at the same place, at the same building, added a lab, a pharmacy, a dental unit and led a modest life never thinking of escaping to cities. He was in fact destined to be an authentic eyewitness to the gradual societal development of rural Oman.

Setting up the clinic

A graduate from Mysore Medical college, Dr. Bhatt came to Oman after doing a diploma in pathology from Kasthurba Medical College, Mangalore and working in India for six years. “I had my financial problems and had one of my cousins along with his wife working in Tanam hospital as doctors. They helped me to come over and my sponsor Mohamed Hameed Salim Al Mandhary wanted a doctor, to open the clinic here,” the 64-year-old begins his tale.

It was Al Nahda clinic at the beginning and at a later stage it changed to Al Dhahira Polyclinic. Ibri was a vast area with a lot of surrounding villages and it had a sizeable population of around 25000 people. “From Bahla to Yanqul or up to Wauqba and places up to Hafeed bordering UAE, people started relying on Tanam hospital and my clinic in Ibri. If somebody is not happy with government hospital he will come to me,” he says.

When he started getting patients, Dr. Bhat found it very difficult to communicate with them as he didn’t know Arabic. “My sponsor’s brother’s son Suleiman who is now working with the ROP helped me. He used to sit with me in the clinic whenever he had free time and I slowly picked up,” he says.

At that time the main health concern was malaria. “In the early 80’s seven out of 10 patients came with malaria and the disease’ presentation was in varied forms besides high fever. Even those came with itching got diagnosed for malaria. However, later on we see that the malaria eradication programme becoming 100 percent success in Oman,” Dr. Bhat points out.

But were people aware of modern treatment methods? They had their own traditional methods and the main one was wasem, which was widespread in Dhahirah and Dhakliyah regions. There were wasem practitioners who used hot metal rods, which will be pressed into several places on the body that differed as per the ailment. “It’s still in practice today, as far as I am told in several areas. People used this method even in paediatric cases. But it’s interesting to note where they press the hot rod, like for oral ulcer they place it on the back of the neck. They were treating several other diseases as well including sciatic nerve problems. Many got infected and used to seek modern medicine later on.”

In fact, the immediate acceptance of intravenous injection happened because of its similarity with wasem, Dr Bhat points out. “Besides, they wanted immediate relief. If we refuse to give injection, they will quarrel with us and even nowadays it happens so.”

Emergence of more clinics

Dr, Bhat had a tough time, initially. He had to wait for almost two years to get a nurse. “Female patients were asking for lady doctors. Many didn’t have any idea about what the doctors are. Some thought we could treat even their animals including camels. A doctor had to build up trust like in no other place.”

Three years later, more clinics, labs and pharmacies emerged which included Dr. Nair’s clinic now functioning as Oman Medical Complex. Dr. Bhat had his clinic renamed Al Dhahira in 90’s which was the initial name of Oman Medical Complex. “Now we have around five private clinics here in the area besides the Government Ibri Hospital which got established in 1995 and the government primary health centre. 

The support from the Ministry of Health was excellent, he asserts. “From the ministry we got proper guidance. They conducted regular inspections and we had we had their support. They were also doing awareness campaigns to introduce modern medicine to the public,” he says acknowledging the great assistance and guidance from Ali Khalfan Al Mandhary, the senior administrative director of Tanam Hospital at that time.

People were goodhearted and began trusting the doctors. They came to know about clinics by word of mouth. The communication problems subsided but their demand for immediate relief remained. “It’s changing now, thanks to the education and another 5-10 years it may change completely,” he exudes hope.

Now, sitting pretty in a clinic with all facilities, examining patients, giving them advices and prescribing them medicines, Dr. Bhat hasn’t put out of his mind those days when there wasn’t any scanning machines to diagnose diseases, those days when he had no telephone connections, those days when people bitten by scorpions came with the culprit trapped in a jar and those days when he went to Bedouin’s places to treat patients.

Now who else would want to recall those days?  Ibri has caught up with the 21^st century, passing two centuries in three decades time, but the traces of old customs and practices remain, at least in the minds of several, he adds.

Three decades back

• Remote villages had very little access to modern medicine and hospitals
• Wasem, the use of hot metal rod, was the main traditional method of treatment
• Scorpion bites besides sting by wasps and honeybee were common those days. People used to put scorpions in a jar and bring it to hospital along with the patient
• Malaria was most common and seven out of 10 patients were diagnosed of malaria
• Marrying from the family was common, which led to severe heart diseases and Down’s Syndrome among children
• People often complained about atheisa, a fly which caused them breathing problems, wheezing and other allergic reactions
• Patients came on donkeys and in pickups
• Some brought their camels thinking that these doctors could treat their animals as well
• The psychological disorders were blamed on jinns and witchcraft and sorcery were being reported from neighbouring areas

 

Memoirs of an Omani gentleman

March 30, 2012

Saud bin Ahmed Al Busaidi’s book Memoirs of an Omani gentleman from Zanzibar, to be launched this week, is expected to be an immediate bestseller not just because of its historical value, but for the gripping firsthand account of the 1964 revolution of Zanzibar. “I hope my book will enlighten the readers on how astonishingly resilient the people are even after unexpected misfortunes in life,” the 98-year-old author closely connected to Zanzibar royalty tells Salim Joseph

We were led upstairs to a large room where we found the revolutionary leaders sitting together, backs straight, chests puffed out with the raw thrill of freshly gained power. With strange solemnity, they ordered us to raise our hands…we did not know what our captors would do next. In my inner mind, I feared we were going to be shot.

But they did not. ‘Field Marshall’ John Okello’s men spared him to witness fully the dark days of the Zanzibar revolution. He was spared so that he could flee his homeland in great pain and be in exile for seven long years. He was spared so that decades later, he could narrate the gripping tale with ‘the charm of a true Omani storyteller’ to the young ones, with a sincere wish that ‘they shall inherit a world of greater peace and understanding’.

For the last two years he had been busy recalling those days, in order to put his memoirs in black and white and to share, with not just the people of East Africa and Oman but with all around the world, his life that taught him how astonishingly resilient the humans are. And it’s ready for sharing; Memoirs of an Omani gentleman from Zanzibar, the book by Saud bin Ahmed Al Busaidi, which will hit the stands on Tuesday.

A book that was inevitable

“Grandpa…why don’t you write it down. You passed through many intriguing stages of life, and we all would like to know your experience during those periods,” Roya, his granddaughter had been persuading him for long. Memories were remaining vivid and he thought the best way was ‘to tell the stories to someone who could record all the details and put them together into the stream of my life’.

They found the right person in Jane Jaffer, who interviewed him at length, researched the historical background, recorded his stories and assembled them into a chronicle. Dr. Patricia Groves, a family friend and writer with her fine art of editing added to the excitement and flow he wanted to have in the book. Published by Al Roya Press and Publishing House, the book also got endorsed by the Historical Society of Oman.

“I cannot say the book will have any great impact,” says a modest Saud Al Busaidi, who will turn 98 the coming September. “But readers will see how unexpected things can happen in life, how violent incidents can change our lives. Zanzibar was a place where people didn’t expect any revolution or hostility, but it did happen. It’s also an experience on how one could rebuild his life from ruins,” he points out.

Besides, the book gains significance owing to author’s close connection to Zanzibar royalty. Brother-in-law to Sultan Khalifa bin Haroub al Busaidi, the longest ruling Sultan of Zanzibar (191-1960), he had rose through the ranks to become a district commissioner and was a key figure in protocol attending to heads of state and royalty.

‘Beginning of the end’

Befitting a gripping tale with a dramatic beginning, the very first line in the book drops the reader right in Stone Town on that ill-omened day of January 12, 1964. The rebel forces led by Okello took control and arrested all the civil servants including the author, who was then 50 years old.

“We were rounded up and put in prison. You can imagine the situation. We were all worried and didn’t know what would happen, whether we are going to be shot, hanged or to remain in prison for long years,” Saud Al Busaidi told Hi recalling those days.

Okello’s men didn’t kill him, but he was to remain in prison for three months and luckily there was no torturing. The killings, rather an ethnic cleansing had begun and again fortunately Saud had his family, wife and three children away in Cairo, Egypt.

“We were released by president Abeid Karume himself, who came to prison with an entourage. The prisoners were told to stand in line and he selected people to form a new line. We didn’t now whether it was good or bad to get a place in the new line. Later we realized the selected ones were going to be released and I too was in the new line,” he said.

But that was not the end of the story. He was arrested again, released the next day and he knew it was no longer safe to remain in the country. People were getting killed and houses got burned. Many ran away to hide in the bushes and perished there itself without food and water. Saud, though his passport got confiscated by the immigration authorities, managed to flee to Mombasa, Kenya, then to Cairo, Egypt, followed by a seven-year exile in Libya.

The revolution, he says, was unnecessary and most unfortunate. “Nyerere, the president of Tanganyika wanted Zanzibar to become a part of his country and he was waiting for the British to leave. So he conspired with Karume and started causing trouble. It was a lengthy affair, inciting people against Arabs saying that they were slave traders, thus instilling racism.”

But, “those of us who loved Zanzibar did not lose it forever,’’ he says in the preface. And he has dedicated the book to his granddaughter wishing her and her generation a world of greater peace and understanding.

Unaffected story-telling

His most formative experience, as the book says, was undoubtedly the 1964 revolution, which shattered the life of a 50-year-old man, married, with a family of three children and settled in a good career. The book that narrates the drama of revolution flashes back to the early links between Oman and East Africa.

Story of Zanzibar unfolds through the adventures of his grandfather Sayyid Hammad bin Ahmed Al Busaidi who traveled from Barka to reach the peaceful shores of Zanzibar in the 1880’s, the author’s idyllic childhood days and youth among the royalty, his education, government scholarship that allowed him to study Public Administration at the University of Oxford and career which began in the neighbouring country of Tanganyika. At the mid-point, the reader will reach the revolution again and the story is carried further forward through the unsettled years until the ascension of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the throne.

“I was born at a time when there was no official registration of births and deaths. But the details had been written on a piece of paper and kept in the family’s heirloom copy of Holy Qu’ran. Though it vanished eventually, my maternal grandmother was certain that I was born on September 15, 1914,” Saud said.

Now he is almost 98 years old and still in good health with a vivid memory. What’s the secret, you ask. “It’s moderation…in everything what I have done in my life. Besides I was a sportsman, playing football, cricket, tennis and horse-back riding,” he says.

Saud bin Ahmed Al Busaidi 

Saud bin Ahmed lived the first half of his life in Zanzibar, where his grandfather Sayyid Hammad bin Ahmed Al Busaidi, a prominent member from the ruling Al Busaidi clan  had settled in the 1880’s. Sayyid Hammad adorned the elevated post of chief courtier to HH Sultan Khalifa bin Haroub. In the late 1930’s, the ruler Sayyid Khalifa married Saud’s sister Sayyida Nunuu

• Born in Zanzibar on September 15, 1914
• Spent his childhood and youth among Zanzibar royalty
• Studied Public Administration at University of Oxford
• Began career as an assistant wali in Tanganyika
• Married at the age of 36 and was blessed with three children
• Rose through the ranks and became district commissioner in Zanzibar
• Imprisoned during the Zanzibar revolution
• Fled the country and escaped to Kenya and lived in exile in Libya for seven long years
• Came to Muscat in 1972 and took up a job under Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Later on moved to Ministry of Interior
• Now leads a retired life at his home in Al Fahoud street in Qurum

The book

Memoirs of an Omani Gentleman from Zanzibar

By Saud Bin Ahmed Al Busaidi with Jane Jaffer

Edited by Dr. Patricia Groves

Published by Al Roya Press & Publishing House

Launch: Bait Al Zubair at 7.30 pm on April 3.