Slaves in Dhofar

I've been thinking about an incident that occured in Salalah recently (few weeks ago) regarding the use of the word 'slave'. Evidently a young nurse (whose family were former slaves) got into an argument with a patient over something. The patient was from one of Salalah's so called 'high class' tribes or 'Assada' (that's another story that needs to be told). He ended up calling her a slave. She took him to court and he was forced to pay her a large sum of money (10,000 Rials?). He was also sentenced to six months in jail but was bailed out by his tribe.

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This incident brought tears to my eyes. This is the first time I've heard of a former slave or descendents of slaves fighting for their rights. And to be honest, I had no idea that the Omani law protected slaves like this. When I was young, one of my closest friends was the daughter of slaves. She was the sweetest girl ever and I remember being made fun of by my classmates for befriending a 'slave' just because she was black. In fact, my older brother asked me to stop being friends with her because I was ruining the family reputation. This hurt me a lot, and I know it hurt her too, but we remained friends and she ended up moving to Muscat and is now studying abroad to become a lawyer.
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Former slaves (African Omanis) aren't as visible in Muscat as they are in Sur and Salalah. A large percentage of people in Salalah are black and to be honest, I hardly notice anymore if a person is 'black' or not. Do keep in mind that slavery is still very fresh in the memories of locals in Dhofar. It was not abolished in Oman until 1970 when His Majesty Sultan Qaboos overthrew his father in a bloodless coup. In fact Oman (and Muritania) were the last two countries in the WHOLE WORLD to abolish slavery, with Muritania finally ending the world's slave era in 1981.

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When slaves were freed in Dhofar in 1970, many of the palace slaves chose to remain in the palace and to continue working there. They remain very loyal and are treated royally by His Majesty. Slaves that worked for families chose to either remain with the family and take on the family name (yes, this is why you may sometimes see black Amris or Ghassanis or Shanfaris) and others broke off and created their own family names. They remained very hardworking and sometimes I envy their women because they're more liberal and independent than the rest of us in the tribal system. The first women to throw off the face veil were black. The first women to go out and work. The first nurses in Dhofar. The first women to become cashiers in supermarkets. The first to start driving. There are a lot of firsts. They are proud and successful and wonderful people.

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They are our best soccer players, our best dancers and musicians and they're definitely keeping the music scene alive in Dhofar. All our local dancers are former-slaves. Take a look at the Salalah's handicrafts souq. The women working there from morning to night producing beautiful incense burners and leather are black. They do not have the stupid pride that most of the other tribes carry around with them. They don't worry about 'what people will say if I do this or that'. They're just enjoying their life, and I salute them for it.

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What do you think?

Random Gucci Post

Good Morning and to all you Muscatees out there, greetings from 'rainy' Salalah! Yes it's raining! I'm starting to think all the Muscat bloggers have become puddles on the hot pavement since there seems to be no movement in the blogs I read regularly. Muscat Mutterings? Muscat Jet Driver? Other Oman? Dragon? Angry? Muscato?

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Regarding my 2-day visit to Dubai over the weekend all I can say is .... blah! As modern as it may seem, Dubai to me is a city with no personality. A city with no unique flavor of its own. A machine. A robot. It's fun to go for .... a day? And after that I'm citied out and sky-scraped out, and traffic-ed out, and most certainly shopped out. When I was living abroad, my college was in a very small town and I like the small-town feeling. No tall buildings, no skyscrapers and definintely NO metro or huge shopping malls.

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We accomplished a lot with the groom-to-be over those two days so that was successful. We bought all the furniture for his flat as well as gifts for the bride (and a few gifts for myself from the abaya mall! OH YES!). I didn't make it to Wild Wadi since it wasn't women's day on my only free afternoon). Ikea was a dream come true. I used to buy all my household things at Ikea when I lived abroad. I can't wait till they open one in Oman (and yes they will soon according to my sources). Fdayooh they were out of the peach shake at Macaroni Grill. So I didn't ed3eelak, more like إدعي عليك.

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I didn't make it to the observation deck at Burj Dubai/Khalifa. (a) we didn't have time and (b) the groom and myself are afraid of heights. Next time I'm in Dubai, I'll definitely schedule it around ladies night at Wild Wadi. DEFINITELY. And now that I've fallen in love with Ikea all over again, I want to get married immediately and have a home of my own. My passion in life is decorating homes and re-arranging furniture. I re-arrange the furniture in my office and room at least once every three or four months. I collect home design magazines and read them under the covers at night. This is why my dear relative asked me to come to Dubai. He knows it's my field of expertise and perhaps he's inspiring me to get married. Anyone looking for a wife?

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After my 72-hour escapade, I was GLAD to be home. God, Salalah is beautiful. Peaceful, quiet, ... REAL. With all the tourist projects going up all over the place, I hate to think what Salalah will be like in 20 or even 10 years. At the moment, it a safe little haven.

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Now that our groom is back with his furniture, the wedding is scheduled for July. In Dhofar this would be the right time to start panicking. My aunts almost fainted last weeks when I cheerfully informed them that my sisters and I still hadn't designed our velvet thobes (dresses) for the wedding nor had we booked a makeup artist to apply three tons of white paint to our faces on the wedding day. In our tribe, it's 'taboo' to wear the same thobes twice. Every wedding means a new one. Crappy traditions. A waste of time and effort and money in my opinion. If you're a new-ish reader, I suggest you read my post on Father of the Tail and Dish Detergent in order to understand the trials and tribulations of weddings in Salalah. Once you finish reading, get down on your knees and say a little prayer for Dhofari Gucci. I don't know how I'm going to survive yet another wedding. I've been to three already this year and they were beyond exhausting. My skin was raw for days due to the amount of time spent scrubbing it with dish detergent.

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Off I go to make myself a cup of tea. I'm still on leave (came back from Dubai yesterday) so I guess it's time to go and re-arrange my bedroom furniture. Have a great day everyone!

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More Drug Dealers

If you remember my March post about the drug campaign, evidently (if my sources are right - and yes that's sources, not source), one of the people arrested for questioning is the the one and only Al Fadhilya, Dhofar's #1 Makeup Lady. She charges 100 Rials for bridal makeup and sometimes even more!!! HOW THE HELL could she be involved? Some people told me she was selling drugs to girls claiming the drugs would make them white or thin or whatever.

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This is unbelievable. Has anyone heard about this?

Dubai ... Here I come!!

Dhofari Gucci is packin' her bags. I'm going to Dubai this weekend and I'm SO EXCITED! A very very close relative (ehem) is getting married and he's asked my sister and I to come with him to pick the furniture for his partment and some gifts for his bride. Wedding is during July. I'm so excited! I haven't been to Dubai for five years at least. I know so much has changed.
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I'm definitely heading to Wild Wadi (the water park?) Can you recommend anything else?

Empowering Women.... Government Style ..

Hey everyone! Again I apologize for not writing a regular basis. April/May/June are always busy, and I think that's the case for many other bloggers too. The blogging scene hasn't been very alive lately.

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It's Wednesday and instead of taking my 20 minute lunch break, I'll brief you on an interesting meeting that happened in Dhofar a few weeks back. It's no secret that Dhofar may seem a little neglected sometimes. It's not our fault that we're at the other end of the country and there's a huge empty space between the North and South. All media publications focus on activities and events in the capital, so yes we may seem a little left out sometimes.

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Anyway, many of you are aware that Oman's first women's symposium was held in Muscat last October (?) and His Majesty donated generous scholarships, etc to many women and declared Ocotber 17 to be Omani Women's Day. It was all very nice and dandy; however, again very few women from Dhofar were involved in the symposium and events of last October. Very very few. And so, after a few complaints and following instructions from you-know-who, the Minister of Social Development decided to have a discreet meeting with the women of Dhofar. I received an interesting call in November asking if I'd be part of the meeting. I accepted out of curiosity (always looking for something to blog about!). The meeting was postponed a couple of time, and finally it happened in March.

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It was all very odd. Names of attendees were selected very carefully, with documents going back and forth between Salalah and Muscat with names. Many names were eliminated (wonder why?). I was told not to say anything about it to anyone (Me? hah! Now that it's over, I don't think I can get into much trouble).

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The meeting happened at night. A mix of women attended from the women's associations, doctors, professors, managers, schools principals, and other women with power in the private and public sector. All women. I recognized many of them. It was kind of weird to see them all in the same room. There was no media coverage and particpants in this 'meeting' weren't allowed in without their cards. I just happened to forget my card in the car, so I begged the person at the door to let me in. They finally agreed.

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Anyway, Her Excellency arrived and the meeting started. She discussed different topics (none really of interest to me except for ....... ). She emphasized the importance of being active in Women's Associations (bah). She reminded us that most women in these associations are uneducated and do not work. She encouraged the working educated women to join and bring new talent and ideas. She mentioned that these associations would play an important role in the upcoming Shura Council elections (bah again). I took notes during the meeting but my notebook isn't with me right now, and my memory is malfunctioning today.

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Several women at the meeting brought up topics that they felt passionate about. I thought it was funny that two of the women refused to take the face veil off. Her Excellency looked at the gathering of women and said 'I'm not starting unless I see all faces', and they just looked blankly at her as if she hadn't said anything. She repeated it again and they just sat there being stubborn. Finally she gave up and started the meeting. Personally, I thought it was a little disrespectful. The women should have taken the veil off in the first place. There was no media coverage so no one was taking their pictures. And it was ALL WOMEN!

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An interesting point she brought up was the cases of Omani women marrying foreigners. She said (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Ministry of Social Development was working closely with the Ministry of Interior to make things E.A.S.I.E.R for Omani women who want to marry expats. The future is looking bright. If what she said was true, then Oman is on the right path to becoming a peaceful yet modern country. I think there is absolutley nothing wrong with marrying a non-Omani. In fact, in some cases like my friend Reality, it's actually more 'right' than her marrying an Omani.

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And so the meeting ended. I left before the Minister did, but as I was leaving I saw some women having private conversations with her. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but it was nice to see all my Dhofari sisters in one place together. However, I believe change comes from within. I hate how Omanis seem to think the Government is going to solve all their problems. It's not. We have to empower ourselves. We have to creat change, not wait for it to happen. But .....All is well in Oman... for now.

Only in Salalah ...

Good Morning Everyone!

Not something you want to see when you shop at your local Isteqrar Hypermarket.

World Health Day - Part (2)

Hi Everyone! If you remember my post here on World Health Day celebrations in Salalah, just a quick update on what actually happened. The walk started at Salalah Airport parking lot at 4:30. I wasn't expecting a large number of people, and I was planning on leaving if I couldn't spot any abayas, but ......... yes there were women, children, men, government officials, doctors, nurses, etc, etc. I'd say around 1000 people showed up. It was fun. I ended up walking the whole stretch. It was HOT, but I survived. I dragged my brother along and he almost murdered me for forcing him to expose his beautiful skin to the sun. Oh well. :)