This is not America, This is Oman!

Samā’il, Oman

January 21. 2017
“This is not America, this is Oman”

Visiting the village of Samail.

The title for this blog was a quote by a darling 4th grader, Abdullah.

A little back ground on how this visit was arranged. I mentioned in the last blog about the volunteer work I did in the man groves a few weeks ago. While contemplating the invasive plants I went into an area where these men were working and began a conversation with young man, Mohammed. He is a student at the university here in Muscat and came for the day to help out. The two of us discussed my idea about how to conquer this invasive plant and then went on to become more aquatinted with one another. Mohammed has a wonderful spirit in him and a big smile. This day he was wearing jeans and a T shirt, so he looked like all other american young men. He offered to give Shira and I a ride to our flat and we accepted. One thing I have learned about the people here. If they offer you something no matter what it is they would be insulted if you did not accept.

While Mohammed and I were visiting he explained to me the village he lives in and about the date palms growing there. His family has a farm which has been in the family since his grandfather developed it. Mohammed has helped his father in different capacities with some of the work on the farm. He invited us to come to see his village and his home. When I heard about the date palms were some of the largest trees in Oman, that grow along the wadi I was very interested and in seeing the family farm so I accepted the invitation.

The four of us drove to Samail and met Mohammed at a bridge were we then followed him to his home. While driving through the town I did not notice many homes or buildings all I saw were palm trees and a wide wadi. We parked next to the entrance of an ancient castle and walked down this long winding road where there were stone walls and homes. This when I realized
many of the buildings are built under and around the trees so they are shaded and are not that visible. We came to a tall metal gate and Mohammed said “this is my home” opened the gate and there was a large house and stone walls and tall palm trees of all sorts. Mohammed explained to us we first need to go inside which meant removing shoes, well once again I did not think of that and wore sneakers.

Most Omani homes have a guest room with its own private door entrance and usually a private bathroom. This room is called majlis, and is used to refer to a private place where guests are received and entertained. It reminds me of a formal living room in america. But much more simple due to less furniture but yet grand and elegant. Mohammed served us Omani coffee, fruit, warm dates with tahini and sweet biscuits. While we were visiting Mohammed’s younger brother, Abdullah, shyly came inside to said hi. He was very curious of us. He is in 4th grade and speaks some english.

It’s now time to have a tour of the farm and we encourage Abdullah and Mohammed’s other brother, Ahmed to join us which they did. Growing on the farm are very tall date trees, bananas, pomegranates, figs, papaya, mulberry’s, oranges, limes, lemons and not sure what some of the other fruit trees are but all edible fruits.They have goats, cows, chickens and pigeons. They also grow different herbs, eggplant and trying to grow strawberries. They also grow corn which grows to about 3 feet tall and is used to feed the animals.
The irrigation system is called a falaj and is considered a world heritage system and they refer to it as the source of life and take it very seriously. These falajes are feed from the wadi’s and the channels are opened a few hours a week which wind around whole villages where then gardens and tress can be irrigated. Some people will then wash their cars at this time. When taking our walk through out the village it was evident how important this system is in their livelihood.

At one point Abdullah came to us with a fruit in his hand and explained it was a fig and we could eat it. I was excited I’d never had a fresh fig just picked from a tree. They showed me how to peel it, and it was sweet and very tasty. He then brought us a fig which he had opened to show us what it looks like inside.

Now it was time to see the castle and village. They are not sure how old the castle is there are no past records of it. But we all know that is goes way back in time. The castle was closed the day we were there and is used for the village offices during the week. But we did explore outside the castle explored an old well that is attached to the castle.

We walked beyond the castle to an area that was back in time where goods and foods where traded call a suq. The walls were made on mud and hay with thatched roof using the palm branches. The area has not been cared for and is somewhat used at a dump. I’d love to get in there with a tractor and clean the place up. I did not let that stop me from following Mohammed into the area. (nothing is going to stop me from investigating the past). The photos tell the story of this area. While walking through the winding, narrow streets I could see the falaj intertwining through properties. The day we were there the water was flowing so we got to see how it works through out the village. Mohammed explained that the filaj was built at an angel so gravity would keep it flowing.

While walking through the village we could hear the calling to prayer and I said to Mohammed if he felt he needed to go pray to please do so. He instructed his younger brother to show us back to the house and he and Ahmed went into a mosque near by. We were escorted into the family room the majlis where we rested and cleaned up. Shortly after, Mohammed arrived and all three of them started bringing in our lunch. At this time Mohammed’s cousin, Sara joined us. What a delight she is. She taught me how to eat with my hands and instructed me not to use my left hand. This took some getting use to but I was successful, sort of. I did have many droppings were I was sitting but I was full and the food was excellent. We had fish, beef (from their cows) rice, olives and salad and lots of it. I was wondering about who was preparing the food and come to find out it was Mohammed’s mother and a helper in the back side of the house.

After lunch we piled into 2 cars and went exploring more of the village. The first stop was to a scared place where there is a small building which laid a tomb for people to view at any time.
Mazin Bin Ghaduba, was the first Omani person to become a Muslim. (in the Sixth Century AH, ~1100 AD). He was known to be the first person in the Oman region to go and learn about Mohammed and he came back to the region proclaiming who Mohammed was. There is a falaj flowing past this site. Next we drove up to the top of a hill were there was a vista view of the village and where Abdullah showed me where he goes to school from afar. This vista few show’s off the mountain range that are dark brown peaks across the landscape and the contrast of the green palm trees that follow the wadi and goes for miles. It’s a beautiful site to see.

By now Abdullah and I have connected big time and he wanted to stay near me rest of the day. In the car at one point he was laughing and speaking in Arabic to Mohammed, I asked Mohammed, “what is he saying”, he smiled and said “he is saying that he can understand you but not the others”. We all laughed together. At one point while wandering around in the hills of Samail, Abdullah said follow me Ruby, as we climbed up a hill to 2 different look out towers and at one point he said to me with excitement, “this is not America, this is Oman” while looking out onto the wadi, the mountains and the village.

After all the exploring we ended back at the original parking place next to the castle entrance and Mohammed instructed us to stay where we were and he’d be right back. He returned with fresh eggs, two huge clumps of small bananas and dates all from the farm. We parted full of Omani food and a load of history that will live for ever.

We plan on getting together again here in Muscat with Mohammed and Sara. I will also go back when the castle is opened and to visit Abdullah and let him take me on a tour of the castle.
the next day I sent Mohammed and email thanking him for the wonderful visit and he returned a reply expressing that it is he who should be thanking us for excepting his invitation. For a 22 year old he is charming and I thank him for becoming my friend. You are an inspiration.