This trip is like no other trip that we have experienced here in Oman. The before, during and after is just full of different emotions that invoked a lot of different thoughts in me.
In the Beginning…
We were on a fishing and camping trip in Al Khaluf with our friends from Ibra on the tail end of the Middle Eastern summer. Summer here means temperatures peaking at 48 degrees Celsius and strong rip tides on the beach. It was about 9:00am and we have been fishing (I am with Balai and Narz) for about an hour with no desirable catch at all when we heard our companions calling us. I thought that they were calling for breakfast but when I saw my wife and everyone else waving their hands and running to us, I thought something might have happened.
I reeled my line quickly, picked up my stuff and went to the direction of our camp. The first one I met is Utoy who really can’t tell me what is actually happening. What he just knew is they need me. The second I met is Lance who told me to just drop my stuff and head to camp. So I did just that and I started running. It was when I met my and I asked her what is happening that she told me there were two Omanis in the water who need our help.
My instincts told me that I might have to go swimming so I removed my watch and started running toward the sandy beach area. By the beach there is the father who is looking out in the water and there are two young girls crying. On the sea among the waves is a woman who is treading water. She looked exhausted but when I approached her, I saw she was an adult and I thought about those stories of not touching the girls here. So I removed my shirt and let her hold on to that. As I was pulling her into shore, I heard her say: “My daughter. Please save my daughter.”
I was shocked by this because I thought the two that my wife was referring to is the husband and wife. Turns out there is another one on the water, but I can’t find where she is because the waves are so big. I told my wife to point me on the direction of the other one. My heart is beating so fast. The waves are big, the water is murky. If she happened to sink under the water, finding her will be very difficult.
But then I saw her among the rolling waves. More exhausted than her mother but she is still fighting. I pulled her down to the shallow waters and I asked her if she can walk, but she looks too tired to respond. I gestured if she would allow me to carry her and she nodded in agreement. As we were getting near the shore, it felt like she is getting heavier so I put her down and the others helped me take her to shore.
Having two persons in distress, Narz and I took them to a nearby clinic. Fortunately, it is open and a nurse attended to them while the doctor is coming. The father, who is still exhausted and tired, and the two children came later. We left our phone number to the mother so she can call us in case they need any other help and we went back to camp.
We spent one more night on the beach and went home. On the following day, I received a message from the mother telling us that her daughter, as well as her, are doing fine.
One month later, I received a call from the father of that family who expressed his gratitude for what our group has done for her wife and daughter. He invited us to come and visit their place in Al Mudhaybi. To make the story short, we agreed to meet each other on the 12th of October.
This is the Day…
The night before this day, I informed the Ablians that we will be going to Al Mudhaybi to meet the family. They said yes and I also informed Narz about the plan. He also agreed to come with us. So the plan is we will go in two cars. The only thing uncertain is the time of departure but the estimated time is before lunch.
It is about 10:00am and we cannot contact the Ablians. The only ones confirmed at the time is Narz, and of course us, The Nomads. We had an experience before that visitors of Omani family get separated by gender when meeting the host family. So, to have someone to go with my wife, we invited Mam Elsie and Sir Erick to come with us. Anyway, by 10:20, Lance contacted me and said that they will be able to make it in time.
The two cars left Ibra at about 11:00 by going on different routes. We are following the directions that the father sent to us thru WhatApp which is remarkably accurate. About 1km from the house, we received a call from the other group. We forgot to take something with us to share with the family. It was decided that we will just buy from any store that we may find along the way. Five more minutes of going around the village and we found the car used by the family when we met them in Al Khaluf. The other group also came after about a minute. There is one store nearby so we felt we are lucky we could buy some stuff before going to the house.
As we were about to cross the street, the father came out and greeted us. The store is actually their own. And so, we met them empty handed which is a bit of a shame. Possibly a bigger shame if he happened to see us buying our intended gifts from their own store.
The whole family greeted us, and as we anticipated, we were separated by gender. The girls from our group met with all the women in the family and us boys met the men in the majilis.
We talked with the father and his brothers. After a few minutes of talking and knowing each others, our hosts left us to pray. The girls’ group joined us in the majilis and later the mother and the daughter served us fruits. It is customary for the Omanis to serve fruits and tea to guests before the major meal.
We discovered that there are lots of professionals in the family. The mother is a teacher, the father and his brothers are engineers. One of the brothers is a soldier. The kids and the whole family speak good English because they are living in Muscat and the kids are studying in private schools where English is the main language of instruction.
Then this time came to talk about the incident by the beach. We came to know that the daughter had to stay in the hospital for a week because she cannot walk. The family is traumatized that they avoid talking about that incident. The daughter had to take an exam where she has to write the word “ocean” as the answer, and she did not write it.
Our group told them that they should come to the sea again as soon as possible. It is just a memory now. The lesson is important but the emotions must be forgotten. We even told them that we are willing to join them once they have the courage to face the ocean once again.
Lunch is served and we found out that their house helpers were mostly from the Philippines. The family left us to feast on the food and so we had our fill.
After the meal, we were served with tea and coffe again. The daughter came to the room and gave us tokens of appreciation. I got a nice wrist watch, The Ablians and Narz were given a wall clock each.
It was about 2:30pm and I don’t know if we have to go because they might want to rest so I courageously asked if we would be allowed to leave. They said it is still hot outside and by 4:00pm we will be going around the family farms.
We continued sharing our own stories and when it is time to go to the farms, we were given some dates to take home. The plan is we will head home right after our tour of the farms. We said goodbye to the other members of the family and we thanked the helpers.
They took us to two of their farms where we saw some dates and even some tropical plants as well. I got my first taste of fresh fig, plucked from the tree in the farm. We saw some farm animals that they are raising. We also saw their falaj system and they told us some interesting facts about it.
- The falaj is a very old system of irrigation for the fields in Oman
- Farm owners get a time share of the falaj. That is, you have an alloted time where you can tap the water from the system and that time can be any hour from the 24 hours of the day.
- The time and farm land can be sold or rented between farmers if they want to. So there are some farmers who may own the land but not the water. Others have water but without the land. Lucky are those who have both.
After the tour of the farms, we went back to the village and took a picture of this old gate along the way. They said that it used to be an entrance to a walled village about 400 years ago.
We said our goodbyes to the family as we came back to where our cars are. We thanked them for a very wonderful day and all the experiences, friendship, hospitality, food and gifts that we received from them.
The Aftermath…
I had these thoughts as we were driving back home
- The Incident. Our trip to Al Khaluf on that day is a last minute decision. The actual plan is to go to Al Ashkarah. There really is someone out there who is making a grander and better plan for all of us.
- The Rescue. This is a bit funny. I took my shirt off for the mother to hold on to as I was pulling her to shore. I guess I didn’t have much time to think about which is less ethically appropriate: holding a woman’s hand or removing my shirt in front of a woman.
- The Watch. I didn’t open the gift in front of them but I did so on our first stop which is about 500 meters from their home. It is a nice watch which will be of very high value to me. I just noticed that I have never bought a watch for myself. The one I currently have is a step tracker which is a gift from my sister-in-law. The best things in life are free…
- The Family. The house in Al Fath is the ancestral home. The clan, they say meet there at least once a month. In a stark contrast to this, I have not seen my mother for more than a year now. It is saddening how families can get divided in our search for money towards the good life. Yes, it is true that you cannot buy happiness with money. But money can be a tool to achieve happiness in life.
- The Watch, again. I don’t know if it is intentional that they gave us watches. But it reminds me how life is short and in that incident, life could have been snapped in just a split of a second. Life is short and our time on earth is limited. We must cherish every moment that we have.
- The Incident, again. I remembered my childhood days. I almost drowned three times when I was a child. I never stopped until I learned to swim.
- The Family, again. They told us that up to that day, they are still in trauma about the experience and I understand. But I hope that one day, they will overcome their fear and they see the ocean once again for its beauty.
There is a lot more thoughts that I had after this encounter with the family. To sum it all up, it is a day that is well spent. And a day that will be part of the history of The Nomads.
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