Jambo from Mombasa, part Sita!

Written: May 19, 2006

Dear family and friends,

I hope this email finds you in good spirits. I would like to wish those of you who celebrated the occasions of Navroz and Easter, a belated Navroz mubarak and Happy Easter! May you all be blessed with a year of spiritual and material happiness, prosperity, peace, love, unity and the opportunity to serve creation. Ameen.

Its been 5 months from my last email and many things have transpired since. This lengthy time has given me the strength to deal with the loss of our Canadian Hockey Team from the quarter-finals at the Olympics. What happened to our athletes? They were flat throughout and their last game which three of us die hard Canadian fans here managed to miraculously watch, was a little more than just embarrassing to say the least. Let me move on to some better experiences.

My December holiday of backpacking around Egypt with Amirali (my younger brother) was a dream come true. Our journey was busy and intense as we attempted to unearth thousands of years of history in almost 3 weeks. We had a marvelous time and would not think twice if we had another opportunity to return. In another email I will try and share our experience along with our photos with you.

Immediately after arriving from Egypt, our second school term began and finally ended on April 11. This has for me been the busiest term in my two years at the Academy. Let me give you a brief summary of these past few months.

The months of February was a very difficult one for Kenyans and neighboring countries due to the lack of rain fall, sweltering temperatures and compounded with a lack of agricultural planning and preparedness. There were many regions in Kenya that had to deal with issues of famine, especially in the north-eastern province of Kenya that has an additional challenge of dealing with Somali refugees crossing the borders into Kenya because of the lack opportunities in Somalia. The Kenyan government is endlessly criticized for the lack of federal support to this province. But through many good-hearted organizations, the World Food Programme of the United Nations, and numerous individual donors, attempts were made to reduce the impact. There were continuous announcements and humble requests made by various faith based organizations, civil society institutions and the gov’t on radio and television to support this famine. The t.v. programs aired visual images of dying or dead livestock and very ill people because of the large distances traveled in search of water and food distribution.

The shortage of water also impacted many areas around Mombasa, including Tudor, where I live. For a few weeks, I was showering and shaving using (20L) buckets that were filled each day. Sometimes, I was also shaving at school, early in the mornings before our daily staff briefings. It was funny and uncomfortable at times as colleagues would watch. Nevertheless, everyone would know why. It was ‘indeed’ (a very popular Kenyan word) a difficult period for all, but days went on and Kenyans, once again with their strong will managed.

Just about a few weeks ago, during the very initial days of our rainy season, we had a tremendous amount of down pour each day, non-stop for almost the entire week. Over flooding and poor drainage lead to be disastrous in many parts of Kenya, including Mombasa, for the growing crops, store owners, families and street hawkers who dwell on the sidewalks. Even as pedestrians it’s very confusing; you want to use the umbrella to prevent getting wet from the rains above, however, you suddenly realize that walking along the sidewalks you are as susceptible to getting soaked as the cars and matatus driving in full speed have no mercy near the large pools of water…SWHOOOSH!!!!! Instantly, you’re soaked as you let your guard down. Do you hold the umbrella upright or towards the roads?
And last week, I wasn’t feeling well (having a throat infection and a high fever) and went to purchase some antibiotics (with the doctors prescription of course!) at Badur’s Pharmacy – ‘dukka la dawa’. As I waited for the matatu to go home and it was raining hard, turning my head the other way for a few seconds was a dreadful mistake, SWHOOSH!!!! ….I was soaked with the filthy waters of the street. There is no mercy even for the sick! 

Our school, the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa, was busy and successful on many fronts over the last term. Our school debating team won first overall in the city during the annual Lions Club of Mombasa Pwani's Inter-secondary Schools Debate Tournament. Our students (one of the youngest teams) defeated Coast Academy (3 time champions in the finals). For 3 consecutive weeks, the students at our school worked diligently with the support of our teachers, Mr. Kassam, Mr Dudi and Mr. D’souza to knock out former champions with some fantastic arguments.

The debate topics included:

Round One: Globalization is a form of imperialism.
Round Two: Spending resources on space research is not justified.
Finals: Electronic media are a threat to societal stability.

In March, the school also hosted the Mau Mau Film Festival to promote the culture of Human Rights in our daily lives. This festival – free to the public is usually held in Nairobi and organized by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), was brought to Mombasa for the first time with the support of our IB Coordinator, Ian Rutherford (he’s also Canadian), some of our IB students, Awaaz Magazine (Magazine promoting South Asian History in Kenya) and the KHRC . The film festival was held over 4 days and received an overwhelming response by the Mombasa community. Our library was the venue for the opening night reception and our lecture theatre showcased films such as: White Terror (a BBC documentary), In My Country, Malcolm X, Fidel Castro. The closing was held at the Nyali Cinemax and showcased the film 100 days. The KHRC as agreed to try and make this film festival an annual event in Mombasa with the partnership of the Aga Khan Academy. The Mau Mau atrocity is taught in the Kenyan Secondary History Curriculum and therefore, our school and the students of 4K also hosted nearby schools to discuss this historic event. For me this was a great learning opportunity about some of Kenya’s history. Within the school there was also a draw for a recently published book titled: Britain’s Gulag – the brutal end of empire in Kenya by the Author Caroline Elkins, a Harvard University professor who spent 6 years doing research in Kenya for this book. I was the fortunate winner of this draw. At the opening and closing receptions there were several other books on sale to the public at a reduced cost. I purchased Nelson Mandela’s autobiography titled Long Walk to Freedom, which I am currently reading.

Also in March our students were involved in 2 clean up projects that were being conducted in Mombasa. The first one was a clean up of Mama Ngina drive – named after the first lady of Jumo Kenyatta (founding father of Kenya – first president). It is located on the coast of Mombasa, the road near the infamous light house and the Likoni ferry. It is here where families come and enjoy a tasty madaf (fresh coconut juice) and grilled or fried mogo (cassava or yam) with a view of the Indian Ocean. This area is considered to be the starting and finishing line for the World Cross-country Running Championship to be held in 2007. Upon winning the bid to host these world championships, the government has promised to upgrade this heritage site. The community is really hoping to see some infrastructural changes for the better! This opportunity is a blessing in disguise. Imagine the world class cross country runners trying to avoid the pot holes…it would be like the steeplechase events!

The same day, as a tribute to the UN World Water day, our students were also involved in the clean up of Tudor Water Sports located near Tudor Creek and the area near the Historic Fort Jesus, located in the old town of Mombasa. I assisted with the clean up in old town. There were a few hundred members of the community all helping to clean up. We were sent to clean up a site which we were told once was a major entry into the old town. Fisherman and many other traders would gather and do business with merchants from all over the place. This place was a now a dumping site for people living in old town. As we dared to pick up the ‘garbage’ we had discovered much more than that. Additional to the garbage we found, pillow cases, bed sheets, more home furniture, shoes, needles, human waste etc…it was nasty site! Many of the things we picked up were non-biodegradable and were being dumped into the ocean. We also unearthed a staircase leading down to the beach. We were afraid that all our efforts would go to waste after we left that day, as the community in old town would just continue to throw their waste here. We hope that the community leaders will do much more to educate the residents and find an appropriate landfill site. I would also blame the local government for not doing enough to support the clean up and removal of waste more frequently.

Last week, I had the opportunity to accompany the year 8 students on the annual trip to Nairobi, in particular to visit Kibera. The Kibera area is known to be the largest slum in Africa with close to 1 million residents. The students had finished reading African Diary by Bill Bryson. The book is a 10,000-word record of his travels in Kenya, including visits to CARE International's poverty-fighting projects. Mr. Bryson has kindly donated all the royalties from this book to CARE, an international NGO. As part of year 8 English course, the students get an opportunity to visit Kibera and other places described in the book to get their own perspective of what it’s like visiting these places. I have taken many pictures of Kibera and will share with you the experience in a later email. By the way, the Kibera area is also featured in the movie the Constant Gardner. It’s a must see movie that touches on the exploitation of vulnerable people by corrupt governments and rich conglomerates. This movie, based on a novel is produced in Kenya.

Once again, can you imagine, it’s already May! I think only students and teachers can really understand this context. And here at school we are well into the third and final term of the academic year. I will soon have completed my Second year as a teacher. I have also signed on to continue for at least another year and inshallah a few more. Strangely enough I have been thinking a lot about my lesson planning and the various activities I would like to do in the different classes. But this is happening a lot while I’m sleeping. Now, you could say, it’s a good sign that I really love my job and I am always looking to improve the learning of my students. Or you could say, I’ve only taught for 2 years and I am over working myself if all I can think about is my classroom! If there are any experienced teachers reading this, I would really appreciate some advice or explanation please!

I will be coming home for my summer holidays in July and August for about 6 weeks. However, I will be working hard to prepare to teach the IB Biology course in September. I will definitely make some time to meet as many of my friends and colleagues as possible and to attend any important celebrations. My brother, Amirali just got engaged, so I am looking forward to the formal ceremonies, AND of course getting harassed by other family members about my own personal situation, being the elder brother. If any of my friends want to meet up, I don’t mind getting together at MOXIES, I have been craving their white chocolate brownie…yummy!

Let me now tell you a little bit of what my experience of going to Mumbai, India last March (2005), for about 10 days was like. It was the only the second time I was returning to my birth place since I left in 1983 for Toronto. The previous trip was in 1989. So it was after 16 years I was returning. And because it was only going to be for 10 days, the sole purpose of this trip was to spend time in Mumbai to see both my maternal and paternal family.

I had a great time while I was there. My only regrets were not being able to travel around all of India. But I have vowed to do that soon given the appropriate time.

But seeing my first cousins who are of or near my age was wonderful. To learn from them what their experience has been like and the challenges they have had to face given the circumstances made me realize how many other stories similar to theirs must exist around the world. And how easily situations can change from moment to moment, because I was also born in Mumbai like them, but my family had made a decision given the opportunity to leave for Canada not knowing what lay ahead, only high expectations for a better educational opportunity for my brother and I. Now my cousins and I were sitting together after such a long time, my life completely different from theirs because of different opportunities. Questions such as what if my family didn’t leave Mumbai? What would my life have been like? What educational opportunities would I have had? What things would have occupied my mind? What would my day to day activities been like? were racing through my mind. Getting together with them was important for me to see them again face to face and make that connection in person. All these times we have been speaking to each other on and off, or hearing about each others successes and challenges. After many lengthy rickshaw and train rides and dinner talks, I realized that our thinking was much similar, even though our physical circumstances varied. There was an immediate connection between a few of my cousins and I, we had the same aspirations and thoughts about the world and its purpose and the reasons for its current divergent and appalling state. And we had some really deep conversations about these ideologies. We soon realized that it was our faith that had provided us with a common world view – our philosophies and the big questions about life were similar. But many of these ideas required the understanding of universal values. I had so much fun analyzing and deconstructing our thoughts and conversation, it was intellectually invigorating. I was able to bond with these cousins much more. From those enriching moments our relationship and conversations took on a deeper meaning.

Mumbai, the Capital of Maharashtra State, is a city of contrasts; between the rich and poor and tradition and modernity. With a population of almost 15 million and growing, it is India’s largest city. And it may also be largest city in the world by population. It was an incredible feeling to arrive in Mumbai. I was finally old enough to try and understand ‘Mumbai’. It was full of generosity, religious plurality, love, fashion, bollywood, hustle and bustle on every street and corner, endless places of worship for every type of believer, the city was alive during the day and night, food stalls and restaurants everywhere, clothing and jewelry stores, tailors, shoe stores, sweet shops on every street, music stores, customs, traditions, internet cafés, many new developments, cricketers everywhere, slums, families, billboards, taxi drivers, rickshaws, pollution, full of cat’s and other animals including cattle and of course people everywhere you looked! Nobody ever seemed to go hungry despite the poverty, many people and restaurant owners generously would feed people each night. There was so much entrepreneurship amongst the people, whatever you needed you could find in Mumbai. Even on the same street you would see shops selling similar products and I often wondered how each store survived with such stiff competition, but I soon realized that because of the large population, almost every store would see some customers, enough transactions would take place for everyone to get by or even do extremely well! I would see everyone working in Mumbai, trying to make an earnest living anyway possible.

The currency is the Indian rupee (INR) which is valued at about 45 INR to 1 USD. I was able to take advantage of this throughout my visit. And as a recent graduate with a student loan, the lower currency value was much appreciated and needed. But I was very mindful of bargaining with the locals, knowing my advantaged point.

I saw some really nice malls and movie theatres. Getting around Mumbai was not a problem; there are many many rickshaws, taxis and buses, or even the train if you are daring! If you want to travel by road then you better make sure you know when there is traffic, which is almost all the time. I was lucky that I wasn’t in a rush anywhere. It can easily take you 2 hours to travel about 10 Km.

After watching the madness of the train, I had to experience it for myself. There are sections for ‘first class’ and ‘second class’. In first class there is room most of the time. However, in second class, much cheaper for the average Indian, its pure chaos! I had to experience second class and my uncle insisted that I don’t. However, I wanted to prove to myself that I can handle it. I actually used it two times. The first time you get on and off is a euphoric feeling! I just couldn’t wait for the second time. After that, I had enough. In second class, imagine standing with about 50 adults in minute space of 2 m by 4 m, its hot, sweaty, full of perspiration, and violent as elbows are flying by people trying to get in and out at every stop. It’s a burglar’s hangout! Hold on to everything tight! What can be disastrous or even fatal is losing ones ‘champals’ or sandals. Just forget about trying to reach down and getting them, or you’ll risk being trampled by a heard of people. And yes, it’s just like what you see in the bollywood movies, as people are hanging outside. Imagine going to work like this in the morning and traveling for about two hours with these conditions. But you know what; Indians do it because they have no other choice. Even with the trains being over capacity, there is still traffic on the roads! The overpopulation of Mumbai is mind-boggling and always leaves you amazed at how life goes on.

One night I also made it a point to go clubbing. With the advice of my cousin I found a better than average place to visit. I paid a hefty cover charge, at 800 INR, almost 2o bucks USD. But when I walked in, the value of my cover was given back to me in coupons to purchase any sort of beverage. I don’t drink alcohol, so after having four glasses of various fruit juices, I still had 600 INR left over, which I just gave to the bartender on my way out. By 10:30 pm the club was full, the bar and dance floor was crowded and the entire place was filled with smoke. I was really missing out on the smoke free laws that have been enforced in Toronto.

On more observation I must not forget to mention here. If you thought that for couples to make out in public was a taboo in Mumbai because that’s what you’ve seen in the bollywood films, forget it! Not even in the garden, but along the stretches of the highways of Mumbai, you will see parked motor bikes and cars, and then couples sitting on the concrete barriers and just making out. Hello, do you know what will happen if your mother and father drive by!

You can also checkout my own e-blog site: http://azizbatadatraveling.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed reading this email. I look forward to your comments, good wishes and updates. Stay tuned for further email updates and pictures of Ethiopia, Egypt and Kibera!

Warm regards,

Aziz
p.s. Go Barcelona!

p.p.s. Tonight’s the BIG CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL MATCH between
Barcelona and Arsenal. The atmosphere in school has been wild, with not only students, but also all the faculty, support staff and even the askaris (security guards) talking all day about tonight’s game.

 I can’t believe I am missing the NHL playoffs again for the 3rd straight year!

Jambo, email part V

Written: January 7, 2006

Dear family and friends,

I hope this email finds you in good spirits. I would like to wish those of you who celebrated the occasions of Idd and Divali, a belated Idd mubarak and Sal Mubarak, respectively. May you all be blessed with a year of spiritual and material happiness, prosperity, peace, love, unity and the opportunity to serve creation. Ameen.

It has been six months since my last email. So that probably means that I have a lot to tell you about. I can just see some of your facial expressions now, oh my god, not another lengthy email by Aziz! 

I assure you that my emails from now onwards will not be as long, not because I am getting tired of writing, but more so because the novelty of my stay and way of life in Mombasa have become routine and the experiences are now more emotional and internal as opposed to more tangible. However, I am in Kenya, and that means there are always surprises of things that are taking place and I will do my best to give you an update.

I did come home to Toronto last July and August for about 5 and ½ weeks. It was great to spend time with family and friends. “There’s no place like home!” But time did fly and unfortunately I did not get to meet up with some of you. Inshallah (God willing), next summer we will have to get together. I also had the privilege of attending three weddings of some very close friends to whom I wish will have happy days together always! Weddings and other large events are wonderful because you get to meet many people after a long time; however, the interactions are always rushed, and no doubt there are always people you don’t get to spend time with 

The summer holidays for new teachers are quite busy times as we take every opportunity and free time available to plan for the new courses we will be teaching in the fall or spend time doing some professional development. In this department I was somewhat productive. Much of my time each day was spent reading two great books that were recommended by teacher friends. The books were A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth (I’ve been told that this is the longest book written in the 20th century and it’s HUGE!) and Sophie’s World, by Jostein Gaarder. I have yet to finish either one and that’s only because I picked up two other recommended books called The Kite Runner and Reading Lolita in Tehran. Out of the four, I have finished The Kite Runner. And just the other day on the BBC news, I was hearing that Hollywood is going to be making a movie out of this novel and the author has also began writing another novel, which deals with Afghanistan and the lives of women.

By the end of August, I was itching to come back to my home in Mombasa. I was looking forward to the starting of the new academic year for a few reasons, one, I was getting an opportunity to teach some new courses and also because I wanted to know what difference having one year of experience would make.

Off course my arrival to Mombasa, Kenya didn’t go as planned. My airline, British Airways (BA), from London, UK to Nairobi, Kenya was delayed due to “some technical difficulties” in the PA system which kept the flight grounded for about 2 hours, and that meant I was now going to miss my connection flight from Nairobi to Mombasa (the last one) that evening, because originally I had about 1.5 hours to catch my connection. I wasn’t alone, Faiza, another teacher at the Academy was also on the plane. And we both had to report to school the next morning at 9 AM for the whole school briefing with the new principal.

The plane finally managed to take off and it arrived 2 hours late. That meant no more connection flights until 7 AM the next morning. But very graciously, BA arranged for us to stay the night at the Hilton Hotel in Nairobi, with complementary dinner and breakfast and they also confirmed our seats on the first flight to Mombasa the next morning. The hotel experience was fantastic; I don’t think I slept much that night. I laid in bed from 12 midnight to 2 AM watching TV in my Hilton Bathrobe and slippers. I was trying to savor this short moment, as we had to be ready to be picked up by 5:30 AM. And all was well because we managed to arrive at school only 15 minutes late.

First day being back also means that we get to see all the returning teachers and meet some of the newly hired members of staff. I was really excited to meet the new teachers because many of them were from various parts of Canada, and one of the teachers coming, Naheed Bardai, was a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in about 2 years.

Our new teachers in the senior and junior school are South African, British, American and Canadian. Four teachers came from Canada, of which three of them were married and brought their families with them. Most of the new staff has adjusted very well in their respective departments and the moral of the entire staff has been generally quite positive, only a few hiccups. The best times are when all of us Canadian teachers are sitting next to each other (not planned off course) in the staff lounge, there are always sarcastic comments made by others to show their disapproval. It’s a great feeling because we do think alike in many ways!

This academic year is going very well for me. Term one will be over in a few weeks and we’ll be able to have a nice 3. 5 weeks of December holidays. This year, we have balanced our 180 days of teaching (contact days) and professional development days, including non-contact days, within the three terms as compared to last year, when term one was almost 20 days longer than term 2 and 3. That means less of us are burned out. However, all teachers know that end of term always means a very busy time. I have just finished writing all my report card comments and by next weekend I will have to have exams for my 5 classes ready to be checked by my head of department and head of school. This year we have also decided to have students write their term one exams in January (just before the beginning of term 2), after the December holidays. Last year the students wrote their term exams at end of the term, just before they left for the winter (here in Kenya its summer) break.

This year I have the opportunity to teach Grade 7 Biology, Grade 8 Chemistry, Grade 9 Biology, Grade 10 (IGCSE) Chemistry and Grade 11 (IGCSE) Biology. Our school school has decided to teach the sciences (Chem, Phys and Biol) as discrete subjects in Grades 7 – 9, using the British Key Stage 3 curriculum. This May, my grade 11 students will be writing their University of Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) examinations, which is a culmination of the 18 month IGCSE curriculum. Their results will determine their placement into our IB Diploma Programme. But they will be given conditional acceptances into the IB DP programme based on their MOCK examination results which they will write at the end of January.

During our half-term break in mid October, I went on a short trip, about 5 nights, to visit my friend Khatidja in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Khatidja is from Vancouver, Canada and she is doing an internship with Save the Children Canada. I had a wonderful time in Addis; Ethiopia is a great country, waiting to be discovered!
In my next email I will try and describe my experience of Addis and off course send lots of pictures.

As I write today, Monday November 21st, I am at home because today is a public holiday. It’s a public holiday because Kenyan citizens are having a referendum. The referendum is asking all Kenyans to vote whether or not they are in favour or opposed to a new constitution. The ballots are very interesting. A favourable vote (YES) to the new constitution is represented by a Banana, and the opposition vote (NO) against the new constitution is represented by an Orange. On the actual ballots, there are visual aids of a banana and an orange. But the ballot can be misleading as one of the boxes says, ‘In favour of’ (and there is a picture of a banana) and in the other box is written ‘against’ (and there is a picture of an orange). For the last few months there have been many rallies held across the country, either Banana campaigns or Orange campaigns. The rallies for the most part have been peaceful with the exceptions in a few places like Kisumu, Likoni (very close to our school) and others where people have been killed or hurt. During the last week, there have been several debates broadcasted on TV and radio to ensure that Kenyans are well informed before going to the polls. But because there has been some incidents occurring during the rallies leading up to the voting day, the Kenyan President Kibaki declared today and tomorrow as public holidays, so that citizens will take the time to vote and once the votes are counted that evening or the following day on Tuesday, just as a preventative measure from eruptions of violence, people can take the appropriate steps and stay home.

Here where I am staying, in the Tudor Khoja Flats, the risk management teams have been preparing for several days by ensuring contact numbers and other information is collected from all of us, there are 5 – 6 empty buses ready to shuttle people incase of emergency, there are extra security guards, there are numerous volunteers taking information of vehicles that are leaving the compound so that they can be accounted for, and procedures have been set in place incase there is an emergency. At school, we have been given a list of ‘safe houses’ in various areas around Mombasa incase individuals are stuck during an emergency. I must say that the planning by the risk management team in the community has been exceptional. The Canadian Embassy also kept us informed as to the steps to take incase of emergency. As I write to you and watch the continuous coverage of the referendum taking place across the country, it seems that the voting time at polling stations has expired and the government officials are commenting to various radio and television stations and asking them to ensure that as the counting begins, they should only report official statistics and not speculations. The comments are also appreciating the peacefulness in the conduct of all the citizens throughout the day. So far so good. Let’s hope that as the results are announced tomorrow that we continue to have peace across the country.

I am happy to note that all of the days that have passed by since the voting day have been very peaceful. The citizens of Kenya rejected the proposed constitution that was being pushed by the President. In response to the rejection, the President delivered a speech whereby, he, representing his party accepted the decision of the people of Kenya (mind you that his own party was divided on this referendum) and said that it will be a new beginning for his country as they try and move forward to draft another constitution. The following day, he also announced that he has sacked about 20/24 cabinet ministers, excluding the vice-president and the attorney general. This came to everyone’s surprise as it was a very strong stance the president had taken since arriving into office in 2002. And after about 9 – 10 days of hiatus, he has appointed new cabinet ministers, which already 8 of them have declined the offer of appointment because many feel that the ministers are still not a representative of the people’s voices. Many Kenyans feel that this type of politics is healthy as the country tries to move forward. So many are watching their government very closely as days unfold.

Things here in Kenya are going well for me. This year has been better because of the one year past experience. I know my way around Mombasa better and have learned to manage expectations better. Teaching is always fun as you get more comfortable trying new teaching strategies and actually have time to create rubrics for various assessments.

I am also co-supervising an inter-faith dialogue club with about 9 diverse students in terms of grades and religious background. It has been a great experience; you never know really how to begin or where you’ll end up. We have discussed what ‘inter-faith’ means to each of us, we have discussed and compared influential women from different faith denominations who have demonstrated service to humanity in different forms. We have also watched a movie called 'the power of one'. A great film on how individuals have the power to change the lives of peoples and it takes place in the context of South Africa during the apartheid and the trouble between the British and the Afrikans…a must see for all! The students have just finished a service project to create 14 gift bags for Christmas that will include school supplies and lots of sweets for 14 orphaned girls. These were presented at our end of term 1 assembly to a faculty member who is the coordinator of this particular orphanage.

So that is an update of this last term, from September to December.

Let me now tell you a little bit of what my experience of going to Muscat, Oman during March 2005 was like.

Just to recap, I had the opportunity to attend the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program workshop to become trained to teach Biology at the Diploma level. There were 2 other colleagues from the Academy, Zubair Kassam and Helene Caillet, respectively that also attended the workshop for different subject areas. We spend 4 nights in Muscat. The workshop was held at the American-British Academy, Muscat. We met many participants at conference who had come from various European, African, Middle-Eastern and a few South Asian countries.

Geographically, Oman is situated east of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Its eastern most land borders the Gulf of Oman and the mountainous terrain of Muscat resembles much of the terrain found on the southern tip of Iran, perhaps evidence that it was once all one land mass. Oman is also surrounded southwardly by the Arabian Sea. So the expected weather in Oman is considerably very warm and humid (at times). We coastal people from Mombasa found Muscat enjoyably dry during our stay in March. We were told that in contrast, the humidity was about 85%.

First and foremost, I must tell you that the Omani Riyal (OMR) currency is worth, are you ready for this, almost THREE!!!!!! times as much as the US dollar! So we knew that we were going to a very wealthy country.

We arrived late morning in Muscat and were happily surprised to see a Dairy Queen in the airport. As we drove to our hotel, we realized the ‘heat was on’, and by mid-day the thermometer would continue to rise.

Within the 15 min taxi ride to our hotel, by a gentleman named Ali, we quickly observed some noticeable differences from Kenya such as, the city was just newly developing, not many inhabitants in the main city, it was VERY clean, all the taxis were the 2004 editions of Toyota Camry and painted white, the cars were not releasing polluted air through the exhaust, drivers and pedestrians were all following the rules as cars were driving in their lanes, most of the residential homes were beautiful and 2 stories high and painted white also. We managed to also see some beautiful mosques and a spectacular Bank building. We were thrilled and could not wait to spend a day or two at least around the city.

After arriving at our hotel and having thoroughly enjoyed Ali’s company, good will, conversation and commentary we decided to continue our friendship by asking him to be our primary guide during our stay in Muscat and he pleasantly agreed. Additionally, Ali also spoke urdu and I also speak urdu, that made our friendship much more comfortable. This way he was able to explain to us some of the history in his native language and also perhaps ‘open’ up to us about the way of life in Oman.

Spending a few days in Muscat we made some additional key observances such as:

1. Many locals spoke urdu fluently – the reason being because many of the working class were immigrants from the Pakistani province of Baluchistan but they have been settled here for at least one generation and many of them say that they are Omani, not Pakistani. The only way to tell is by the urdu and Arabic accent. This was a tremendous bonus because we were able to bargain around the city.

2. Many of the working class in Muscat are from South Asia, including Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and some also from South East Asia. They have come to Oman to earn whatever they can and send money home every month for their wives and children. However, most of the middle-upper class people are expatriates (mostly Europeans and Middle-Eastern).

3. Ali mentioned to us that all the development we are seeing around Muscat is due to Sultan Qaboos, the current Sultan of Oman. And all the development has taken place within the 30 years, since the time that the current Sultan of Oman deposed his father. During his fathers reign there was almost nothing. Now, there are several schools, residential housing, infrastructure, and parks in Oman. The current Sultan, studied at the University of Oxford and brought with him about 20 000 British Expatriates to help him develop Oman with the intention that each year, approx 1000 Expats would be replaced by the local people. The result, a strong and healthy economic society with beautiful and environmentally friendly landscapes and the opportunity for further development e.g. continue to build on its existing strong tourism industry. During our stay, there was a continuous flow of visitors enjoying themselves around the city. There seems to be heavy investments into hotels by the Kings of UAE.

4. Culturally, much of the architecture found in Muscat, especially near the Corniche (Muttrah Souk), looked identical to old town Mombasa. This was expected as it was the Omani Arabs who defeated the Portuguese in the early 17th century from the Coast of Mombasa and thereby influenced its further development with culture and language. Nonetheless, I was proud to recognize the connection and briefly pondered about the implications to ones identity; the feeling of comfort in appreciating the contributions of various cultures to our lives, in particular contributions from your own tradition. I know this sounds confusing, but I can explain more individually.

During our stay, we were privileged, thanks again to Ali, to see some distinctive sites that gave Muscat its own fragrance. The Places included: 1. the Muttrah Souk near the Corniche, which is a traditional market that sells, fruit, lots of clothing, shoes, gold jewelry (bracelets, anklets, rings, necklaces etc), antiques, Iranian paintings (some original some copied), day to day household items and the fresh spices with its aroma that fill the market ubiquitously. 2. Al-bustan, the six-star hotel with its majestic and grandeur lobby entrance. Here we were also treated to a dinner as part of the conference. The dinner took place in the hotel’s open grounds that were filled with musicians, dancers, and camels, and tents (with floral designed cushions and pillows) that were set up where we enjoyed some traditional cuisine. 3. Shopping center with a Nandos restaurant where we ate one night. In the shopping center there was a jewelry store that was a selling a 22K gold necklace and a head piece that had a mass of about 600+ grams for about 15 000 USD. The three of us who saw that were speechless with our jaws open! 4. Fortress, jail and the palace of the Sultan. 5. And lastly, an exquisite mosque called the Grand Sultan Qaboos Mosque. Don’t worry I have taken lots of pictures.

All in all, the experience to Oman was incredible and humbling, considering the opportunity for IB DP Biology training. A spectacular place with continuous development and spectacular attractions and is filled with genuine people who will go out of their way to ensure you the best experience. You must travel to Oman if you have the opportunity.

Stay tuned for the next couple emails as I will try and describe my experiences of Mumbai, India and Addis, Ethiopia.

Thanks to my friend Alim Somani, I have finally managed to have my own e-blog site, check it out.

Today is December 13th. Therefore I would like to wish all those observing this festive day, Khushiali Mubarak to you and yours, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. I pray that may we all develop the capacity to better understand our actions, may we have the tolerance to accept the differences in others, and may we continue to serve creation to the best of our abilities. Ameen.

I am leaving for Egypt tomorrow. I will be meeting up with my brother in Cairo and we will be backpacking around the country for about 17 days. I will off course try and share this experience with you when I return. Our term one end on Friday December 9 and term two will resume on Thursday January 5th.

I look forward to your comments, good wishes and updates on emails.

Happy holidays,

Aziz
p.s. Go Leafs Go!!!

p.s.s. the Hockey world better watch out as the Canadian team gears up to defend its title at the Winter Olympics in 2006!!! The question remains, will the rookie Crosby get a spot on the Canadian team….???

I am back...

Thanks to my Professional Development Team Leader G, I am back using my blog and hope to keep my family, friends and visitors updated!