By Arwa al Hashmi
Omanis are some of the world’s most resourceful people. This is apparent whenever you travel everywhere in the country — from the dry, often challenging deserts to the rocky and often cold mountains, to the beautiful coastal areas, you will see how they use the resources around them to craft a living.
As of late, several Omanis had been looking into growing sugarcane as an alternative source of income — another testament to their enduring capacity to innovate and look for ways to improve their financial state.
These sugarcanes take a long time before it becomes brown sugar but being a commodity, these Omanis realise that there is a market for locally produced items like this.
It usually takes about a year for sugarcane to grow and harvested and another few months will be spent to process it and make it ready for use or sale.
Other than its economic benefit, brown sugar is also a good alternative to white sugar. Omanis use brown sugar to make “Halwa” which is the most popular dessert in Oman. They also use it for medicinal purposes like a cure for stomachache and other enteric diseases.
Many Omani families turned to brown sugar as a family business where they all collaborate to produce it in large amounts and then sell it inside and outside the country. The old people in these families took the responsibility of transmitting knowledge in how to process sugarcane through generations to maintain its historical importance and show it to different parts of the world. Despite the lack of water, farmers are still keen to harvest the sugarcane and take it to the presses to produce the brown sugar and other related products such as Alzeej and Albloog.
There are but a few areas where sugarcane can grow in Oman. In Al Dakhiliyah, these are usually found in Nizwa, Manah, Bahla, Izki and Al Hamra. People of Al Dakhiliyah inherited this profession from their grandparents and are transmitting it to the new generations. It reflects a healthy lifestyle and it provides them with the money that they need to live. Significantly, Bahla is the major wilayat in growing sugarcane.
“Alzeej” is a film that documents an Omani profession and handcraft that reflects the Omani identity. It features the production of Omani brown sugar presenting its stages as well as providing the audience with some useful information about brown sugar as a cure for some illnesses.
Alzeej film proves the Omanis’ attachment to brown sugar production and how some families maintained it and turned it into a business that works for them either financially or physically. In addition, the film represents the indigenous struggle of old Omanis to make money and live a decent life.
The production of the 50-minute- film started in 2017 and was completed in 2021. It took this much time because of many factors. To explain, sugarcane is a seasonal plant; thus, it needed to wait until its season arrives. Surprisingly, it takes exactly a whole year to be ready for production.
Abdullah al Raisi, one of the team members said that Alzeej documents the sugarcane in terms of growing it, harvesting, regrowing it again and making brown sugar. It also dealt with the traditional ancient tools that were used in growing the sugarcane and harvesting it as well as the way of extracting the juice which is heated till it boils. After boiling the juice, it turns to what is called sugar and yeast. Then, they filter that hot liquid to get the brown sugar from it and they call the rest of it Alzeej which is another type of sugar that is less thick. It is used as an alternative for natural honey and/or palm honey.
This film was released in many festivals such as the Arabic Heritage Film Festival where it was rewarded with Alghaf bronze award. It was also released in Expo 2020 Dubai along with its significant participation at the level of the Arab world.
In an interview, the head of Oman Film and Theatre Society, Humaid al Amri stated that the film documents a profession, a craft and the Omani identity. It is one of the topics related to literature, life and society, and this is the value of the cinema in trying to document life in different aspects in a specific period of time and transmitting it to the coming generations.
The team is comprised of Salah al Hadhrami, Abdullah al Raisi, Mohammed al Kindi, Qasim al Sulaimi, Yaqoob al Saadi, Ahmed Yahya, Ishaq al Khiyari, Ayoob al Hadhrami, Marwan al Hadhrami, Faisal al Riyami, Shaima al Wuhaibi and Haitham al Hashmi.
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