By Arwa Al Hashimi
Growing up on the beautiful shores of Taqah in Dhofar, Khairzad is familiar with the challenges of provincial life appreciating that she was able to do tasks such as tending livestock, cycling and playing music.
A proud child of her wilayat, Khairzad felt that outdoor adventure and activities should also be enjoyed not just by the strong ones but people who also look at life with appreciation.
Her realization came after her first adventure with the elderly through the Nizwa Oman Association for Elderly Friends which launched a tourism trip and brought 50 elderly from around the country to Dhofar. Being the lead in the Elderly Care Section of the Ministry of Health, Khairzad saw the joy that the trip brought to these elders. They took them around Darbat, making them experience the astonishing khareef weather — an activity-filled with short walks and allowing guests to take deep breaths to be at peace in a beautiful setting.
After this amazing trip, Khairzad met some members of an all-male adventure group in Dhofar who proposed that some women join their nature discovery but while there were some open-minded supporters, there were other members of the group who felt that women will only be baggage in long trips and would only be a cause of concern.
This disappointed Khairzad in some way but having a clear understanding of culture and traditions including the prevailing societal rule on mixed-gender groups, Khairzad instead counter-proposed that a few of them shall be given training that way, once they got familiar, they, as women, can create their own adventure group.
Some of the more welcoming men trained Khairzad and her team and taught them everything there is to know about outdoor adventure. She, in particular, learned how to calculate distance, pick places to visit, get tips on what to wear on every occasion as well as finer details regarding what tools and gears they needed.
During training, they discovered that wearing abayas provided a set of challenges so the team decided on alternatives including making some abayas shorter to ease difficulties when hiking. After getting all the insight they need, Khairzad’s adventure team officially started in September 2019 with about 12 women representing different industries including health, religious groups, photography and communities.
Their first adventure took place in November of the same year during the National Day in “Ain Hamran.” Their exploits and adventures gathered steam on social media becoming viral over time that by January of 2020, their membership has grown to 40 women.
Khairzad shared that after a series of adventures, the group discovered that they shared many sentiments including living a sedentary lifestyle with limited activities due to societal expectations.
Every event they launched also became a therapy of sort discovering that many of them were suffering from different health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma among other health concerns that some of them are fixable with some exercise and living a healthier lifestyle.
“We did things that we didn’t even imagine we will ever do such as climbing, cycling and jet skiing. We even have grandmothers in the team who provided us with valuable information about the places, the trees and other details,” shared Khairzad expressing her proudness towards her team.
Asked what has been their most memorable experience to date, Khairzad shared that their conquering “Jedela’, the world’s highest sand dunes located in Dhofar was the one for the record.
She shared that on the said adventure, the governor of the place joined the group with a few men and it only took them only 10 minutes to conquer its heights. For the women group, Jamila who was in her 60s was the first to climb the top in less than 30 minutes. Khairzad shared it was a great feat although it took her 45 minutes to complete.
For her, it was a great achievement to put women in these places and it was possible that they were the first Omani women to actually embark on the said adventure and reach its peak.
With a solid foundation, Khairzad wishes to grow the team more and embark on even more ambitious adventures. She said that overall, not only do they look forward to making adventure accessible to women but also inspire other women to live a healthier lifestyle.
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