Looking at Oman today, it is difficult to believe that the country was once upon a time a place with hardships as development has seen no barriers in just five decades.
This is much evident everywhere you look at, be it in the development of roads, housing, electricity, water or education facilities in the country. The entire world now looks at Oman with admiration.
For most people who lived life before Oman embarked on real development, it all seems like a dream. I see Oman now and how it was four decades ago when I was little kid and just can’t stop smiling. Oman has seen tremendous growth and the most important aspect of it is development of communications and transportation.
In Muscat alone, major road projects that have seen significant development include the Wadi Adai interchange, Amerat-Wadi Adai road, Amerat-Bousher mountain road, Darsait-Wadi Kabir, and the Southern Expressway among many others. This is in addition to the major Batinah expressway that connects Muscat to Batinah region.
For others, life in Oman was very hard as services were not as good as they are now and this forced many to find better life in other countries. According to the elderly people I spoke to, life was unimaginable in Oman as everything was so difficult to get, be it transport, health care, water or electricity and for that reason, many had to board the dhows for greener pastures outside the county.
However, life in Oman started improving in the seventies, and many felt the need to come back. As time went on, they felt they needed to get back home and so they did and now they say there is no better place than Oman.
Encountering the harder past, another old woman explained to me how she had to travel from Sur to Izz on a donkey. On her way, she ran out of water and had no container and when she reached a well, she took a piece of cloth and deeped it into the well and drank. But all those hardships are gone as most of the people have a vehicle and most houses have water supply now.
In general, things began to get better and better after 1970 and after that Oman has been been getting accolades. With the literacy rate rising, education has brought about a big change in the society and Oman is one of the few countries in the world where its past has been closely associated with its present and many here see a brighter future.
Due to lack of opportunities back then, many couldn't stay back in their villages. It was getting difficult to sustain and so they decided to come to Muscat. “In 1973 and after doing odd jobs, I landed work in the army. I would work in the mornings and study in the evenings and that was the beginning of my new life,” a 70-year-old man, who is now retered, told me.
Despite development that Oman has gone through, everything has been achieved within a balance between preserving the best elements of the country's heritage and the demands of the present day which have required the country to adapt to in this modern age.
In terms of economy, although oil is the back bone of the economy, other sectors too have shown remarkable growth with tourism industry seen growing steadily, self-sufficient service sector, robust banking sector and the great infrastructure.
To conclude, I just want to say that our youth should not sit back and relax with lots of demands but rather work hard for the betterment of our country. They need to know what hardships that our fathers and grandfathers went through. And because of their hard work, Oman is what it is today.
Till then ...
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