Birth of a new nation

THE WAVE OF CHANGE

Before the Renaissance, life was never easy. Electricity was absent in most places, water supply was problematic and food was hard to come by. The Omanis of the past had to make do with whatever is available to battle the harsh conditions of life.

Nasra Bint Obaid al Hinai lived through those challenging times. A resident of Rustaq, in almost all aspect of life they have to struggle.

“Life is still difficult now. But with all the comfort and luxury within our reach and of which we enjoy now, we almost pay no attention to the difficult situation. Even if we work all day and get tired under hot temperature, when we go home, we can rest well in our comfortable houses,” she shared.

Nasra grew up in a farm where she and her siblings looked after sheep and cattle and cultivated the land and work with their fingers to help their parents.

It is normal for everyone to attend to their cows not only in feeding them but in milking them as well. It was a skill passed down generations.

To fix the water supply problem, ancient Omanis invented the aflaj system and adopted almost in every part of the country, helped a lot in bringing about change and conquering the challenging landscape.

“We fetch water every day from the aflaj. We usually go by group and sometimes in one falaj, many women come as even those from afar have to find the best resource,” she shared.

In the evening, “we have to make do with lanterns or locally known as “al Srag. People live in houses made from mud constructed strategically to allow cool air to flow. In the absence of electricity, it is this method that allow people to live comfortably in their homes. People also used fans made from palm fronds,” she shared.

“We also slept in the roof of the house with one person staying up to monitor approaching insects and scorpions. I’d killed several scorpions, maybe one or two in a night,” she added.

Nasra noted that even the food variety is limited.

“Eating Omani bread was very common. Rice was harder to come by. People were satisfied even with just bread and milk for lunch,” she narrated.

In the absence of cooking gas, Omanis had to rely on firewood

“Sometimes we leave the house at dawn in order to collect firewood for cooking, and we returned home at noon. All of it we did by walking because there were no cars around to take us,” she said.

When His Majesty Sultan Qaboos ascended on July 23, 1970, part of his promise was to provide the Omanis a better future. It is with his comforting words that the people of Oman believe that they were witnessing a birth of a new era and a new country.

Nasra said, “We have seen great transformations since His Majesty took power, everything has changed as if we are in a dream.”

On July 23 of 1970, Nasra said that it was a cheery celebration — “streets were decorated with the colors of the Omani flag, people brought along photos of His Majesty, guns were fired and there were dances everywhere even on the streets. After the celebration, His Majesty went to work right away — he toured the whole Sultanate and listened directly to the people regarding their concerns. He was well loved even in the very beginning,” she shared.

Rustaq, like the rest of Oman, gradually witnessed a progressive development. Scattered in almost all sectors — from education, to health, to transportation and telecommunication to tourism and even the most basic, communication and water, Oman was seeing an urbanisation it never witnessed before. It was truly the birth of a new nation.

RUQAYA AL KINDI