Friday 26 / April / 2024
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Muscat: “I asked my father, ‘will you be going to Oman?’ and he said, ‘no, we will be going back to Oman’. That is how it all started,” said Al Sayyida Thubayta bint Seif Al Busaidi, who was 13 years old when she first heard the news of the Renaissance.
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“In 1970, when I heard the news that His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said became the Sultan of Oman, I was in Zanzibar,” said Al Busaidi. “I heard it from my father, who heard it on the radio. In those days, everyone was listening to the radio—either BBC or Cairo.”
“On that day, I heard (my father) talking to people in the house,” she recalled. “He was talking and pointed at a picture on the wall. Once the people left the house, I asked my father what that was all about, what that had to do with the picture. He went to the wall and said there is a new Sultan in Oman who is calling on all Omanis, wherever they are in the world, to come back to Oman.”
The picture referred to by Al Busaidi was a rare photo sent to her family of His Majesty’s grandfather Said bin Taimur and his grandfather Taimur bin Faisal.
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“That day meant a lot for the Omanis in Zanzibar. The atmosphere of the island changed. Everybody was happy, even my father. I hadn’t seen him that happy for quite a while. Everything in Zanzibar changed. People were talking about going back to Oman.”
The migration of Omanis occurred in stages, as not everyone left in the early 70s.
“People started moving gradually,” recounted Al Busaidi. “It wasn’t sudden. My father was the first from my family to come back to Oman, followed by my mother and my brother, and I was the last one.”
Despite coming back to Oman a decade after the Renaissance, Al Busaidi still saw the remarkable development that occurred in the span of just 10 years.
“I came to Oman in January 1980, and I had never seen anything like it,” she recalled. “Coming from Zanzibar into this country was just amazing. Everything was a shock -- the lights, the roads, the buildings -- they were built so quickly. By 1980, I landed at Seeb International Airport and it was the biggest airport I’d ever seen. When I arrived, it was a great feeling.”
Where are you now?
“I am already retired,” said Al Busaidi. “I worked in the Ministry of Agriculture for 33 years. I also volunteer -- for instance, I work with the Oman Alzheimer Society, which takes up most of my time at the moment.”
Over her 30 years at the ministry, Al Busaidi was able to interact with locals in rural areas and witness firsthand the development of agriculture in the Sultanate.
“My work took me to the interior most of the time, where I was able to see the changes that occurred in 33 years, including changes in the people,” she said.
“Initially, we were dealing with uneducated people,” she added. “It was nice to go back to the farmers and speak to their children who, within no time, had become educated.”
“In my field, we used to go to places that would take us hours to get to,” continued Al Busaidi. “There were no roads. We had to use police helicopters to get to some places that were very difficult to reach. We would get onto the helicopter from Khoula Hospital as early as 5:30 in the morning to go to the most remote areas you could think of. But thanks to God and to His Majesty, most of these areas are now accessible by road.”
Tremendous progress
The techniques used by farmers have also undergone tremendous progress under His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’ rule, said Al Busaidi. “After 30 years, we started dealing with the educated sons of the farmers, who wanted to know more,” she said. “The older ones, you would just tell them what to do to improve their produce and livestock, but the younger generation wanted to know why they had to do it and what the consequences were.”
“The policy not only of the Ministry of Agriculture but also of His Majesty was to reach everyone no matter where they were,” she added. “Therefore, we at the ministry had to reach the distant rural areas. Everyone had to get access to services, whether in terms of education, health, or agriculture.”
Women’s rights and inclusion in the workplace have also been a part of the Sultanate’s development, remarked Al Busaidi.
“When I started at the Ministry of Agriculture, I was the only woman in my field, so I was so happy when the first batch of graduates from Sultan Qaboos University started coming in,” she related.
“It was challenging because I had to work in a workplace composed entirely of men, but people were very encouraging. I also went to SQU to talk to the female students there to encourage them to come and work with us in the ministry.”
More women have been joining the agricultural sector, she added. “Since I started, I have seen more women working in all fields, including livestock, fisheries, and crops,” said Al Busaidi .
“My rights were always there, and I was able to excel with nothing stopping me,” she explained. “I am glad my father made that decision to come back to Oman, and I thank God and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos.”
