DOUBLE ISSUE SPRING - SUMMER 2006

ABAKADA

Cover Illustration: Muir Jover

ABAKADA, SUMMER 20062

INSIDE THIS ISSUE >

ContentsContents

FEATURES REGULARS

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Ang Balitang Kababaihan sa DanmarkThe News on Women in Denmark

THE GLOBAL PINOY19 OFW News20 Diaspora, Globalisation & Development

CULTURAL AMBASSADORS21 Managing the Fil. in the Global Workforce Award Winning Wrap Artist Visits DK Anew

MIGRATION17 In Praise of Migration18 Emotional Cost of Philippine Exodus

MIDDLE EAST / ISLAM 7 The Middle East: a Kaleidoscope of Identities 8 Lifting the veil in the Middle East More Women Win Vote in Kuwait 9 Veiled and Valorous: The Women of Oman 11 Reclaiming my place in Islam12 Egyptian Women15 Why try to fit in if you can stand out?

MESSAGES3 From the Editor4 From the Chairwoman5 From the Ambassador

6 OPINIONConsensus of One

The cover features four different “versions” of the Filipina: HighlandIgorota, Mestiza Manileña, the Lowlander Kayumanggi and Moslem Mindanao’s Mora, from Muir Jover, our young illustrator. For more of Muir’s creations, please visit http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/a/n/anjuli/ and http://mirunyamada.Deviantart.com/.

24 ENTERTAINMENTGrin Page

25 DIGI-WORLD8 Email mistakes that make you look bad

26 GLOBAL FEMINISTSMadame KULU celebrates turning 30 in style

29 TRANSITIONSAt Huske og Savne Sara

37 WOMEN OF THE YEAR

38 HEALTH & ETIQUETTEEating for a healthy longer lifeWhat is a Toast?

39 ABOUT US

FILIPINIANA30 JOSE Rizal in Bohemia32 The Pasig that I love35 The Women in the Philippine Revolution

40 BABAYLAN EVENTS

41 NOTICES42 ADVERTISEMENTS

27 BI-CULTURALISMOf Egos, Cocks and IdentitiesOm Ego, Haner of Identiteter

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ABAKADA

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The Magazine of the Philippine Women’s Network in Denmark

ABAKADA, SUMMER 2006

Ang Balitang Kababaihan sa DanmarkThe News on Women in Denmark

ISSN: 1604 - 2093

EDITORINT’L. COVERAGE

LAYOUT & GRAPHICS

CARTOONIST & ILLUSTRATOR

CONTRIBUTORS(IN THIS ISSUE)

TRANSLATION

PRINTER

PRICES

ADDRESS

EMAIL

FILOMENITA M. HØGSHOLM

JUDY JOVER

MUIR JOVER

KOFI ANNANRANDY DAVIDAZIZA HUSSEINVICTORIA JOSON, RGSNAIMA MOUALIJEREMAIAH M. OPINIANORAFAELITA SORIANO, Ph.DSARAH TOMSSITTI DJALIA TURABIN-HATAMANBRIAN WHITAKER

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ABAKADA IS THE OFFICIAL NEWSMAGAZINE OF BABAYLAN-DENMARK. It is a tri-lingual quarterly published by Babaylan-Denmark, the Philippine Women’s Network that covers issues of women and gender as they tangent migration and asylum, development, cross-cultures, etc. Contributions are welcome but are subject to editing for reasons of space and time. Reproduction in whole or parts allowed with permission and proper accreditation. The views expressed in the articles are the author’s alone and do not represent the position of ABAKADA which should not be held responsible for such utterances. This double issue has been published with the support of Images of the Middle East Festival Dialogue Program, Danish Centre for Culture and Development (DCCD).

EDITORIAL

WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THIS DOUBLE ISSUE of the ABAKADA: a very rich fare consisting of a 10-page Focus on Women of the Middle East/ under Islam. As

most of you know there’s a Festival going on out there: the Images of the Middle East, which like the two Images Festival before, Images of the World and Images of Asia, is under the auspices of the Danish Center for Culture and Development. Where we held two successful Women Dialogues in the two previous Festivals, this time Babaylan takes up the challenge instead by “lifting the veil”, as it were of misinformation and stereotyping on this enigmatic and charismatic part of the world. By illuminating our readers on the women of Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco and more, we hope to help bridge the information gap which is necessary if we are not to repeat the Mohammed Drawings debacle. We have also set a Focus on Filipiniana starting with our cover, drawn by our young and talented Staff artist, Muir Jover, and with articles on our national hero Jose P. Rizal, as well as on the women heroes of the Philippine revolution, and last but not least, a fond recall of childhood days in historic Pasig. Our staple fare in ABAKADA is migration and this time, we have no less than the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan putting a good word for this phenomenon, while Prof. Randy David speaks out on the bombastic cocktail that is the diaspora, globalization and development. Our younger readers might want to meet provocative video artist Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen who was a so-called “flip”, born to a Filipina mother and a Danish father, There is also email etiquette as well as tips on making a toast and eating a healthy diet. In other words, what else is new? We’ve always have had an eclectic cornucopia for our dear readers, including saying. Reading should be pleasure, not punishment. Have a good read!

The Editor

The future lies on your hands

nd of June, was the end of the school year happenings like the coming summer vacation.

Students wear white caps as they go around the town, a symbol of their 4 years in gymnasium, where they were patiently guided by their concerned

teachers who have noble objectives in sharing with them their skills and knowledge so they may become the future leaders of the next generation. In the Philippines, it is now enrolment period, but 3 months ago thousands of college and university students crossed the stage of what they called fulfilment - their graduation day with happy faces of their proud parents. Happy are faces of their dear teachers and professors too who, for the last time wished them success in the future. Their Alma Mater has trained them to be the best citizens, listened to them, heard them out and taught them the daily struggle of life worth living. But what kind of life do they really have? What kind of lives do they seem to have pictured to the world? Daily newspapers, nationally and internationally shouting at the top of their voices the truth showing that we Filipinos appeared to be in pitiful situations, still considered being a lowly developing country in the eyes of some industrialized nations. Millions of our countrymen are jobless. There is an increasing number of overseas contract workers (domestic helpers) to the Middle East countries, to our neighbouring Asian countries, to Europe and all over the world. Not to mention the young students and newly college graduates who consider au pair as a job placement. But one thing is for sure, anywhere you go you carry in your baggage the skills and knowledge you obtained, and if used properly you can be of help to the progress and development of our beloved Philippines and yet an asset to the host country. Youth! “You must be the hope of our fatherland,” Dr. Jose Rizal once said. Luz Abainza Hammer Chairperson

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ABAKADA, SUMMER 20064

Dear Kababayans,

As we all know, the term Babaylan in Filipino indigenous tradition is a person who is gifted to heal the spirit and the body; a woman who serves the community through her role as a folk therapist, wisdom-keeper and philosopher, a woman who provides stability to the community’s social structure. In short, a Babaylan is someone who “intercedes for the community and individuals” and is also someone who “serves.” I am greatly honoured and pleased to know that even in this modern time and particularly in Denmark, we can still find Babaylans. Babaylans who, in one way or the other, make Filipinos feel at home. Truly, Babaylans have been an example on the courage and strengths Filipinos have shown in their daily struggle in a distant and unfamiliar land far from their loved ones.

I wish to acknowledge Babaylans’ active involvement in the promotion of Philippine culture, the very recent of which was the lecture of Prof. Felipe De Leon in May this year. It is also equally interesting to note that our Kababayans in Denmark hold a regular Open Forum, which is indeed an instrument for dialogue between Filipinos and to broaden their understanding on important issues about the Philippines. Denmark has been the second home to all the Filipinos in this country and as we celebrate this year the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Denmark, it is my earnest hope that this year’s celebration will provide further impetus for greater cooperation between these two countries. To all our Kababayans, let us continue to be “babaylans” (intercession servants) for each other in Denmark and to our country, the Philippines. Let us bond together in support of our country’s programs to alleviate poverty and promote social justice. You have been a model to the Filipino communities in the region. Thank you for the inspiration you provide! Mabuhay! Stockholm, 18 July 2006

ABAKADA, SUMMER 2006 5

ABAKADA, SUMMER 20066

CONSENSUS of ONE

MABUHAY ang PILIPINA LONG LIVE the FILIPINA

Founding Chairperson, BABAYLAN-DK Filomenita Mongaya Høgsholm

The masteral education in my baggage

upon landing in Copenhagen decades ago was from a respectable university in New York and on the Mass Media: TV-radio and film but inspite this –or maybe because of it- I have come to abhor the medium of TV after watching how it marginalized ethnic minorities in Denmark –and indeed of Europe- where females like me, law abiding citizens who have contributed the best years of our lives begetting well-functioning bi-cultural children with our Danish husbands still feel out of place, underused, even excluded after decades of Danish daily life. Just because we have foreign backgrounds, and come from cultures deemed inferior from an ethnocentric European worldview fed on yes, TV! A pity! Lately however, there is a program that has given new perspectives, widened horizons, preached universal values like equality, be it among peoples or between the sexes, teaching fairness and honesty, valour in solidarity with the rest of the world. Please meet Commander in Chief an American primetime series where the one who calls the shots at the White House is a woman. Fantasy? Near future reality? whatever it is, the series merits attention. And more. During one episode lately, as the American President muses over the power of women in an interview, she avers to the admiring journalist that her country, the mighty America might boast of its achievement of electing a woman President, but in other places in the world, they have been at this feat for a long time. She pointed out the lead role of Asia, with Sri Lanka (the Ceylon) electing the world’s first woman Prime Minister Bandaranaike, followed by India’s Indira Gandhi. Our country, the Philippines she especially mentioned as being the only one in that region that has elected its second (!) female President, albeit under unending siege, but surprisingly savvy and still firmly holding on. It did not surprise me that Kvinfo, the most publicly resourced woman organization in Denmark, recommends the series. Hope they noticed the awe inspired by Philippine women even as they liaise with them on equal footing here in Denmark thru our Philippine Women Network, Babaylan. Indeed, we are privileged to be born Filipinas, in a unique country, where women have reached potentials only imagined in other countries in other continents. But grave paradoxes still exist. We leave the Philippines for various reasons: love, adventure, economic gains. Migration has been our brand as a nation and increasingly, it is Us the women who leave the country in order to meet the needs of their families where education of children is every Filipina’s life goal no matter how great the sacrifice. In the Middle East (currently in the limelight in Denmark as theme of the 3rd Culture and Development Images Festival in

August and September), Filipinas face extreme circumstances sometimes, as victims of both their men and women employers who subject them to violence and sexual exploitation.

As I write this piece, there are hundreds of Filipino workers trapped in Lebanon awaiting evacuation. Many Filipinos come back in invisibility from that part of the world, in coffins: mysterious deaths that ought to be investigated but impossible when there are no bilateral agreements between countries. In Europe, there is a currently a quiet exodus of young women –and a few men- who come as angels to stress-strapped two career yuppie households, taking care of the children, doing the housework under a supposedly cultural exchange program started in the late 60s called the Au Pair program. Critics now call it camouflaged exploitation because the work done by these young women are not being compensated fairly. Their monthly allowance (varies from country to country but in Denmark it is 2500 DKK or about 400 US dollars) hardly caters for the needs people their age have: clothes, make-up, mobile phones, free time such as movies or karaoke nights in their off days. No one wants to “rock the boat” for these women because of political proclivities in many host countries in Europe for whom foreigners –aliens- are a dirty word. The comparatively well -educated Filipinas, holding great labour potential not only because of their education, English language skills (which many new arrivals to Europe sorely lack) because unknown to Danes, English is the lengua franca of the Philippines but also high work ethics are in possession of something uniquely Filipino: the ability to function smoothly and efficiently in any workplace, a great advantage in a globalizing world. Yet, au pairs are officially not allowed to leave the Philippines. According to the latest ruling from the Danish Aliens Service (formerly the Directorate) after only 12 months as against 24 months originally, these au pairs must now pack up their bags and go. Maybe they have learned some Danish. Maybe not. But what are they going to use a language spoken by only 5 million people anyway? Danish society must give them a better offer in the name of cultural exchange, for example IT competences which Denmark is supposedly superior at, so these returning Filipinas will be enabled to help in the development of their country, even as they already try hard in the form of small remittances squeezed from miniscule monthly allowances. That is why Filipino organizations must help the au pairs in every way they can. It is admirable that the suggestion of a Task Force to help Filipino seamen and Filipina au pairs have become reality since its inception during first ever Nordic Pulong (meeting) of Filipinos held in Sweden in 2004 with the full backing of the Embassy.

We at Babaylan are honoured to be part of this endeavour. We have the obligation to make sure that our actions are truly honourable and consistent with our commitments when we deal with our newly arrived kababayans–kababaylanes- to Denmark. Let there be no stone unturned in keeping our record clean. Together with our other countrymen, we will make it happen that the Filipina will prevail. Here, there and everywhere.

Mabuhay ang Pilipina. Long live the Filipina.

The MIDDLE EAST:

a KALEIDOSCOPE of IDENTITIES

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ith rain coming down buckets like the Southeast Asian monsoons I used to love when I

could curl up with a book and eat fried bananas, my mood barometer for anything Middle Eastern this particular Friday morning was hitting an all time low, what with bombs over Lebanon on its third week! It helped that I could smell coffee –Arabic?- as I climbed up the stairs to the Celebration Hall of this Danish Cultural Mecca: the National Museum, where this Opening Conference to the month-long Festival is taking place. As I fumble for my name badge, I see a huge pile of fresh, airy croissants (the same I could find in a Beirut café except it was not possible to sit in one nowadays…).Then, some familiar faces smiled, also novelist Salwa Bakr who was my gracious host to lunch in a cosy nook of Khan al Khalili, in the heart of Cairo where I covered the UN Population & Development conference in 1994. This day must have a redeeming point to it, I thought aloud, while I found a seat in the middle of the beautiful Hall. DCCD Chairperson Grethe Rostböll warmly welcomed all participants who braved not only the weather but also the terror alert in European airports “in the shadow of Israel and Hizbollah” as she put it. But no less than a “Miracle from Morocco to the Gulf” is here, referring to “the progress in civil society where people genuinely were fighting for peace” therefore moderate voices must be supported, was her challenge. The Paris-based Mr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan of Oman, President of the General Conference of UNESCO , solemnly invoked in a soft voice throughout, “the need for dialogue, the mutual acknowledgment that both West and East, also the Middle East

must build civilization together.” Then the fun – of manifesting a myriad identities in flux- could begin as Iraqi Dane Aida Nadeem’s music in the form of flute and incantation, fused with belly dance movements mixed into a sensual cocktail appropriately titled Haram(forbidden as in sinful?). And elicited extreme reactions too when a middle-aged Middle eastern male flatly refused to culturally be represented by her!

IOME’s Michael Jensen came to her defense by pointing out that precisely her performance combined the concepts of space, gender, generations, aesthetics - indeed substance- which is what the whole Festival is about. That in place, it was time to move towards real substance in the

form of an intervention by Mona Eltahawy, popular wordsmith on both sides of the Atlantic zeroing in on the issue of self-criticism. Her own people in the Middle East, she hopes, should learn to be self-critical instead of just putting the blame always on others. For her, most important is that people are given real choices. When told a local taxi driver that Denmark is probably the most racist country in the world, she tells the audience that Dubai, in a corner of the Gulf considered liberal by Danes, is in her

opinion the most racist country on earth in the way it treats its foreign workers , mostly from Asia. Literature, as mirror of society was amplified through readings from Salwa Bakr from Egypt and Farid Ramadan from Bahrain taken from their latest works.

Iranian visual artist Farhad Moshiri’s portraits of young girls entitled Miss Hybrid aptly captured the essence of identity of young Iranians. After lunch, we also experienced ultra short documentary film, Quelle Revolution by the Lebanese researcher analyst Lina Khatib, which depicted the so-called Cedar revolution when the Lebanese brought in change

leading to the departure of the Syrians. When the Syrian TV host Kinda Nassli presented what for her were sensitive children’s programs, a debate ensued between those who think kids should be shielded from the horrors of war and those who agreed with her that war is all around them in their daily lives so discussing it in a TV program was OK. “I am not preaching hatred, I want them to express their feelings”was how she saw her role, not as somebody violating the human rights of children, according to one Danish participant. Which made this writer to conclude that art is political, and as for the women, the Conference showed that they hold the key to the development in the region. They certainly can speak for themselves, and if given the chance, they also will be able to deliver. Only women can! As the title of the conference suggests, there are myriad ways of representing the Middle East: there is not one single image to depict the region. It is time to throw away the familiar Sahara sunset with silhouettes of camels in a caravan. The stereotypes we hold in the West have to be thrown out like yesterday’s newspaper... Reportage By F.Mongaya Høgsholm

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Lifting the veil in the Middle East Source: International Herald Tribune

Amid the images of death, destruction and mayhem in Iraq, some piece of good news from the Middle East has gone virtually unnoticed. Women's rights are progressing in many Middle Eastern countries, and numerous small but important victories have been won.

Over the past several years, women in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Bahrain and Qatar have won political and legal reforms unthinkable a decade ago. While some developments may appear minor to those who take these freedoms for granted, they are revolutionary in conservative Muslim societies.

Take Saudi Arabia. In this intensely traditional country that enforces strict gender segregation in all aspects of public life, women were allowed to run, campaign and vote in elections for the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the first time last November.

Two successful businesswomen were elected overwhelmingly with the votes of men. In addition, women finally won the right to their own identity cards and, just this year a Saudi woman appeared unveiled for the first time ever in a Saudi feature film.

In neighbouring Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, all tiny oil-rich Arab Gulf states, the

ruling emirs extended voting rights to women over the past few years. Several women now hold high government offices.

In Morocco, Islamists were forced to accept a reformed personal-status code, the Moudawana, which gives women more rights in marriage and divorce, as well as the appointment of 50 women preachers for mosques, schools, hospitals and prisons. King Mohammed VI of Morocco himself married a computer engineer who does not wear a veil and who has become a role model for many Moroccan women.

In Afghanistan, the constitution now enshrines the equality of the sexes, and Afghan women constitute a third of the elected representatives in the lower house and a quarter in the upper house of parliament.

Despite these signs of progress, the political, legal and social position of women in the Middle East leaves much room for improvement.

''Honor murders'' - killing a woman for allegedly sullying her family's honor by refusing an arranged marriage or trying to escape an abusive one -still claim the

lives of more than 6,000 women per year, with the murderers - most often their brothers, fathers or husbands - going free as a matter of course.

Child marriage is widespread; family laws in all Muslim countries still disproportionately favor men, and literacy rates of women, on average, are half those of males.

Finally, most reforms were imposed by royal fiat over fierce opposition from conservative Islamic parties. Thus they do not necessarily reflect a fundamental societal shift and can be reversed by a change in government or if it proves politically necessary to win the support of the clergy.

What made these developments possible? First and foremost, a generational shift brought to power young, reform-minded, Western-educated royals with some philosophical commitment to democracy and human rights, who also realized, quite pragmatically, that further economic development was contingent upon increased female participation in the public sphere.

Second, indigenous women's-rights groups took advantage of this political opening and waged well- organized campaigns, neutralizing charges of being Western agents by basing their demands on a modern interpretation of the Koran.

This ''Islamic feminism'' has become for many Muslim women an effective way to reconcile faith with feminism.

Brian Whitaker The Guardian

Kuwait, where traditionalists and

Islamists battled for years to keep women out of politics, now has more registered women voters than men, according to the interior ministry.

As long ago as 1961 the oil-rich state's constitution granted equal rights to men and women - but only in theory, not in

practice. In 1999 the emir, Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah, tried again, issuing a decree that women should be allowed to vote and run for office, but efforts to implement his decision were twice blocked by

conservatives in the all-male parliament.

Some opponents argued that Islamic law prohibited women from positions of leadership, while others

said women were emotionally unstable or their judgment could be clouded by menstruation.

Finally, last May, in the face of a government-funded media campaign to swing public opinion behind female suffrage, MPs relented and voted 35-23 to grant women electoral rights. A few weeks later, the first female minister, Massouma al-Mubarak, joined the cabinet. The move left neighbouring

Saudi Arabia as the only country in the Middle East where men can vote but women cannot.

With a parliamentary election due in 2007, the Kuwaiti government feared there would not be enough time during the official registration period next month to enrol all the women voters, so it decided to register them automatically. Details of eligible women were simply transferred from the computer system of the state agency that issues identity cards to the interior ministry, which handles elections. As a result, 194,614 Kuwaiti women are now registered voters, compared with 139,179 men, a senior ministry official told a news conference.

Women may not retain their majority for long, though, because many unregistered men are expected to sign up later.

ABAKADA, SUMMER 20068

With the whole of Denmark agog about the Middle East when the month-long festival Images of the Middle East runs from August to September, our Abakada Editor shares insights and experiences on Oman, a beautiful, unspoilt country along the Arabian Gulf, with a coastline stretching from the strategic Strait of Hormuz down to south Yemen. Together with some 75 visiting foreign journalists, she was in Oman to observe the first truly free democratic elections the country ever had, in October 2003. Today, in the light of the Muhammad caricature controversy, Danes in general see a national mission in democratizing the Middle East. Through the so-called Arabian Initiative the Danes expect the Arab world to bridge the alledged anachronism between Islam and democracy. There are strong signs that many countries, among them Oman, are on their way! – by Filomenita Mongaya Høgsholm

I t was with some degree of cautious

curiosity when I flew to Oman together with international media to witness Oman’s first ever democratic elections in late 2003, some 3 years before the now cataclysmic Muhammad drawings controversy. But already then, anything Middle Eastern was supposedly imbued with values that are not only anti-democratic but supposedly also repressive of women, that is, that in their supposedly hierarchical society, men had all the advantages while women had a subordinate position. I came also to examine how Omani women were faring, in comparison to other Middle Eastern women that I have already met and studied, and also when juxtaposed, with women in Europe. Instead of the endless deserts that I imagined, I met a fascinating country of stark beauty from majestic mountains, azure seas, frankincense trees, dignified old men in warrior garb going to the polling precinct in order to vote, and the younger generation of fathers bringing proudly their first born sons to the same precincts for the purpose of voting. At the same time, I saw with my own eyes in the voting precincts of Salalah, the southernmost port in green Dhofar province nurtured by the moisture from the Indian Ocean’s monsoons, women turning out in large numbers, some of them from indigenous mountain tribes articulate and colourful in batik-like

fabrics, wearing rings on their nose and bells on their toes. Most of the women in the public polling places were clad in the traditional black abbayas and masked, with slits only for their eyes, looking very birdlike, but wearing perfect make-up and sporting Parisian scents. Underneath their stern exterior, they were clad in designer labels from the fashion capitals of the world. In this modernizing country, which, before the launch of its Renæssance in a bloodless coup in 1960 by the then crown Prince, now Sultan Qaboos, had only 3 schools, 8 kilometers of paved highway, no newspapers and a primitive lot for an airstrip often grazed by camels!, progress is secured by its leaders in a commitment to improve the people's lot within the tenets of Islam. Today, Oman is one of the pioneer states in the Gulf that takes on seriously the sustainable development of its citizenry when it comes to making education accessible, providing social and medical services, and when it upholds direct elections as basic tenet of democracy, esp. opening it up for women. Media and democracy for valorous youth My telephone conversation with Rafiah Salman Al Talei confirmed my gut impression that here was a young dynamic woman who wants to assert her democratic rights by being one of the few women who ran for office during the first ever parliamentary elections for the Majlis

ash Shurah, the state advisory council. She put up her candidacy from Al Qabil, a neighbour wilayat(municipality) to the capital Muscat some 200 kilometers away. Rafiah proudly pointed out to me that not only was she the only candidate who used campaign materials: in calling card format, but she also had a website: a rarity! I was almost disappointed not to see her dressed in Levis when we finally settle to tea at the terrace of La Bustan Palace hotel at the outskirts of Muscat. As a practicing journalist – and columnist too-for one of the biggest newspapers in Oman, she realizes the immense important role the media plays in the path towards democracy. “We have many illiterates in Oman, and with an informative media that helps people learn more about the electoral process, inform on the candidates and their aims and aspirations, then it will have helped the voters towards more informed choices including not “selling their votes”. In the banking world of mostly men The following day my appointment was with Mrs. Aminah al Fallahi, Bank director of Bank Dhofar al-Omani al Fransi.and one of the earliest to hold a high ranking position in the otherwise male world of banking. Hardworking and conscientious, Amina always showed initiative by taking on new areas as well as not shying away from courses that would bring her further (Continued on next page)

ABAKADA, SUMMER 2006 9

ABAKADA, SUMMER 200610

Veiled and Valorous: From page 9

in her career. A proud homemaker and mother of three, she startled me when she talked about actually considering an early retirement –or a sabbatical- so she can pursue further academic studies. Getting more educated and more qualified is definitely in the agenda of this youngish executive, perhaps to start on her own business to give her more freedom so she can enjoy more her children.

Not missing a beat, the female bank director before me handed me, a Cross pen in the green colours of the bank’s logo, as I was about to take my leave. A very discreet but also chic way of doing marketing and PR as only women executives could. Indeed the time had come for me to thank Aminah for the half hour she availed of so we could have a lively exchange on the role of women in Omani society.

Culture and Heritage in women’s hands When I step into the Oman Heritage Gallery adjacent to the Muscat Intercontinental Hotel, there are many customers and Muna Ritchie, the proprietor, who calls herself “partner”, is busy attending to one of them. I patiently wait; by taking photos inside the mini-Museum for this is what it is: this amazing collection of authentic traditional Omani handicrafts make any tourist’s visit to the Gallery worthwhile.

There are Bedouin rugs in natural dyes and colours of red, black, white and beige browns. Many of the skills in weaving are handed down from mother to daughter such as the weaves from the Wahiba Sands, each design incorporated with a name representative of the culture of the region. There is also exquisite basketry edged with leather, jewelry in silver, copper works and of course the frankincense which people around the world professing the Roman Catholic faith as most of us, Spanish-colonized Filipinos do, are familiar with, because

Incense is ritually used during the Liturgy and the Mass.

The early Christians were critical of the propensity of the Romans for using incense.

As Ms. Ritchie explains later to me when all the customers have

been expedited, “the task of the Omani Heritage Gallery is to get

hold of the diminishing number of artisans so they can keep alive the

tradition by helping them get introduced to the market: to the customers”, who could be tourists and foreign guests like me in search of high quality souvenirs.. “This has meant going into the hinterlands, in the remotest areas, finding these rare practitioners of exquisite artisan at and encouraging them to continue the traditional skills and materials which maintain the country’s crafts heritage. And getting a fair price for their works”, Ms, Richie continued.

The Gallery’s motto is “Preserving the Past, Creating a Future” and reflects thereby the need for further development of traditional crafts but within the framework of an increasingly modern society, urging the artisans to be flexible and adapting to changing markets so in the end a balance is achieved between indeed preserving the past while availing of opportunities for the future. Such as the one offered when the Omani Heritage Gallery was one of the institutions representing the country in a cultural initiative at the American capital, Washington DC. in 2005.

Sultan Qaboos sum up the aspirations of a nation steeped in tradition and aesthetics in these words: “The desire to build a modern state which adopts the methods of science and

technology did not force this historic country to neglect its glorious heritage. It has consistently combined this heritage with modernisation. To this end it has established its extensive modern infrastructure while at the same time, it has carefully preserved the precious evidence of its past.”

Between tradition and modernity Before we left Salalah, the town that in Biblical times shipped huge quantities -300 tons yearly of the heady stuff to the metropolises of the day, I managed to buy a fair amount of the exotic smelling stuff for giving away to friends. I also found a small version of the traditional curved silver dagger that is part and parcel of the male Omani garb. In a close look at the curved blade, I noticed that it was as sharp as my own Filipino bolos, but the dagger slung at the waist of every self-respecting Omani male makes for a threatening pose, precious “evidence” of the glorious past of a fierce and independent people; who today live peacefully with its neighbours and is

congenial to its visitors. My brief face to face encounter with Omani women from different walks of life has convinced me that the paths they have taken, in secure footing with their men, even as they straddle the dual path of tradition and

modernity, is the right one for the veiled, valued and valorous Omani woman of today. A new, very interesting place to visit is the Grand Mosque Sultan Qaboos in Muscat. In 1995 the building of it was started and in March 2001 it was finished. The complex is 1000 metres long and 885 metres wide. There are 4 minarets on the corners and a big central one of 91.5 metres. You are allowed to visit the mosque free of charge as long as you are decently dressed with long sleeves and trousers. Women can wear skirts as long as they cover the knees, blouses closed to the top and the hair must be covered so that you can't see the hair. The mosque itself is 75 x 75 metres and inside lays a one-piece carpet 60 x 70 metres, handmade out of 1700,000,000 knots. 600 women have worked on it full time for four years. There is also a smaller and simpler prayer room for the women.

Grand Mosque Sultan Qaboos in Muscat