Anglo-Omani Society sponsored stay
at
The Sultan’s School, Oman January – April 2008
This report compiled by Alex Walsh and Gareth Rhys describes their time at the Sultan's School, Muscat, from January to April 2008. The report gives a good insight as to how the students sponsored by the Anglo-Omani Society benefit from the Student Scheme. To date eleven students have been to the school and a further five are planning to go.
Our stay
at the Sultan’s School gave us a unique opportunity to experience life in the
Gulf. Our experiences there gave us an insight to what is rich about Arab
society, its people and the natural landscape of
Oman is an amazing country, for the attitude of the people, its
social workings and the multiplicity of contrast and similarity it provides
with our own background. The school was a brilliant focus for our exploration.
It involved us on every level from teaching to socializing and provided a lot
of support for our trips through
On the day
of our arrival the school first struck us as peaceful, organized place with its
ordered palms and shrubs and its polished marbled entrance. We worked out our
timetables: Alex’s had a focus on Maths and English assistance, whilst Gareth
opted to help with art and drama, as well as English assistance for the
scholars. The following day the school became its usual lively place as the
courts flooded with students in dish-dashas. The students were surprised to
find us in their classes but responded enthusiastically to the help we offered
– more often than not turning the academic
questions personal. They were very curious about where we had come from, what
we were doing and generally who we were. Soon we settled into our schedules and
began to get to know the students we taught. Assisting in the mornings and
early afternoons, we often sat in the library later and traded help in reading
English for reading Arabic. Many were surprised that we were learning Arabic,
but here, as in many situations that would follow we found that having the
slightest bit of Arabic tinted with our strange accents (apparently Egyptian)
and peculiar vocabulary made for a very intrigued and warm welcome.
The Arabic department accepted us into their ranks. Overestimating
our language level somewhat teachers invited us into their IGCSE Arabic
classes. Having found our level we popped into Arabic and Islamic history
classes for students of around eight when and as we liked. We were also able to
swap English conversation classes for basic Arabic lessons. Sheikha, the
assistant librarian was very welcoming, taking us through the collection of
Arabic children’s books.
The evenings were a mixture of socialising with the scholars and
the teaching staff. Football with the older students in the slightly cooler but
sweltering evenings was great fun. We learnt a choice, but nonetheless useful,
selection of vocabulary on the football pitch! The staff were as welcoming
relaxing in the evenings as they were with their daytime activities, where we
were invited to participate in various activities from academic lessons and
assemblies to scuba diving, canoeing, hiking, sailing, fitness and ping pong.
The highlights of these extra curricular events were definitely the many sports day, the International Award and the kayak camp. The stadium seating facing the sports field makes for a brilliant tournament atmosphere. The Omanis are an intensely proud people and there was something of the tribe pride about the cheers that rang out for the Dolphin, Hawk, Oryx and Scorpion teams. There seemed no question about participation, where young, eager athletes stumbled and grasped batons prematurely – a situation ominously mirrored by the trip to the naval base where enthusiastic eighth graders grabbed excitedly for live depth charges.
Navigation
and fishing were enthusiastically, if not very successfully pursued by the
campers. Gareth did have a brush with submarine wildlife when a thresher shark
passed under the nose of his kayak when scouting for a place to snorkel!
Thankfully,
Mark
Evans came to the school to talk about the
circumnavigation by kayak he completed under His Majesty’s sponsorship in 2006
for charity. We began to understand his motivation – which must have been
immense given that he paddled over 2000 km with full kit – after spending just
two days paddling around
The evening R and Rs during the camps were refreshing
nevertheless. The International Award was three days and two nights of trekking
through Wadi Bani Auf – a stunning
series of canyons and pools, worthy of National Geographic coverage. Sheer and
crumbling cliff walls sink into gravelly flats dotted with coppery pink pools
improbably alive with tadpoles. After a few hours walking through the
desiccated landscape, we would lay eyes on a date plantation and would dip
grazed toes into cool green water. Due to the heavy storm earlier in the year,
the pools were unusually full and we were able to jump from ledges into them.
Night sank quickly in the
wadis and the hikers scattered to forage for firewood in the gloom. The
students squatted around the half dozen camp fires whilst they cooked the meat.
They seemed comfortable living close to the land in this way. In comparison to
neighbouring
We headed out in a borrowed Daewoo to find more. Our favourite
destinations were the coasts around Al Sewadi and Tiwi. We are very grateful to
Andrew Taylor for showing us these places. Having bargained with a group of
fishermen, we were ferried over and spent some nights on the islands ‘Jabal fiy
il bahr’ (as we named them) off Al Sewadi, a village west of
Unfortunately in some ways, the irrepressible machine of
development is about to engulf these spots of astounding beauty.
We would like to express our appreciation for all those that
helped us with this trip. Amongst all those at the Sultan’s school, Lee Smith,
Richard Sawyer, Hazim Abbas, Ian Jones, Ray Zinsli, Abdul Hakeem, Oliver Myhill, Neil Allen,
Lee Mullis, Russel Croft, Clive Pierrepont,
Seamus O’Hanlon and Victoria Jones helped us a lot.
We are especially grateful to Andy Jones, Head of Boarding and Angela Hargett of the English department. Angela was very generous with her villa, her car and her time. She involved us with the kayaking club and made us feel very at home. Andy was extremely welcoming during our first few days and his hospitality never wore off. He involved us with his family, showed us his favourite spots all around the capital area and lent us his car. He served as a kind of mentor and was never as patient as when we dented the front right wing of his Daewoo. We are also grateful to Principal John Birchall for welcoming us into his school.
Alex Walsh Gareth
Rhys Hanoi Madrid
