Oman: A Place I Once Took for Granted I'm Raya, an Arab-American finishing up my last year at the University of New Hampshire. I will be getting my degree in English/Journalism, with the hopes of one day becoming a photojournalist.

OMAN | Monday, 10 December 2012 | Views [1052] | View Smaller Image

This is of my father, Sultan, climbing a mountain in the village of Tawiyah. He didn't grow up here, but in a village near by, Al Kamil. My father has family in Tawiyah so we spend time there when I visit Oman. My father grew up selling, harvesting, picking, and selling dates to pay his way to attend school in Saudi Arabia. Like this photo, my father literally climbed his way up from the village ruins to achieve where he is now; a husband, father of six, professor, and the strongest man I know.

Tags: oman, al kamil, tawiyah, village, mountain, climbing, travel, travel photography scholarship 2012

This moment was captured at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. I commonly would walk on the elevated paths to get from place to place, which is expected as a women, while the men walked on the ground. I stopped for a moment and looked over the edge to see these university students mingling while two others passed by. They are dressed in traditional Omani garb known as a 'dishdasha'. I presume these men come from a moderate/high socioeconomic class due to there head scarfs, material of their dress, and phones. To attend this institution you have to be in the top percent of your class, so these men I presume went to a good private school in Oman. As you can tell all of my assumptions of these men are just that, assumptions, as a women and being half Omani in my traditional abaya, I may never known the answers to those questions or hear the stories of their lives.

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This photo is of my father and his younger brother, Salam walking back to the village compound after picking dates, as my father and his brothers did as young boys for their livelihood. They now only pick dates as a pass time when visiting the village. My father is carrying a plastic red bucket as my uncle has collected his dates in a traditional woven bag.

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Oman: A Place I Once Took for Granted I'm Raya, an Arab-American finishing up my last year at the University of New Hampshire. I will be getting my degree in English/Journalism, with the hopes of one day becoming a photojournalist.

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