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| I interviewed this 89 year old Emirati man for my research on the history of the labour market. He was a wonderful source of knowledge and anecdotes from times passed |
Last year I spent a week in Dubai at the end of May battling various bureaucracy and 40 degree heat. Waiting in Dubai airport on the 29th of May I could not wait to be on that plane and away from the desert heat. Time mellows all anger and hate, and as the year progressed I felt a sense of sadness that I may not have the opportunity to return to the UAE. I reflected on the many years of professional endeavors, play and people that framed my life for over 20 years. I could not suppress the murmurs coming from deep within me beckoning me to the hot humid sands of the UAE. My interest in the land is not only personal, it also fascinates me as a place where cultural and national diversity are what make the society function.
It is now a very different land to the one
I first encountered as a young teenager in 1991. Then it was a mesmerizing
place for a child who had grown up in a wonderful but modest world on the banks
of the river Nile in Sudan. Now Abu Dhabi and Dubai compete amongst global
cities in terms of infrastructure and architecture. Both cities have had their
populations quadruple in the past 15 years. Where once there were other Arab
nationalities, Indians, Filipinos, Americans and Western Europeans, there is
now every nationality imaginable. It is a visual kaleidoscope of races and
cultures, but also a place where racial hierarchy is very much the basis for
the performance of everyday life.
It was the land my mother Jo kept returning
to despite all her frustrations; she had developed a subtle love for the land
which had provided us with an opportunity after the beginning of the first Gulf
War in 1991. She would spend 3-5 years, return to Ireland and then have the
rain drive her away again. What also drew her back to the dusty roads were the
people and the relationships which she developed over almost 25 years of living
there. They became a family away from ‘home’ and in turn these people were part
of my life, many from when I was 12 years old.
I decided I had to return. Maybe I was
seeking something. Maybe it was to close a door. So on the 20th of
May 2016, a year to the day almost, I once again set out for the UAE with the intention
of reconnecting with the place and people, and also in carrying out some historical
research on the labour market in Abu Dhabi.
Two whirl wind weeks later, countless 100s
of kilometres of driving and several hundred meals later and I am left feeling
refreshed but deeply saddened. Saddened by a place that gave my mother so much
and yet challenged her very morals, saddened by the connections that I have
there that are no longer easy to maintain given distance and the void that is
Jo. However I fee refreshed in that those connections are strong, the country
is one I understand, one where I have a sense of belonging – a sense I felt
when I returned to Sudan in 2008 and again in 2014. The UAE is part of who I am
and that is ok because despite its idiosyncrasies I spent many years of my live
there or connected to there. Being there also helped me to understand a little
the frustrations I carry with me through life, throw backs to the ways things
are done differently in different places and by different cultures. A kaleidoscope
of an upbringing brings great advantages and challenges one in the same.
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