Reflections on Encounter 2

Feelings
I'm getting more comfortable talking with the Pashtuns working, which is good...


Observations
After watching the video tape, I noticed things, that I didn’t notice while filming:

- I noticed that nobody there had a long beard, even the old men, I wonder why?!

-Also, I recalled a strange thing: When the ‘Aasr’ prayer started, my father told me I’ll go pray, and you finish your filming…The prayer ended, my father returned, & the men came out from the masjid & I was still filiming THEM !
No one of them (about 20 men) entered the Masjid to pray!!!

I wonder why ?!!! Well, I have 2 assumptions:
1. they’ll pray later because I’m filiming them now!
2. they’re all Shiaa’ and they either don’t pray ‘Aasr’ on time, or at all!
I think assumption 2 might be racist, so I'll go with assumption 1 for now...

Hope
I won’t forget my promise to the men, so I thought of something that might help the taxi drivers among them:
Raising the charge from 2 Dhs, to 2.50 Dhs
I'm sure this idea has been suggested before to someone, somewhere…
but it still not enforced, and it should be…
To us…50 fils is nothing…50 fils is a gum… a Tofi.. chips oman
But to them…it might help a lot…it might accumulate to be a radio…a toy for a kid…a new pair of shoes…something valuable to them...

I'll do what I can to help ... & if I couldn't do it now with the project...I'll try to pursue it later...

Encounter 2: Emirates Post

I was going back home from the university, when I saw two Pashtuns sitting on the road's grass, immediately I asked my father to stop so that I can interview and film them, but he said: "If you want to meet Pattanis, I know just the best place". And he took me to the area between the Emirates Post and Madinat Zayed Center. It was about 3:30 PM & the area was full of Pashtun workers...

My father told them about my project, and just when I was turning on the camera, I found my self surrounded with about 30 Pashtun, who were looking curiously.
I was overwhelmed; I didn't know where to start, and who to ask first, so I directed the questions to everyone:
-“where are you from, khan?!” “Since when you’ve been in the UAE?”… & those questions…
>>>I don’t know what happened to me, I prepared good questions, but in that moment I forgot them :(
Most of them were from Parichinar, few from Peshawer…Most has been in the UAE for more than 10 years… Their complains were about the housing conditions, increasing rental prices, & overall products...

And while they were complaining, a guy entered the crowd, and interrupted them all...

"! أنا بعد يريد صورة" He said...

"شو في مشكلة؟" ...so i explained to him!

"أنا مافي مشكلة...أنا شغل زين..كفيل زين..راتب زين"

"أنا في شغل في شركة أرباب مال أنا فلسطيني...واجد زين"

"اوكي الحين أنا في شغل..باي باي"

And he left...!

Then, among the guys, I saw an interesting Pashtun...

He had a style..a look..
He was brown, tall, wearing a red tupi (hat) decorated with golden threads, putting one hand on his friend’s arm, and swinging a bead with his other hand...

I pointed the camera at him, and asked:
-"Khan, what’s your name?”
- “Saddam Hussein”
-“Saddam Hussein!” =O
-“Aiwa, Saddam Hussein” (smiling)

-"Saddam, What you're wearing in your head?!"

-"This (pointing to it)?! This is tobi"& he laughed...

I asked Saddam more question…and many times the other men would explain or translate the questions to him. After few questions, one guy said something and the other started laughing, Saddam laughed and blushed…
I assume that the guys noticed that I’ve been focusing on Saddam, and that I liked him …so I guess they were teasing him about it…
Honestly, I did liked Saddam lol and I wanted to interview him more, and focus on him, but sadly, he didn’t not know Arabic well =(

So, I walked around looking for new faces to interview...And then an old Pashtun man called me:
"تعال...أنا يريد خبرّ إنتَ..."
He looked at the camera’s lens and said:

"شغل مافي..إيجار في غالي..أكل في غالي..كل شي في غالي..كفيل مافي زين..مافي سوي مساعده..انا شو يسوي؟ "

& as soon as he said those words; the quiet one’s start talking...& everyone was nodding their heads (up & down)..

They thought I was coming to ask about their living conditions and offer help...
I don’t know why they always assume that…that I’m here to help them…
I felt bad...I couldn't walk away with out giving them something...not after all those complains…so I gave them hope... :SI said: “Inshalla…I'll do what I can to help…We are all Muslims and we should help each other…” "sah, sah, haza kalam mazbout" The old man said…
I waved my hand, and they waved back smiling…

I know this is not a human rights project, but I should do something to help them...I told them I’ll try…so at least I'll try…

Pashtuns in the U.A.E.

This is a summary of the results I got from googling "pashtun+uae" :

Jobs
“In the U.A.E. they take jobs as day laborers, taxi drivers, bread bakers, construction workers, gardners and truck drivers. Many of them work alone in the U.A.E. going home for a month to see their families ever 6-12 months.” 1
“The Pashtun speak Pakhtu and Urdu or Dari (and some of the taxi drivers know a little English or Arabic).” (2)

Population
According to Ethnologue website Pashtuns population on 1986 was 100,000 (3).
And according to a Christian missionary site!:
“The Afghan people groups represented in the United Arab Emirates are primarily from among the Baluch (240,000), Hazara (100,000), and Pashtun (200,000)…Many of the Hazara and Baluch have their families living with them, but the Pashtun tend to be single men, coming and going for periods of work.” (2)

And according to Wikipedia, Pashtun population is estimated to be 126,000 (4). However, I believe that today the numbers are much higher, and to get the exact numbers, I have to do some calls…maybe the Ministry of Labor to get a number of the taxi drivers here, or call the Pakistani & Afghani Embassies to get the exact number of Pashtun population in the UAE…

A Quote from a blogger
“…I spent lots of time being driven around by guys with a really long series of names one of which was inevitably "Khan." All of them talk really fast, and were extremely friendly - if I spoke Pashtun, I would know lots of stuff about them and the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately, most had picked up only a seemingly rudimentary colloquial to go with their Pashtun and at least enough Urdu to watch the Pakistani news, which made communication difficult, even at the level of, "Stop here!" 5

I'm sure there's more resources, but these are the result of a simple search...


1. http://centralasia.imb.org/people/PashtunUAE.html
2. http://centralasia.imb.org/people/AfghanDiaspora.html
3. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pbu
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtun_people
5. http://bjulrich.blogspot.com/search/label/Travel

Not Just Pakistanis...Pashtuns!

Few days ago Dr. Nezar told me that those Pakistani workers and taxi drivers are called Pashtuns! I didn’t hear this term before, so I had to research it:

Pashtuns are an ethno-linguistic group. They’re considered Eastern Iranian people, who speaks Pashto language and are living in:
1. Afghanistan: they’re the largest Afghani ethnic group, as they compromise about 42% of the population (12.5 million). They live in Eastern and Southern Afghanistan.
2. Pakistan: the second-largest ethnic group. They comprise over 15.42% of the population (25.6 million). And live in North-West Frontier Province[1], Federally Administered Tribal Areas[2] and Balochistan province.

Pashtuns are warrior race; they consist of about sixty tribes. Legends claim that they are the descendants of Afghan, grandson of King Saul. Pashtuns played a critical role in the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), as many joined the Mujahideen. And they gained international attention with the rise and fall of the Taliban, since they were the main ethnic group in Taliban. The majority of Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims, but there’s also a large Shia population.

[1] The smallest Pakistanis Province
[2] areas of Pakistan outside the four provinces

This place is not for women !

My first confrontation with the Pakistani workers was in front of their Husseinia (Shiaa Islamic Center) in Madinat Zayed. It was between Al-Maghrib and Al-Eshaa' parayer, about 7:00 PM. I was walking in the neighborhood with my nephew, as I passed by infront of the Hussinia. About 20 Pakistani men was standing and sitting in random groups outside the place. I saw two guys in their 20s sitting alone, so I walked toward them and said "Salaam Alikum". They didn’t realize that I was talking to them, until I said it again, and again. "Wa Alaikum Al-Salaam" they replied and looked to each other.
Firstly, I told them that I'm a student and tried to explain my project to them (which I’m not sure that they've understand). Then, I started asking them questions about their life...Both of them are Taxi drivers, & from Parachinar...

I asked him then to write the word Parichinar in my notebook, & he did write it, in Pashto language (notice the Arabic letters) ----->

He said he lives in Al-Jwazat St., and his friend in Al-Khalediya St....

They complained about the rising prices of everything, especially, the apartments...One of them told me that he lives with 3 other Pakistani workers, and he have to pay 500 of the 1500 monthly apartment rent, 2000 to his Kafeel, (I wonder how much is left for them at the end of the month)...Then I asked them if I can bring my Camera tomorrow and film inside the Husseinia, he said of course you can (mafi moshkel) but then told me wait, I'll go call someone (that someone was the one whose in charge of the Husseinia)
I expected an old man with a long white bear...but surprisingly, he wasn’t that old, in his 40s I guess.
His name was "Saif Ali Hasan Al-Husseini" (An Arabic Name!) When I explained to Mr. Al-Husseini my project, he wasn't thrilled at all, and gave me this face---> :S
He said: “No no you can't enter and film, this place is not for women”
(هذا مافي مكان حق حرمة) !!!

... So i told him fine, I won’t enter if you don’t want me to, but can my brother enter and film?! He thought about it for a bit, and then said: “well, ok, but you'll have to get permission from the police department (المديرية)”
“Why you’re making it hard for me !” =( I said
"Well, the police prohibit filming inside the Husseinia"
"Why?" I asked
"Hmmm, because they worries that it would influence people, and what people would think"
I didn't understand what he meant, but I nodded my head, said “I understand” and thanked him for his time...

I was disappointed that they won't let me enter their, I always wanted to see what is going on behind these walls,... especially in "Aashora Day" when police men surround that place and the area get really crowded with Pakistanis, that you would think you're in Islamabad…