‘I and my family celebrated the arrival of His Majesty at airport’

Omani actor Saleh Zaal Al Farsi, who was one of the founders of drama in the Sultanate, was lucky enough to have witnessed the arrival of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, despite living away in neighbouring countries in the late 1960s and only visiting Oman during the summer.

“I was present during His Majesty’s arrival in Muscat where the airport was. All the people rejoiced at his return; my family and I also participated in the marches celebrating his arrival,” he said.

“My return to the Sultanate in the 1970s during the summer was a habit. Many of the people who migrated would return during the summer, mainly to enjoy Ratab (a type of date), which is not found in many of the other Gulf countries. We used to return to Oman from time to time, and luckily we returned during that significant year.”

“A month after we returned in July, after the Blessed Renaissance; of course, we intended to return to the neighbouring countries we lived in, but after His Majesty’s speech, we had hope that the situation would change for the better.”

However, what changed everything was the moment the Sultan took his oath. “From that point, we hoped that his arrival would change everything and that we would no longer have to think about travelling or migrating, and therefore, we decided to settle in the country,” said Al Farsi.

In the years after the Renaissance, it was not unusual for people to struggle to find jobs, but their drive to build the country kept them motivated. “I spent a yearand-a-half looking for a job, and in the end, I worked for the Ministry of Information as a broadcaster,” he added.