PURPLE SPECIAL EDITION 2021 - Come, be part of the lives of some iron women of Oman – just simple, ordinary womenfolk, who were not afraid to be themselves, who refused to remain what they were and decided...
By Adarsh Madhavan “I am ‘Ummiyyah’(illiterate)”, self declares Dirbibi Al Balushi, 71, when Purple went to meet her in Muttrah Souq recently. Dirbibi is living in acute penury and is trying her best to make both ends meet, but she is heavily weighed down by...
What’s cooking Badriya?The wonderful aroma that would waft from spice lady BADRIYA AL-HODAR’s home, when she starts roasting some spices in her kitchen, in an experimental bid to find new and delectable mixes, would quite often result in neighbours knocking on her...
71-year old Dirbibi is Muttrah souq’s lucky charm. On a dreary Monday morning, along with other sellers and early-bird visitors, DIRBIBI AL BALUSHI, 71, shuffles in to Arabia’s oldest marketplaces, Muttrah souq, clutching many tiny packets of sweet tamarind and other...
In a span of seven years, SAMIYA SINAN MOHAMMED AL JAHWARI, a hiker and coach/training specialist (for ladies and children) lost four very dear and close members of her immediate family. Losing them sent Samiya down a spiral of grief, despair and depression.World of...
Zainab (* not her real name) was a kid when she started to help her fisherman father. And for several decades she continued in the same vein. Even when she married another fisherman from her village in Musannah, her prime job was to support him. But a coastal women...
As a portion of the world’s population age, there is a need to figure out how their children (of the elderly) are going to provide them -- their ageing loved ones -- with increasingly complex care. It is only when we experience it that we begin to fathom the...
In the hot, desert climate of Buraimi, some 300-plus kilometres away from Muscat, you would not believe that you would bump into a bright, young Omani woman who is always buzzing around town like a bee, doing what she knows best: volunteering; helping women become...
Why do we need any reasons to protect our own property, asks Aida Al Jabri, one of the Sultanate’s first few Omani marine conservationists. Called a ‘wonder woman’, having trained 120 marine rangers, and working all hours for the cause of the marine environment...
“Women bring higher emotional intelligence to the workplace. Female leadership stood out on the global stage during COVID, like New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Germany’s Angela Merkel, and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-Wen. “(Therefore), it is clear that women can be particularly...
“The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic has shown that women are very adaptable. In many ways we can be born leaders as we often have to juggle work and home lives and families,” says Ayesha Al-Shoily, department head, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Ooredoo. “Ask...
A leader has to learn to delegate and this is evident among the successful leaders who have fought crises like the global pandemic and come out with flying colours, says Laila Al Hadhrami, Smart Cities Development Manager. “How you face a crisis is a very critical...
