Made on Earth Read Free Page B

everything is going. For them, time is money. It costs the oil company $50,000 US dollars a day to rent the tanker. That is a cost of at least $75,000 US dollars before the oil is even on board! Every hour costs them another $2,080 dollars. The oil company tries to put pressure on the crew to speed up the filling process, but Captain van der Valt and his crew are experienced sailors and don’t get flustered easily.
     
    15 August 2005
    For most of the Arabians living in the Gulf, driving their expensive cars along the Sheikh Zayed road to the mosque on a Friday, there is not a single oil rig or refinery in sight. They don’t have to think about the oil reserves – just knowing they are there is enough. If you’re the son of a citizen of Dubai, like 13-year-old Mohammed, you don’t have to worry about oil or money. Many Arabians in the Gulf make a living either from rent – as landlords for the shops and apartments, or from shares and investments. Others sit on the board of directors for local and international companies (in Dubai, international companies cannot undertake business without a local contact). Mohammed’s father is one of the directors of a company that runs Dubai’s oil treatment plant and operates the oil distribution terminal. Once or twice a day he looks over the paperwork and signs a few documents – the rest takes care of itself.
    In some cases in Dubai, the interest rates, financial rewards and levels of business responsibility awarded to each citizen are closely linked to their family name. The closer a citizen’s family is to the ‘tribes’ of Dubai’s ruling family, the bigger the financial rewards. A tribe is made up of all the members of a particular family. The tribe arranges everything for its members throughout their lives. Mohammed is part of this tribe culture. He attends school in the mornings, plus twice weekly he attends Qur’an school in the afternoons. In a year he will be sent to a boarding school in Switzerland.
    At present however, every Friday Mohammed goes to the mosque in Dubai and then has a meal with his family. He may only speak if he is spoken to – this is an unwritten law in Arabian countries. The family meal follows strict traditional rules. The men wear long white robes known as kandura and guthra (headscarves) on their heads. They keep to themselves, while the women and young children eat in a separate group. The food is laid out on a huge, fine Persian carpet. There are countless small sharing dishes to start the meal: marinated aubergines, olives, rich hummus, toasted sesame seeds, marinated garlic, cheese, and a range of delicious sauces. The traditional main dishes are grilled lamb kebabs, roasted lamb, and marinated lamb in a rich sauce, served with a mountain of rice.
    Traditionally, people only eat using their right hand. If someone put their left hand in the communal rice, the other diners would recoil in disgust. This is because hundreds of years ago, the nomadic tribes of the Gulf used their left hands to wipe themselves after going to the toilet. Even though nowadays people can afford bathroom suites with inbuilt showers, this knowledge from the past has left a lasting impression: you only eat with your right hand.
    It could be said the citizens of Dubai, like other Arabians in the Gulf, are torn between the present and the past. They have built the most modern city of the 21st century. They drive fast cars, wear expensive rings and watches and play golf. They travel to New York, London and Munich with huge entourages and stay in luxurious hotels. But at the same time, they don’t want to be separated from their traditional way of life.
    After dinner the men sit and smoke shisha (flavoured tobacco) and drink strong tea or coffee. The head of the tribe asks, “Mohammed, have you thought about where you would like to study in the long term? Have you picked a good university in America or England yet?”
    Mohammed blushes and looks down at the floor. He