Khafdi by Pinaki

Khafdi

December 2007

Yasser bin Mohsin al Ghafari is 58 years old, now retired after many years spent with mines in the army. His heavily kohl-lined eyes flit over the part of Khafdi you don’t see from the highway: the old town at the back, sandwiched between new concrete and the wadi. This is the abandoned quarter of al Hajra, now just about 50 houses crumbling into each other. You will find other instances like this in your travels through the country, of towns being given a new name with a new lease of life, usually a well and similar infrastructure being introduced from the 1970s onwards.

Khafdi is barely more than a signpost as you make your way from Rustaq, on the brand new road to Ibri, but turn off to the right and you will discover generations of history, survival and eventual prosperity. Everything stems from Wadi Bani Ghafer, from which the settlement draws an unimaginable amount of water that spurts out of many wells in the old town, almost overflowing the channels that criss-cross the plantations of lemon, mango, safarjal and date even as the new town is supplied by a government piped supply.

The wadi is also home to the Ghafari tribe, who for centuries moved with their goats, following the water, between mountain and valley. They settled down when they dug wells, and you will find them in Rustaq and along the other little settlements towards Ibri.

“We haven’t destroyed the old town because it is a part of our history,” says Yasser. “We know it is special, and hope it can be preserved. In the past life was very difficult, but the new roads, like this one and the other from Ibri to Buraimi helped a lot. We used to trek to Rustaq to sell our produce, or make the 360km journey to the Batinah coast. Now, our wells are famous for their supply, and what they have done for us. We are now 600-strong, with six schools and a hospital with a staff of 30. Imagine that!”

Yasser walks past the most imposing structure in Khafdi, the old sheikhs house. It is done in sarooj, like the rest of the old town – the deep brown earthen mix that Omanis used before cement. The sheikh’s house looks massive, almost fortified, and encompasses its own well. This was the way it used to be in the old days, and the other villagers had access to public wells. Now, though, Sheikh Khalid bin Saif al Ghafari lives in Rustaq, which is the regional centre that all the little settlements along this road look towards.