Sabah Al Bahlani, An Everyday Heroine

Written by Nasra Al Adawi of Oman & Amias of USA

Oman, December 2007 - I would like to take this opportunity to not only recognize Sabah Al Bahlani, as an "Everyday Heroine" for the services she does for others, but also to share with you a little insight into her journey. It is a great honor to introduce a new sisters here at LiquidPlastic.net.

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Sabah Al Bahlani, who is a single parent, shares a home with her mother in Oman, and has a daughter attending college. She developed a passion for helping others when she was a child, living in Kenya. Currently she works as a “Program Communication Specialist” at the UNCIEF in Jordan.

Sabah’s journey is not unique in and of itself. But when you put the pieces of her life together, with her success in helping other, you will see a distinctive picture of a caring and loving person.

“From a child I realized I loved taking care of people. I would ask my father to buy antiseptics and cotton, so who ever come to our home hurt, I’m there to clean their wound. I was always ready to perform first aid to those who come and visit us from the interior areas,” explained Sabah.

Seeing her love for helping other, after finishing high school, Sabah’s father encouraged her to attend college. She received a four-year scholarship to attend school in the United States, where she majored in “health education” and became a Health Education Counselor.

Sabah return to Oman has been both an adventure and surprise. She found that the Handicap Centre had been developed so much she hardly recognized it. And those who were working there had achieved tremendous success in advancing the programs. "The centre,” said Sabah “does a great job. I see a need for children to come to the centre above five years old. However, early intervention is a necessity for children below the age of five.”

Sabah goes on to explain that the aim of early intervention is to have programs that would assess the children needs and provide services that suited that particular need. Many children required assessment for Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Academic and Behavior change. Also for children who could not be served at the center, a program called Portage was initiated. Portage is an early support and home visit program for children with disabilities, in order to train parents and work with the children as early as possible. Some of the training deals with a particular behavior that needs to be change every week. Sabah has been involved in the logistics of this association since it was founded in 1997.

Sabah takes her job and the joy she feels in serving the community very seriously. Her dialogue and interaction with them is served with much respect, both individually and as a community. She has come to respect their culture and knowledge. Sabah now believes that being a “health educator” is not about imposing new ideas on the community, but rather about trying to educate the community in using the tools they have at their disposal.

“When I first graduated from college I thought I knew it all,” said Sabah. “I thought with the latest first aid tools I could make changes. I came to understand that the community does not need my tools, they was already using the natural tools they found around them for first aid. From this observation I realized that if I was going to work with the community, I had to use what was on hand, what they could afford --- what worked at the critical time aid was needed. In my experiences in the Interior I have learned,” continued Sabah, “if there is any injury it takes a five-hours drive before you can get medical attention, so teaching how to perform first aid at the time of the injury, using the natural tools the community has on hand, is very important.”

Sabah is quick to point out, that once she realized that it’s not about educating the community, it was about communicating with the community, her job got easier. She came to understand that the community already knew the importance of first aid and all that was required from her was directions and teaching that some substances are harmful and needed to be avoided.

In life, Sabah learned that communication is always a two-way street. What has been very helpful in working with the Omani society is that they welcomed her with open arms, and is willing to listen and learn. Sabah works intensively with the community on many levels, always putting the people she serves first.

In reminiscing, Sabah said, “Back in 1987 it was out of the norm to see women traveling or working along side of men in the Omani society. During the three years I worked with the community,” she continued with pride in her voice, “representing the Ministry of Health and other ministries, I traveled to interior area that was difficult to reach. Some of these places were located in the mountain, where it takes women in those remote villages more than half hour walk to get water. Areas like Musandam were so remote we had to travel by boat to get there. Some areas had no accommodation available.”

Sabah’s journey is not just that of a “health educator”, she is also involved in humanitarian efforts. She was inspired by her baby sister’s heath condition and her own hearing problems, to search out programs that catered to those with disabilities.

"I was trying to place my sister in special need programs and this led me to Raya Al Riyami at Omani Women Association in Muscat. At the time they were trying to initiate a program for children with disability. There were a great effort to get the program started, and I volunteered. The skills I had were useful in reaching out, so this helped the program get a jump start.”

During that period Sabah’s job had been to serve as a coordinator. She brought the doctors, which included pediatricians, and other medical professionals into the program, making it possible for children with disability to be examined. She later serves as a mediator between the medical personnel and the parents, to make the transition of helping the children easier. It had been very difficult to remove the fear and the stigma that was rooted in parents who had children with disabilities.

"We received some children who never seen the light and some parents felt that they had been punished by God for having children with special needs or some kind of a curse for something they did," explained Sabah. “This program not only trained children and educate parents, we spread awareness throughout the community about children with disabilities. In doing so, we slowly removed the stigma by exposing the children to outside worlds and exposing the community to the children with disabilities.”

In 1992 this program, which Sabah love volunteering in, coming out of Women Association, became a full fledge Handicapped Training Centre. Even though the stigma of children with disabilities had subsided, still, some parents in remote areas will not expose their children to the outside world, nor will they take them on outings. However, due to environmental factors, there are not many facilities for those with disabilities in areas like interior side of Oman.

When Sabah was asked what had touched her the most during her volunteer work, she said, "I had most touching incident with one of the parents. When they heard about the program they wanted to give the child away, hoping for a better life for their child. Amazingly with coaching, the parent learned and became involved in training their child. They were very surprised at how little stimulation changed their child for the better."

Sabah reintegrated that she had learned a lot about judging the parent or jumping to conclusions about any action they take to help their child. "When we are trained as educational counselors, we have to find the reason behind actions before judging, and then, with the parent active participation, we find solutions. The key to successfully finding solutions to any problem is to investigate, as some actions are occurring purely on ignorance and the role of all “educational counselors” is to help or educate,” Sabah explained.

Sabah is involved in many segment of the community. As a volunteer with the Coordination Committee for Women, she was instrumental in writing a grant for computers with internet access. This had enabled the association to communicate and connect with other groups.

She is currently involved in organizing a Leadership Program, which consisted of Omani women with diverse background and professions, who are leaders within their particular community. This group will create a forum that will make it possible to network with other women via conferences. This program will serve to support and help women’s groups by supplying the younger women with skills and funds to carry on the work required to enhance the lives of the people within the communities.

Sabah believes in the sisterhood of all women. “For those women, who have opportunities to reach out, then why not support other women or mentor young women? Women don’t have many opportunities in our societies, so it’s important to reach out to one another. We need to support each other and this can be possible through networking --- this is what sisterhood is all about."

Sabah spend much of her time serving her community, when asked what she does for amusement, she smiled and said, “I spend my leisure time at home, where I enjoy cooking, decorating the house, and reading.”

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