January 20, 2020 –Socotra Online
Reporting: Ahmed Jamaan Photography: Ibrahim Youssef
Sheikh Ali Jamaan is one of the sons of Socotra who was forced by life when he was in the prime of life to travel and move in more than one station to search for work and return to his family present in Socotra. He predestined that work in the office of the deceased would bring him together. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates at the end of the fifties of the last century to learn more about his life we met in a conversation in which he restored his memories tape as follows:
Sheikh Ali Jamaan said we left Socotra during the reign of Sultan Issa bin Ali Al Afrar and he is the last of the Socotra sultans and ruled from 1956 to 1967, and we boarded a ship in the direction of “Sour” in the Sultanate of Oman and we stayed there a day before we continued the march towards Khor Fakkan and then Sharjah and Dubai and from there to Abu Dhabi and then to Al Ain and I hope to find a suitable job that will help me meet the needs of my family who separated them on the island.
I got to know Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan after a friend of mine met him and met him in Al Ain and hosted me at his home, to visit Sheikh Zayed and greet him and I did not know him, so we reached the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan’s Court in an approval area and we greeted him and asked me about my name and where I came from so I told him and when he knew I arrived at work, he gave me a high offer to work with him in the Diwan, in the aspect of providing hospitality to his guests and visitors, and as a job seeker I agreed to the offer and started from the morning of the second day directly my work alongside another person in preparing coffee and serving it to guests.
Sheikh Ali Jamaan in Al Ain many charity was formed and the closest people in my surroundings were Salem and he is the friend who hosted me in his house. I was the prayer caller of the mosque and he was blind and his name was Ahmad in addition to brother Nesan. He is the person I was working next to him another person called Shivan, explaining that during his work In Al-Ain, the children of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan at that time were still young and watched them playing
After I continued for a while at work, I decided to return to Socotra and Sheikh Zayed tried to persuade me to stay, but I insisted on returning to the island, during which the Sheikh offered me a fishing boat, which was one of the precious gifts in that period and guaranteed to be shipped without costing me something and gave me a written paper to facilitate my traffic and access to his palace In case you wish to return again. But with the passage of time and my trips to the coasts and work in different places, the message was damaged and lost.
There is nothing in that period what we are seeing, in that period all the houses were from the nests of which Sheikh Zayed’s house was not the only one that was built of clay and life is still in its beginnings, but a wise man sees it.
Sheikh Ali Jamaan explains that the relationship between Socotra and the Emirates is a strong, historical and striking relationship with a great historical and familial depth, as the people of the Emirates were present since ancient times in Socotra through the exchange of trade and work in diving and fishing, as well as many of the Socotra families moved in various regions of the Emirates and some of them returned to Socotra and some of them are still There he and his children have acquired Emirati nationalities and live in luxury, prosperity and happiness.