Saudi High Home Experience

Abir Abusulayman (Photos: India Outbound/Varsha Singh)

For anyone, anywhere in the world, it is never too easy to give up a secure and well-paying job and do a complete career switch in a different line. Multiply the level of difficulty by at least 10 times for someone in a government job and approaching the age of retirement. The level of difficulty rises by zillion times further if the person is a woman in a conservative Islamic society as Saudi Arabia was nearly 15 years ago and the new career being adopted is in a sector that is still taking shape.

But all these challenges were not enough to deter Abir Abusulayman, who was employed as a teacher in the Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia and who kicked up her secure job even in her 50s and decided to become the first female tour guide in Saudi Arabia.

“At the age of 50, I decided to resign, taking early retirement from the Ministry of Education. Usually people don’t do this, because it is not easy that you take such a big step. I was exactly 49 years old. So the fact that I decided to take early retirement after working for 24 years, as a teacher and a supervisor, this was not common. I believe that not only in Saudi Arabia, even anywhere else in the world, no one leaves a good job so close to retirement and I had a very good position in the Ministry of Education, but I left just to start something that was very new,” Abusulayman tells India Outbound.

On a visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi Tourism Authority, India Outbound, along with a handful of other media representatives, had been invited by Abusulayman at her home for a ‘High Home Experience’ where visiting tourists go to the house of a local host and experience the life of an average resident of Saudi Arabia.

Her home was well-decorated with handicrafts collected from around the world

We were going to her home for dinner, but one where the guests and hosts prepared the dinner together, revealing not only all the secrets of the Saudi cuisine, but also providing a deep insight into the life and culture of a modern Saudi family.

As we arrived at her home, Abusulayman was at the door, waiting to welcome us. Stepping inside the beautifully decorated and lavish home, we were seated in a large living room, with numerous artefacts, not only from Saudi Arabia, but from many other countries, including India.

She also introduced us to her family as her son served us some freshly-made Saudi tea, which is very similar to the kahwa that is consumed in Kashmir, being laden with nuts, and which is often taken with a helping of dates.

After some general discussion about our visit so far, Abusulayman invited us to join her on a tour of her impressive house, stopping to respond to our queries about the decorative items, notably some traditional Saudi daggers and a fine example of Indian handcrafts. While the tour of the house, she had also brought out some abayas, a loosely-fitting gown that Saudi women traditionally wear over their clothes.

Never the ones to miss out on opportunities to explore other cuisines and cultures, we jumped at the option of wearing abayas and getting our photos clicked.

No home experience is complete without Saudi tea (left) or trying traditional Saudi dresses (right)

With the tour of the house done, Abusulayman showed us around her kitchen where a lavish spread had already been prepared for our dinner. As part of the home experience, she invited us to help her in preparing Fattoush, an Arabic salad, made from a vast variety of vegetables notably tomatoes, onions, capsicum, cucumber and parsley, which can be served with different kinds of sauces.

Continuing her tale, Abusulayman says that inflection point for her decision to quit the ministry had come nearly four years before she actually took the leap.

“It was 2011 and the Saudi Arabian government was preparing dossiers to be submitted to UNESCO for recognition of Old Jeddah as a World Heritage Site. At that time, I was a supervisor in the Ministry of Education, but I was always connected to the historical sites as I love history, heritage, tradition, and I believe this is really nice, how each country, they have their own heritage, their own history, so I was always fascinated by this. While mounting the dossier for UNESCO, they noticed that there was a problem as the local community was not actively involved in the heritage conservation. So, I formed a group called Jeddah’s Heart on Facebook, to encourage people to come to the historical area, to see the area. This way, we got our community involved, paving the way for recognition of Old Jeddah as a World Heritage Site,’’ she recounts.

The fateful moment of having played a role in creating a community and getting involved in heritage conservation pulled Abusulayman further towards tourism and away from her formal job at the Ministry of Education.

“I started to hold lectures and invite people to speak on heritage conservation, and so on. I learned from others, and if I did not have someone to talk about the area, then I would talk at these gatherings. It was then that some of my friends told me that since I had a nice way in telling stories, I should become a tour guide,” Abusulayman adds, as she shows us around her house.

After a fair bit of push from her circle of friends and professional colleagues, Abusulayman finally decided that indeed she could become a tour guide, but as a part-time activity to start with. However, no sooner than she had made the decision that the numerous hurdles that lay in the path of her quest began to appear.

Every part of the large house was well-decorated and had a warm and welcoming ambience

“So when I asked the authorities if I could become a part-time tour guide, I was told that it was a profession only for men even though I could not understand the reason since women are better at giving information or even being a teacher and hence there was no reason why a woman could not be a good tour guide,’’ she says, as tea was served to us.

The situation was indeed a bit complex at that time because the opening up of the Saudi society was yet to really take place in a meaningful manner and the dramatic changes that have since been made in terms of getting women a prominent role in all aspects of the Saudi society and promotion of Saudi Arabia as a global tourism destination were still some way off.

It was only when Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman released his Vision 2030 document, a comprehensive blueprint of modernisation and liberalisation of Saudi Arabia, that tourism got a prominent role as a sector of the economy, key for diversification and job creation. And it was in 2017, six years after she had launched Jeddah’s Heart community on Facebook that Abusulayman finally made the transition towards becoming a tour guide.

While the start may have been excruciatingly slow, perhaps because Abusulayman was far ahead of her time, but the progress has been at a breakneck speed since then. She not only became the first woman guide in the Kingdom but has since progressed rapidly to become a certified trainer for training other women in the country to become tour guides.

“Finally, I got my licence and began as a tour guide. But that was not to be the end of my journey as I evolved to become certified trainer and now, besides still operating as a guide, I am also training other women to become guides,’’ she says.

Looking back at the evolution of her career in the past decade, Abusulayman feels that she never really moved away from the basic job of a teacher, which is to impart knowledge and in mentoring other women for becoming tour guides, she is once again a teacher.

“The entry of one woman in the profession seems to have opened the floodgates for hundreds of others and indeed, it is extremely satisfying for me to see so many women become tour guides and I am really very proud now of all those girls becoming tour guides,’’ she says.

“I have trained a lot of girls as well as boys as tour guides. I believe that now we have almost 400 tour guides as part of a training programme set up by the Ministry of Tourism, which has been developed in collaboration with tourism associations and other stakeholders,’’ she adds.

A lavish dinner spread is integral to a ‘High Home Experience’

Passing the dishes over the dining table, Abusulayman says that the programme lasts about a week with eight hours every day, with classroom training as well as site visits to help the aspiring guides better connect with whatever they have learnt in the classes. While a lot of training is done online, it is actually the personal interaction with mentors like Abusulayman that helps students learn the nuances of being a guide and how to conduct themselves when leading a group of tourists or even just one.

She recounts the example of one of her earliest and most bright students, Huda Al-Ghutab. During her classes, Huda learnt that Abusulayman was a recognised French-speaking guide and she decided to follow suit and learn French.

“So she went to the university where she studied French literature. And then a few years ago, while I was training a new batch of guides, I saw a face that seemed familiar and I looked at her face as it seemed like a déjà vu and then I read her name on the name tag and I realised it was indeed Huda Al-Ghutab, who had now become a bilingual tour guide, conducting tours in French as well as in English,” she says.

Though Abusulayman is licensed to practice as a guide all over Saudi Arabia, she prefers conducting tours in and around Jeddah as she is more familiar with the area. “When you are specialised in something, then it makes you more creative and better at that and that is why I feel more comfortable in taking tours here,’’ she says.

After dinner, as we move towards the living room again for a coffee, Abusulayman says that she has decided to take up another challenge in her life, as director of a women’s charity to help train young boys for educating them and making them employable.

“I am very happy as I have a new challenge in front of me and it seems like yet another chapter in my life. But tourism will always remain my passion and I will never stop from being a tour guide or from training and whenever I will have again the chance, I would like to train again,’’ she adds. After the sumptuous meal, which was as much for the stomach as the mind and one where Abusulayman educated us more about Saudi culture and heritage, it is time to bid a fond goodbye to her and her family.

Leaving her house, I begin thinking that how rapidly an entire society can evolve and adapt new practices, breaking old taboos. All it needs is that one person with grit, determination and passion to start the change. The rest would follow.