Sheik Bahnjah and William of Arabia
Most times when I have work outside the compound, it is in the direction of Al Mukullah, towards Oman to the east. Today I visited a small village named Maifa, about 100 miles to the west in the direction of Aden. The mission: a contract interview with Sheik Abdullah Ahmed Bahnjah, tribal elder and businessman. That’s what his business card says: tribal elder and businessman. Actually it says: auk geek hawlyk. Just kidding. Couldn’t resist.
While I am digressing, I’ll mention that there are no correct spellings of Arab words or names. Al Mukullah is variously spelled Mukalla, Mukulla, or Mukalluh. The Koran can also be spelled Quran or Qoran. The actual spelling is: squiggle with upstroke, two dots, backwards c with curly cue, vertical dash with hat. And you read it from right to left. When you ask a Yemeni to spell his name he looks at you like you’re kidding.
Anyway, I and an entourage of clients (ie, Total, Inc.) and soldiers, visited the village of Maifa to wheel and deal with Sheik Bahnjah. I was the lead negotiator, and I had translators straining to hear my every word, which I can get used to. And soldiers following behind me at all times. I don't think I will ever get used to that.
Abdullah’s qualifications in business lean more to the client relations side; I guess he leaves the technical details to others, who apparently had comittments elsewhere. By tradition, Sheik Bahnjah exrcises absolute control over contracts in his part of Shabwah. There really is no competition. It is not unusual for a tribe to set up a roadblock and stop competitors’ trucks going to and from the YLNG project. So, Abdullah had limited patience with my insistence on visiting his place of business, which was an open patch of desert surrounded by a cinder block wall. I recited a list of prepared questions, which he laughed at. Stuff like, what do you plan to do with 20,000 liters of waste oil per month? He assured me that he would deal with it, and all his sycophants nodded in agreement. I was really looking for something more like it will be accumulated in a bunded storage tank pending transfer to a blended fuels program in Dubai. But I could tell that Abdullah was more interested in showing us his farm, so I relented. Good move.
The best I can figure, Maifa is positioned over a huge sand lens that is underlain by impervious volcanic rock. The rock is an inclined plane and it drains water like an underground river through the sand lens from the mountains many miles to the north, where it actually rains occasionally, to the lower desert elevation, where it doesn’t.
While I am digressing, I’ll mention that there are no correct spellings of Arab words or names. Al Mukullah is variously spelled Mukalla, Mukulla, or Mukalluh. The Koran can also be spelled Quran or Qoran. The actual spelling is: squiggle with upstroke, two dots, backwards c with curly cue, vertical dash with hat. And you read it from right to left. When you ask a Yemeni to spell his name he looks at you like you’re kidding.
Anyway, I and an entourage of clients (ie, Total, Inc.) and soldiers, visited the village of Maifa to wheel and deal with Sheik Bahnjah. I was the lead negotiator, and I had translators straining to hear my every word, which I can get used to. And soldiers following behind me at all times. I don't think I will ever get used to that.
Abdullah’s qualifications in business lean more to the client relations side; I guess he leaves the technical details to others, who apparently had comittments elsewhere. By tradition, Sheik Bahnjah exrcises absolute control over contracts in his part of Shabwah. There really is no competition. It is not unusual for a tribe to set up a roadblock and stop competitors’ trucks going to and from the YLNG project. So, Abdullah had limited patience with my insistence on visiting his place of business, which was an open patch of desert surrounded by a cinder block wall. I recited a list of prepared questions, which he laughed at. Stuff like, what do you plan to do with 20,000 liters of waste oil per month? He assured me that he would deal with it, and all his sycophants nodded in agreement. I was really looking for something more like it will be accumulated in a bunded storage tank pending transfer to a blended fuels program in Dubai. But I could tell that Abdullah was more interested in showing us his farm, so I relented. Good move.
The best I can figure, Maifa is positioned over a huge sand lens that is underlain by impervious volcanic rock. The rock is an inclined plane and it drains water like an underground river through the sand lens from the mountains many miles to the north, where it actually rains occasionally, to the lower desert elevation, where it doesn’t.
Abdullah owns a vast spread of land in the valley where he runs a profitable farm raising bananas and papayas to sell in the markets in Mukullah and Aden. The village that he lords over, and provides for, is perched on the hillside nearby, but we drove instead to a small hill next to an irrigated crop of banana trees, where a tent had been set up and cushions spread around with ornamented pillows, just like in the movies. It was totally comfortable and inviting, and I took off my shoes and moved in. While the servants attended to grilling the goat and lamb over the open fire, I sipped on sweetened tea and watched the banana leaves do the herky jerk in the light midday breeze, the first green I had seen in 30 days.
We ended up spending most of the afternoon feasting, joking and loafing. Very little business was discussed. Abdullah was gracious and in good humor. He wished us the peace of Allah if he won the contract, and the peace of Allah if he didn’t. Everyone laughed and nodded in agreement.
We ended up spending most of the afternoon feasting, joking and loafing. Very little business was discussed. Abdullah was gracious and in good humor. He wished us the peace of Allah if he won the contract, and the peace of Allah if he didn’t. Everyone laughed and nodded in agreement.
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