An Empty Park Comes Alive Twice a Week
Sharjah | Saturday, 23 February 2019
With whistling cold winds, the empyrean canvas has an endless dizzying array of clouds. The sun, a shy source, admonishes the darkness of the clouds by lighting the day at small intervals. Al Mzairah Ladies Park, in Al Rahmaniyah, Sharjah, stands green and lush, polished and cleaned, kempt and well resourced, empty. The sandpit of the children’s play area stands alone and new, barely any wear on the slides or the play pen. The lady at the small canteen inside the park sits all day, bored with nothing to do. The walls of the park give small peeks at the houses around which are solemn, fresh painted and without a soul in sight. They stand as silent witnesses to the emptiness of the park meant to be filled with the laughter of children.
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Isha Kharrubi, a 29-year old American who resides in nearby Al Atain says: “Subhan’Allah, Rahmaniyah just five or six years ago was nonexistent. There were just a few tiny houses here and these two parks [Al Mzairah Public Park and Al Mzairah Ladies Park] were just built out of nowhere. We were some of the only people who knew about it.”
The park has clean bathrooms, a prayer place and a canteen. It also has a small animal pen, a throw ball sand court and a concrete street basketball court.
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Though residents from around the park barely visit, residents from other areas of the country visit on fixed days. A group of twenty or so ladies along with their young children and teenage daughters visit the park twice a week to compete in throw ball and basketball. Among them, only two families actually live near Al Rahmaniyah , in its close neighbourhood, Al Atain. The rest come from Dubai, Ajman and other parts of Sharjah. Mothers usually drop their young boys at the public park to enjoy a game of football with their friends and brothers.
A toddler, Ibraheem, enjoys himself at the park
Kharrubi believes that the Sharjah government has done a really good job making these parks: “They provide this women’s only park where we feel safe, where we can let loose, get uncovered, experience the fresh air and all without being afraid of prying eyes. There is so much safety here and it’s such a comfortable atmosphere. It is so incredible that they built this place; there were no buildings around here earlier, there were just the two parks with a couple of houses. Even in the other Rahmaniyahs there were no houses there at all. I think that’s amazing.”
Among the mothers, Khadijah, a former PE teacher, heads the group of ladies and children. The day's game starts with a relay race with cones marking beginning and end points and the fastest runners of the opposing teams being paired to compete with each other. After relay, there are two matches of throw ball; once with randomly selected players, and once with mothers competing against daughters. The last game of the day is a
match of basketball enjoyed more by the girls than the women.
The games are fierce, with the ladies urging their teammates to push themselves harder, with complete strategizing and planning of better positioning. The park comes alive with shouts and laughter, and the hurrahs and applause of the games. During the throw ball match, whoever arrives late to the game is given a spot hurriedly, to avoid wastage of time and to assure that everyone gets a chance to be a part of the play.
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“This is wonderful for me because I don’t normally get that much physical activity during the week,” says Kharrubi. “And because we play team sports, there’s so much motivation to do your best and to push yourself. You feel challenged and there is such a wonderful atmosphere and the women are really positive and uplifting. I am exhausted from the week’s work but when I come and we play, I get to release all of that negative energy and it all feels just so, so good when I go back home. And, Alhamdulillah, because of this I am able to face the rest of the week.”
Among the girls, Sumaya - a participant, explains her strategy to her teammates on sand
At 6 pm the beaming park lights switch on. It is time for the Maghrib prayer. After a sweaty game of victory and grit, the ladies all put on their hijabs and go to pray. Once prayer is done they gather at the stone picnic table to snack. It's a potluck: cooked vermicelli, ice-cream flavoured oreo biscuits, hazelnut wafers and hot fragranced tea to wash it all down. Girls pass around the biscuits, some busy feeding vermicelli to their younger siblings, some busy gulping down water before beginning to eat.
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The watch-lady of the park is acquainted with the women due to their frequent visits. The ladies changed their morning times to the afternoons because of the presence of the government hired male cleaners that are in charge of the upkeep of the park. In the mornings the men clean and tend to the trees, the watering system, and the grass.
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The mothers love gathering together at the park. After the games are done, they chat about general topics and their next visit. The girls gather in their groups getting to know each other better and vying to compete with more camaraderie the next time. The park is no longer empty; it is filled with infants running around, the conversations of the mothers and the laughter of the girls.
