Desert clean up project: a lesson in strategic implementation

One week to go until the end of the semester and graduation! Yesterday we took our class field trip to the Al Ain desert - to clean a small patch of well used public desert, that also happens to be strewn with garbage of all descriptions!

I know more traditional professors and people education in the rote learning tradition will not understand how these projects have anything to do with learning... well, you do not teach critical thinking, problem solving and strategic implementation memorizing definitions.

Action learning is a movement gaining steam in academia - it involves not only hands on learning but applying theoretical concepts in real situations... Our desert cleaning project in Al Ain involved discussing the AD 2030 and UAE 2021 plans, but also the nitty gritty of strategic implementation. The vision of the UAE and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is based on sustainability of the economy, environment, the society, and culture. The desert has everything to do with all four... But there is a serious litter problem. Of course not everywhere is this "bad" and the students looked hard to find a "bad" spot that was also easy to get to. The desert in the UAE is breathtakingly beautiful, just certain well-used spots need some TLC!

It started with a small group in charge of the project (Hamad, Khalaf and Surour - awesome job guys!). They were tasked in finding the best place, leading class discussions on what would be needed, how we would organize, getting permission from the municipality, transportation, etc. I was in charge of sending countless email :) The municipality was very supportive and actually offered to send workers to help us out... Hamad knew what I would say to that and respectfully declined the offer!

Enthusiasm grew for the project over the past 8 weeks or so... being able to motivate is a helpful skill among professors of Generation Y students!

On to the photo essay :)

We arrive at the chosen - pre-scoped out site in the Al Ain desert. 

Garbage was everywhere, and actually was worse than I thought it would be... the students said it was because it was so close to the road and some great sand dunes...

Each group needed gloves, heavy duty garbage bags and a "stick" - Ace Hardware knew by the third group to visit that they were Zayed university students :)

There were skills to be learned, bags to be opened and lots of garbage! And every time you dug a little in the sand there was more :) Seriously some of it was super gross, luckily by the time we hit really gross stuff we had been at it awhile and had built up our immunity!

There were some weird "treasures" found... and I just love this photo showing enthusiasm, and even joy in our desert clean up project :)

Skills became talents :) Yes, not all students were feeling 100%, but they came out anyways!

Close up of the camels grazing - thanks Salem for the pic :)

Camels!!!!!!

OK, it is not that strange to see camels in the desert - but we all took photos and were excited all the same... and of course it was a stark reminder of the real dangers of trash in the desert... the camels graze in the open desert and eat the plastic... but the plastic isn't digested and the lump can grow so big the camel will die a quite painful death.

The January 2014 men's graduating class in the College of Business at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi with the "fruits" of our labor... some of it had already been hauled down to the big green garbage container just a few feet away (yes those containers are every km or so... the municipality provides them, people just don't use them!)

Part of the beautiful clean "patch" of desert!

Relaxing after the clean-up :) We had a lovely early dinner around the fire...

This is part of the great beauty of the desert - relaxing and sharing stories around a fire... watching the sun set, having the professor give suggestions on how best to manage the fire, ignoring those suggestions... etc!

The Maghreb prayer - I asked permission to take a photo and then to post it - they said of course Miss, this is who we are and why we are.

The Maghreb or sunset prayer is one of the five prayers that Muslims pray daily. I have had the honor of seeing my students pray on many occasions, but I wanted to share this special moment with you. The owner of the camels had noticed us cleaning and then joined the students in their prayers. He then talked with them and said he would send over camel milk from the evening milking to thank and welcome us. A photo of the still warm and frothy camel milk is below.

After dinner he came himself and sat around the fire - and asked about our project and then spoke of the importance of teaching each generation - parents to children - about cleanliness, the ways of the desert, their heritage and Islam. He asked each student to introduce himself, and from their names he would sometimes tell a story about the father or grandfather and guess where they were from. He also spoke of how proud he was of them and how proud the university and their parents must be.

He then asked if the professor (me) wanted to hold a falcon. So we walked the few feet to his truck and there was one of the most beautiful falcons I had ever seen! It was a Shaheen and had a royal lineage... let me tell you there were some excited students to see his falcons and hear about his hunting adventures around the world.

Camel milk is destined to become a super food in the next decade... and it is delicious :)

Me in a very warm jacket made for cold desert nights and a majestic Shaheen falcon

Action learning will always have "unintended" teachable moments... this project had too many teachable moments for all of us to count! Bravo gentlemen, I am proud of you... when you start your jobs in organisation in Abu Dhabi, just remember this was a valuable team building exercise :)

Smile and courage, Dr. Connie

The Most Awesome Azba in Al Ain: innovation, sustainability and profit all in one!

Before the Falcon Azba we went to a farm - the farm of Abdullah's cousin - and it was a farm unlike any I had been too.... this will be a very photo intensive post as everywhere we turned there was another innovative idea or invention to absorb... above all it was CLEAN, and it didn't smell (although there were so many animals) and the animals were the healthiest and cleanest ones I think I have ever seen on any farm anywhere.

I am itching to have the time to do an academic case study... this farm is a model in sustainability and ingenuity... OK, enough gushing and let the photos tell our story :)

We left at the start of class time (no other classes were missed!)

On the road to Al Ain

Convoy... 

Arriving at the azba, as always we are greeted with Emirati hospitality, which means water, gawa and dates

First day with my phone! I am now embedded in the phone culture here!

Yasser and Abdullah explaining the day and the vision, strategy, objectives and tactics of the farm... they had spent the previous Friday with Abdullah's cousins and had so many notes and information - super proud of them!

There are four parts to the farm - birds, animals, vegetables and "relaxing" - here are some newly hatched laying chickens

This is a newly hatched bird that are raised to sell as birds - Emiratis seem to love birds and every azba I have visited has a huge bird house...

Bird hospital where sick birds are taken care of

Bird breeding with "married" birds raising babies together! (there are some mixed breeding experiments going on too)

 

Mom and Dad protecting their egg!

Clean, happy and healthy chickens!

Super interesting... this mom and dad are "common" birds - and by switching eggs laid on the same day by "rare" birds, the common birds will raise the rare babies...

tons of birds, some common, some rare one third for sale :)

The water pump and filter he invented himself (Abdullah's cousin LOVES the internet) - he invented it because sooooo many people try to rip him off... and it cost him 1/4 what the sales people quoted and works 100x better!

There are 14 bought greenhouses...

300 plants per row - we saw tomatoes and hot peppers

Everyone was super impressed!

The Jordanian engineer who has been working at the farm for 11 years... he was respectful, informative and SMART (m'ashallah)

Irrigation system 

Abdullah answering one of my 100+ questions!

In the winter greenhouse designed and built by Abdullah's cousins and his farm workers

Pregnant camel!

Yes gentlemen, I am not just "book" smart :) I could survive in another occupation if I had to!

The fruits of my labour :)

Expensive sheep - still lots left after Eid to make babies for next year!

the daddy to a lot of the babies on the farm!

more lovely sheep!

The small desalinator... he desalinates his own water for the farm and uses the sweet water for the plants and animals and the salty water for the date trees (something I learned, date trees can use salty water!)

There are two desalinators

Bigger tomato plants, the smell was wonderful!

Showing Nawwaf that you need to trim the "suckers" so more plant energy goes to the fruit... yes, the engineer told Abdullah he was shocked I knew that :) 

Most of the class... yes, I look like a proud Mom I know!!!!

This was simply an amazing farm... and one of the greatest things I hears was when Abdullah told me about asking his cousin about the vision of his farm... 

"Cousin, will you ever reach your vision to have the most innovative farm using sustainable methods and growing and raising food for the UAE?"

"No, I will never attain my vision, but it is my greatest joy working to reach it"

Of course, I talk about this in class... but to hear it from someone living and see it in action is the greatest lesson my students can learn. Of course I did a little fist pump when I heard and might have said "I told you so".... but the lesson was learned by all.

A million thanks from me to all of you who planned, organised, kept us on schedule and made the day a truly memorable one!

Falcon Quest: a falcon azba in Al AIn

There is a strong tradition and long history of falcon hunting in the UAE and the larger region. I have held falcons at different times and seen them hunting in old videos... but have never been to a working falcon farm - of course, given my tremendous luck as a professor here - last month our strategy class went to such a farm.

We went to the farm around 8... at the end of a long afternoon of Al Ain adventures (the first INCREDIBLE azba story will follow this one).

I will let the photos do the talking... It really was a strong lesson in the efforts made by individual families to keep tradition alive through modern methods and a strong love of their culture.

Khalid explaining the new methods used to train falcons - in the past it was just releasing birds, then small hot air balloons were used and now small guided aircraft are used to get very high and very precise (so the bird doesn't gt lost!)

Everyone was fascinated and asked loads of questions - many hadn't been to a falcon farm before - we also heard about a new falcon competition sponsored by Sheikh Khalifa (the President of the UAE) to keep the tradition alive and ensure it is passed on to younger generations 

Really cool to have all the falcons behind us

Heading to the long and huge barn that holds the falcons... it is 800 metres long and there are huge fans for cooling and at then end there is an air conditioned "room" for the falcons from colder climates to go to (I may have picked up a few feathers)

A gift of a feather to me :)

Khalid placing the falcon on my hand (yes I have 2 feathers in my hair)

Walid from RAK who had also never been to a falcon azba 

Beautiful bird - she is called heart for the heart shaped markings on her back

A dinner hosted by Abdullah's family and Khalid's family - it was delicious

It was a great way to end an amazing day... keeping tradition alive is as much about the future of the UAE or the "modern" UAE as it is a thing of the past. While hunting is almost exclusively done in other countries - the training and use of these falcons is very much a concern for many families in the country. We were all grateful to get a glimpse of the vision of this azba and the constant stream of innovative methods being used for training... Thank you Khalid (and your family and team of course) for organizing this!