In 1980 I began a development project with the support of the United Nations in the Jiddat il-Harasiis designed to extend  government social services – health, education and veterinary care -  to the small population of nomadic pastoral camel and goat herders inhabiting the territory.    The government had requested that such services be developed in such a way as to not make it necessary for these people to settle.   Thus I moved around this area of about 40,000 square kilometres with my small team of two researchers and 2 local guides and drivers in two four-wheel drive vehicles asking people about their perceptions and aspirations for the future.  Approximately 250 families of between 8-15 people moved around the Jiddat with their herds of camels and goats. These migrations followed seasonal growth of plants in areas of ‘occult precipitation’ [heavy morning dew] or in the aftermath of infrequent rainfall.

My arrival coincided  with the introduction of the first automobile in this desert.  A recently retired local man who had  risen in the ranks of the armed forces of the Emirates had driven sedan car home. It didn’t take long before  nearly every household had a vehicle. Initially many were bought at the regular  Omani Army auction of surplus goods.  Old beat up and rusted Bedford trucks, Land Rovers, and half ton- pick-up trucks  Nissan, Toyota and Chevrolets began to  be driven around the desert with move around the desert with great frequency.  They could cut the time it took to get water from one of the few wells in the territory for a few days to a matter of hours. Journeys to markets in the north of the country to  sell unwanted young male goats   and to bring back food supplies  were often weeks long . With motor  vehicles they could be undertaken in a day or two.

However, the greatest risk to this new-found form of travel was dropping the keys of the vehicle in the soft sand of the desert.  Sometimes it took what seemed ages to find the key again.  And as lost keys became a common problem, the women of the tribe – who were practiced weavers and twiners – took matters into their own hands.    They began to weave and twine colourful, tasselled key rings  so that  their menfolk would not misplace keys again.  These items were locally called ‘switches’  a reflection of a new word introduced into the local language ‘HarsuusI’  ( Swik / pl. swikaat).  These ‘Swikaat’  were what you used to ‘switch on ‘ a motor vehicle.

The older generation of women who twined and braided yarn all their lives to make  belts,  blankets, camel strappings and containers  passed on these modified skills to their daughter and granddaughters.  Starting with three women in 1981, we built up a community over 100 women by 1984 regularly producing   as many as 300 of these  switches monthly  for sale locally as well as to expatriate residents in the towns and cities of Oman.   Women, often on their own for long periods of time running the household looking after children and herds, would produce these key switches in the evenings, using their toes as anchors for a loom frame.  Working with bright acrylic yarns, metallic thread and occasionally natural camel and goat fibres, they could take up to three days to produce a single switch depending upon the demands of the household any given time.   At its height in the early 1980s, these switches were sold in several high-end shops in Muscat. Anita Broderick, of Body Shop fame, was interested in importing them to the UK as well.