DELMA ISLAND // As a little girl, Sheikha al Mohairbi lived without running water or electricity. Her first school lesson was in a neighbour's majlis in one of only 23 houses then on Delma Island, which was like "one big family". There have been many changes since then, but Delma remains a tightly knit, traditional community that was originally drawn to the rich seas, fertile land and fresh water supplies.
"I remember the women going to fetch water from the wells," says Ms Mohairbi, who today is the director of the municipality's department of environmental and social services. "Life was very simple and nice and people were truthful. When people cooked, they would send the food for everyone and everyone helped each other. It was like one big house and the doors were always open." Although only 40 sq km, the island's terrain is diverse, with long stretches of pristine coastline, hills, farms and significant archaeological sites.
In the middle of the island is what residents proudly describe as Delma's highest jebel, or mountain. In reality it is a hill, but it still provides the perfect view of the surrounding area - from the nearby farms to the long, thin stretch of reclaimed land at the south of the island. Ghassan al Hussein arrived in the 1970s, when the original houses were still the only ones on the island and there was only one school and one clinic. Charged by the late Sheikh Zayed with developing the area, Mr Hussein oversaw the building of schools, hospitals and roads.
Today he lives on one of the island's oldest farms, where guava, olive, date, papaya and jackfruit trees jostle for space. Hundreds of peacocks roam through the orchards on the sprawling estate that includes two houses and a majlis. "I spend time in Abu Dhabi, but I prefer Delma," he says. "I feel like I am at home here." The current emphasis on developing of the island is nothing new. Sheikh Zayed viewed the development of Delma as a priority, says Mr Hussein, and would visit several times a year. "Someone once asked Sheikh Zayed - why Delma?" he says. "He replied that Delma used to account for 60 per cent of Abu Dhabi's economy. On Delma there is fresh water and where you find water you find life. Then with pearling came good money and he said we shouldn't forget that."
People were first attracted to Delma Island because of its natural aquifer, providing water to passing traders and pearl merchants. Located in the middle of the pearl beds of the southern Arabian Gulf, the island developed into a centre for the pearl trade, which today is showcased in the Lulu Centre museum. The Lulu Centre - using the Arabic word for pearl - is built in the old pearl-trading building constructed 80 years ago by a local pearl merchant.
The building, made from gypsum, stone and coral, opened in the early 1990s as a museum and houses traditional pearl-diving equipment including nose plugs and weights used by the divers. The outer rooms were used to make date honey, which divers would drink before setting out. Today the museum is in the middle of a traffic island on the main road to the local shipyards. Seated on mounds of sand, a group of men are weaving gargoor, the traditional spherical fish nets, their hands wrapped in protective bandages.
The job has now been taken over by Pakistani men, who work underneath the wooden shelter making nets that sell for about Dh100. "Many people even come from Qatar to buy our gargoor," says Yousef Abdullah, who runs the workshop. "They are much cheaper to buy from here." As the sun sets and a fishing dhow berths nearby, fish are unloaded, weighed and separated into baskets depending on the type, including hammour and sheri.
Although there is currently no gym on the island, football fields and basketball, volleyball and tennis courts are available, though generally only to the male residents. Further to the south of the island stands a new building, surrounded by high walls, which was built as a dedicated women-only centre, although it has still to open. "I would love to go," says Fatima al Hammadi, a Tamm centre employee. "I heard that there might be a pool and a gym and it will cover a lot of the needs of ladies here, so that we don't have to go to Abu Dhabi."
Like households across the Arab world, families on Delma tune in every night to watch the latest drama unfold on Noor, the Turkish soap opera. Before that evening's show starts, the seaside shisha cafe is bustling. A group of young men sit outside, just metres from the shore, while inside others play cards, glancing from time to time at a football match on a television in the corner. Although Emiratis account for most of the island's population, other Arab and Asian expatriates have made their home in Delma. Taha Saqer, from the Gaza Strip, has spent almost 30 years on the island, where he works with the Delma Co-operative Society.
"The people here are close to each other and everyone knows everyone," he says. "There are no problems between people and everyone helps each other. It is simple here." Mr Saqer's wife works as a teacher on the island, where they live with three of their daughters. "Life here is very good, it is very sweet," he says. "What more can you ask for? Everyone is looking for that." zconstantine@thenational.ae