00:00We've come to Sharjah to meet an 89-year-old pearl diver who makes miniature dhows at home
00:09to keep the tradition alive.
00:12Ibrahim Bouhaza's small Sharjah house is filled with miniature dhows.
00:16The amount of details on the dhows is incredible, all designed, built and painted by him.
00:23He doesn't need to draw any plans, it's all done from his memory and with only one good
00:27eye.
00:28I don't go to school, I don't work, any teacher, nothing, I'll go for somebody, I'll look what
00:34they do.
00:35I'm sitting a day, then every day I'll go, and then I find a good idea for it.
00:42He spends most of his time building these dhows, which are replicas of those used for
00:46pearl diving, in hopes of selling them.
00:49But until he finds a home for them, they sit on display in his yard.
00:53He moved when he was very young as he didn't find many opportunities in Sharjah at that
00:57time.
00:58One day in Bahrain, he saw a man carving a little dhow, and he immediately fell in love
01:03with the idea of building his own.
01:05The big dhow they make, I'm sitting with them, every day I go and see what they do, like
01:12that, like that, and I put it in my idea.
01:15Then I start, I say, why I'm not start for that, I make a small, then I make a bigger.
01:22He soon started experimenting with different wood to build his own dhows, and became an
01:26expert in no time.
01:27I make everything, the body, then I start for that, the wood.
01:35I get it, which side I need it, I write it, half-inch, three-eight, inch, two-inch, I
01:45make it.
01:46Then I take it to the carpenter, the machine, and they cut it, everything.
01:50Then I do it here, myself.
01:53At almost 90 years old, moving these dhows around is no easy task for him.
01:56They are bigger and heavier than him.
01:59He says he has fallen over on several occasions when trying to lift them, but he just laughs
02:04and shrugs it off.
02:05He says he will not stop.
02:07His passion and knowledge for pearl diving is evident on the dhows.
02:11He puts in details such as ankle weights, nets, coffee jugs, and even treasure boxes
02:16for the pearls.
02:17Ibrahim has passed his knowledge to three of his 12 children, and hopes to teach other
02:21people so that his knowledge about pearl diving and dhows can live on.
02:26This job is difficult, but if you are not like it, you cannot do anything, for any job,
02:36not this job.
02:37Ibrahim is truly inspirational.
02:40Eighty-nine years old, and he says he will continue to make these dhows for the rest
02:43of his life, and hopes to pass the knowledge on to the younger generation.
02:47Sarah Graham-Peyer, Golf News.
