In this piece, Mark Lowey describes a day spent with Quriyan Mohammed Al Hajri touring his boyhood home village, Old Ain Dar, in 2021. At Quriyan’s farm in Junayah, I awakened at first light. I knew Quriyan would have been up for at least an hour already.
The summer and early fall of 1956 are packed with important developments for the Middle East, Aramco and the Webster family. The Suez Canal is nationalized by Egyptian President Nassar. A massive Aramco oil well fire rages for two weeks.
Midafternoon on a bright and warm November day, Bdah and I drove to the outskirts of New Ain Dar near Jebel Al Riyahiyah. Bdah’s cousin runs a roadside business there where camels, goats, and sheep are kept in open-air stables and offered for sale.
My wife, Ann, and I moved to Abqaiq in 2010 to begin a six-year stint with Saudi Aramco. It was my second time living in Saudi, and, fortunately, I had preserved and brought my photographs of the Fazran Bedouins taken in 1978 and 1979.
In this piece, we are introduced to Dhahran’s Boy Scout Troop 966. The troop of 10–15-year-olds venture into the Saudi desert under the guidance of famed Bedouin, Quriyan Al Hajri.
In this series, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (Father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, tells the story of Bdah Al Hajri, whom he first encountered in the desert as an infant in 1979. Reunited in 2013, Abu Jack and Bdah have become close friends. From the age of seven to seventeen, Bdah attended Salasil school (1986 to 1997). Up to age 14, Bdah and his family lived in the desert north of Fardaniyah.
In this series, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (Father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, tells the story of Bdah Al Hajri, whom he first encountered in the desert as a baby in 1979. Reunited in 2013, Abu Jack and Bdah have become close friends. In 1986, Bdah was seven years old, and his two older sisters were already attending elementary school at Salasil. It was time for Bdah to begin his formal education.
In this series, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (Father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, tells the story of Bdah Al Hajri, whom he first encountered in the desert as a baby in 1979. Reunited in 2013, Abu Jack and Bdah have become close friends. Bdah’s mother, Masturah, reflected on her life as a newlywed.
In al Hasa, fifty miles inland from the Persian Gulf, a small drilling rig was helping to prove the existence of the great En Nala anticline, still the largest single complex of oil fields in the world. Sandy was "sitting" that well.
In this series, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (Father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, tells the story of Bdah Al Hajri, whom he first encountered in the desert as a baby in 1979. Reunited in 2013, Abu Jack and Bdah have become close friends. In late 1978, Bdah Al Hajri was born in a Bedouin tent at the northern extremity of the Eastern Province oil fields, near the remote Aramco construction site at Fazran.
Here is a wonderful collection of photographs taken by Aramco photographer Bert Seal that will take you down memory lane while envisioning those happy golden days of the 1950s.
In this piece, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, is escorted deep into the Rub Al Khali (the Empty Quarter) to meet, for the first time, the son of an old acquaintance. Before first light there was a slight chill in the air, and the men gathered around the cooking fire. Coffee and tea were served, and conversation ensued. Inevitably the discussion turned to the herd.
In this piece, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, is escorted deep into the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) to meet, for the first time, the son of an old acquaintance. We stopped at the edge of the camp. I stepped out of the Landcruiser and called out “Salaam Aleikum!” to the group of men standing facing us.
In this piece, Mark Lowey, “Abu Jack,” is escorted deep into the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) to meet, for the first time, the son of an old acquaintance.
In this piece, Mark Lowey relates an alarming incident in the early childhood of Bakhait Al Marri, son of a Bedouin gentleman who Mark met in 1979.
The first half of 1956 is full of interesting developments for Aramco. Notable visitors to Dhahran include King Saud, who is feted at a 600-guest dinner, Steve Bechtel, president of the Bechtel Corporation, top officials from the Aramco’s owner companies...
One Friday morning in the blue-tinted bedroom of our Dhahran duplex we awakened very early. We planned a picnic, not to Half-Moon Bay where everyone went, but to an artesian pool, a small lake north of Qatif, a seacoast town.
In this piece, Mark Lowey shares a touching tribute to Quriyan Al Hajri as told by Quriyan’s longtime friend and Aramco colleague, Richard Moffitt. Mark met Quriyan in 2013 when their chance encounter led Mark to reunite with the long-lost Bedouin families whom he had first met in 1978.
In this piece, Mark Lowey, “Abu Jack,” is escorted deep into the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) and told the astonishing story of a water well named Umm Al Abel.
It was the winter of 1952. Aramco had just produced its 300 millionth barrel of oil. The Administration building was so new that the parking lot is still unpaved.