Hi,

My name is Emma Qoleetsa and I´m thrilled to be learning Arabic and traveling to the Middle East as one of their first waves of solo female tourists since Saudi Arabia opened the region to tourism in 2019.

I have been learning Arabic for a few years now and I´m excited to use it in the Middle East. I have learned Arabic in formal university level courses and from friends in university who I played soccer with who were from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. For this reason, I´ll be visiting their countries:

I´ll be traveling to Oman October 28th for 1 month (their maximum stay).

Then I will visit Saudi Arabia for three weeks.

Finally, I will travel to Egypt.

During my trip, I will be documenting, through photos, videos, and some writing, the new tourism economy and social change.

I already have funds for:

Flights, car rentals, bus passes

Accommodations and food

Your donations will go towards:

1. A tour from a female tour guide ($40/hour)

2. A tour in an electric vehicle to an archeological heritage site in Salalah, Oman

3. Payment and gifts for local hosts for Arabic and cultural events in Muscat, Salalah, Riyadh, and Alexandria.

Thank you for supporting my project!

I will be posting videos of the trip on social media:

https://www.youtube.com/@Blueisthenewgold_alazraq

(Named after the documentary Blue Gold: Water Wars from 2018, which talked about how water is becoming the most important commodity resource. We are already seeing climate change refugees from these regions. )