One of the great pleasures we derive from operating this website is having the opportunity to feature stories from Aramco annuitants through which they share with readers experiences from their years of living and working in the Kingdom and, equally important, share details from their lives after retiring from the company and returning home or setting up camp as an expat retiree in yet another country. In the past we've reported about many Aramco veterans living in diverse lands, a majority of them, it seems, residents of the U.S. This week, in a welcome change of pace, we have the honor of highlighting the accomplishments of Jan Mohammed, Badge Number 071958, living now in Karachi, Pakistan after a 30-year career with Aramco.
Jan arrived in the Thuqba Compound in 1973 to take on the responsibilities of a Senior Invoice Verifier in the IT Department in Dhahran. Together with his wife Khair Bibi, they forged comfortable and rewarding lives in KSA for themselves and their five children, Aftab, Qamar, Tanvir, Tahmina, and Samina. Richly blessed by God, they now know the joy of 15 grandchildren: Jenna, age 14; Soha, age 13; Ehab, age 12; Othman, age 12; Omar, age 12; Amna, age 11; Luqman, age 9; Yusuf, age 6; Emad, age 5; Hiba, 4; Nabil, age 3; Rehan, age 3; Sami, age 3; and Rania and Rameen, ages 3 months.
When asked what attracted him to working for Saudi Aramco and living in Saudi Arabia in the first place, Jan Mohammed pointed to the professionalism of the Aramco system of doing business and the rewarding character of Saudi culture. He greatly respected the way in which authority was delegated within Aramco by its highly-qualified management and found fulfillment in meeting an abundance of work-related challenges operating on a playing field that offered equal opportunity to everyone.
Jan Mohammed is equally thankful for the benefits enjoyed by his children courtesy of the generous support Aramco provided members of its employees' families. He gratefully remembers the quality education his children received from caring teachers in well-equipped and spacious classrooms. He fondly remembers as well developing his personal communication skills through the Dhahran Toastmasters Club.
His favorite memories of Saudi Arabia include the empowerment he felt from management which inspired him to continue to serve Aramco for almost 30 years, knowing he had the full support of his peers, colleagues, management and, most particularly, of his Saudi staff including all MDD and IT contractors.
Now happily retired and living in Pakistan, Jan Mohammed continues to pursue the same leisure-time activities he once enjoyed as a member of the Aramco team—hobbies such as playing Scrabble, communicating with friends, keeping in view the guidelines he learned from Toastmasters, and taking daily walks an hour or more long.
Jan Mohammed looks forward to returning to Saudi Arabia in 2018 to participate in the next major Aramcon reunion. "The purpose," he writes, "will be none other than to be able to meet with my former co-workers to bring back the golden memories yet one more time after a recess of almost 15 years!"
His parting advice to readers is to remind them that "working for Saudi Aramco is like writing a positive history in your personal life. Based on the famous good old Aramco saying of my time that 'there is no limit to what a man can do, provided he doesn't care who gets the credit' and 'Innovate or Evaporate' I would like to impart to all my successors that, by following the guidelines provided by these sayings, I built my professional career with Aramco."
Readers who would like to reach out to Jan Mohammed can reach him via email at jan.mohammad68@yahoo.com.