Lena Aburaad interview, 22 March 2017
Abstract
Lena Aburaad is a Palestinian and works as an Arabic instructor at CSU. She graduated from CSU with a B.A. in Speech and Hearing and a Master in Education. She was born in Amman and grew up in the UAE. She has 2 girls and 2 boys. She came with her family to Cleveland in 1992 as a result of the First Gulf War. They chose Cleveland because her husband's brother was living in the city. Her father began a new newspaper called al-Bayan in Dubai. The challenges that Lena faced when she arrived in Cleveland were raising her kids and missing her family back home (such as celebrations and holidays). She enjoys living in Cleveland especially since it is a quiet and good place to raise kids. Her connections to the Arab community are through Arab centers, such as AACCESS. They thinks that the story of the Arabs in Cleveland is overall as story of success. She encourages her children to keep up with the Arabic language and Arab traditions.
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Arab Community in Cleveland
These interviews comprise stories from the Arab American community in Cleveland. The educational, political, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds of the interviewees are diverse in scope and shed light into the unique contributions Arabs have made to their local communities since immigrating to Cleveland dating from the 1950s onward. Interviews were conducted by Dr. Abed Tayyara, associate professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies and director of Middle Eastern Studies at CSU and Ms.…