Expatriates

 Arab Syrian emigrants who, once they know that you came from Syria, they would, spontaneously, rush to stop you, and ask you about their homeland when I reached Allentown, the capital of Pennsylvania, I started to feel relaxed and at home. People gladly came to welcome me with warm zeal until I felt as if I were in Damascus. I asked my companion, “Who are these people?” “Those are Syrians, Lebanese, and Palestinians. The majority of people in this town are from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. They came in here more than a century ago, settled here and gave the place the name: “Amar Al-Hosn ò (after a village in Homs, adjacent to the Crac des Chevaliers).

Meeting them left me sleepless that night. I couldn‘t sleep because I started thinking of how shall I meet them again the next day. What shall I tell them? Would they all understand Arabic, the language of their fathers and forefathers?! I asked about the number of Syrians living in Allentown. The answer was about 200 000 people. In the day that followed, my host‘s house was crowded with people who were all asking: how is our homeland? How is Syria, how are the Syrians? Glittering tears fell on the cheeks of some of them when I started talking about their native towns and villages, and about their relatives and

kins. Minute by minute, the house became smaller and smaller to accommodate the increasing number of visitors. So, we agreed to go, the following day, to a public hall to meet larger numbers of people and talk together, so I could transmit to them even the smallest news they wanted to know about Syria. They agreed to go to the Syrian Cultural Club. When I arrived there, I was surprised to find the hall full of Syrian emigrants in spite of the fact that it was early 8 in the morning. Old people still speaking the local Arabic dialects of the villages they had departed decades ago were eager to know the minute details about the economic, social, cultural and political conditions in Syria, about the possibility of investment, about banks and trade, about the kinds of industry Syria needs…

All were ready to invest parts or all of their capitals in their homeland as a gesture of love to their country. I was surprised to see that young people, even some of those in their forties and fifties, don‘t speak Arabic nor understand it. Some of them are well known physicians, others successful attorneys and merchants. Some had assumed high ranks in governmental positions in the U.S and participated in developing their second home nation where they live. I asked if there was an Arab school in such large Arab community. The answer came that no school teaches Arabic in the town. Some people said that they even do not speak their native Arabic for fear of being repatriated or expelled of their jobs. One of them said with a tear in his eye: “When we came to this country with our fathers, seeking refuge from Ottoman and French occupations, we worked hard, day and night. Some of us worked in steel mills, and in hard labor jobs, where nobody else would have accepted to work.” One of the attendants was Dr. George Khoury, a professor of history in Pennsylvania University. He was born in the U.S. He tried to speak Arabic mixed with American accent: “It is difficult for us to speak Arabic fluently, but generally we understand what is being said to us. We could have some Arabic books to teach to our children too.” He snatched an English document from his handbag, with the stamp of his university on it. It was a letter he sent to President George Bush, the father, in 1991, urging him to stop the war against Iraq and not to use two scales in the Middle East. In another opportunity I visited another club and had the same zealous crowds eager to know about their country. All in all I spent a full week busy in meetings, surrounded by love and fraternity so that I forgot that I was in a foreign country.

A week later, I went to Los Angeles, California. There the case was different, since L.A is a big city with more than ten millions. But when I went to the L.A Syrian-American Club and met its members, I felt of indescribable pride. I found myself among people of different ages, enthusiastic to see their homeland. Some of them brilliant physicians, others successful merchants, executives, and bank owners. Most prominent of them was Mr. Jamil Khoury, who English and Arabic local journals describe as the self-made man.

 Among them also were great clergies, Christians and Moslems like Archbishop Zahlawi, the Archbishop of the Roman Orthodox of California. Here I cannot forget Archbishop Saliba, the Metropolitan of all North America, who assumes the highest rank in the Eastern Church. He always tries to gather and unite Arab emigrants and take them in organized trips to their homeland Syria. It is worthy to mention Syrian clubs and associations in the U.S. They do their best to collect money to support the Palestinian and Iraqi peoples and to aid charity societies in their homeland.

Finally we can say that Syrian emigrants in the U.S are burning candles. They bear the light of their civilization to the west, where they work hard as professors, executives, scientists, mayors and even state governors, mixing their eastern traditions with western ways of living. Their cultural centers and clubs, spread all over the U.S towns and cities, are worthy to be visited. They represent a rich heritage that can of good influence if used successfully.

Haifaa Mafalani