The teenagers of Small Syria are learning a lot these days. They’ve been studying English and math and American history. And they are also learning what it means to become American—and to be an immigrant in America.
They come from different cities, different backgrounds, but here in America they are discovering their common Syrian-ness. They are finding a new determination to help their families become a community—not because they were all born in the same place, but because fate took them to the same place. And in that place they are discovering that friends can become like family, that a community can be built from scratch by sharing stories, sharing meals, sharing experiences.
In episode 12 of Mn Huna: Finding Refuge in Friendship, Houda introduces you to Samira (15) and Farrah (16). Both girls are from Homs, Syria and have been in Tucson about two years. By sharing their stories about where they came from, they are building a shared identity—constructed with love of homeland and with grief over what they have lost. And from that shared identity, they can build a future: for themselves, for their families, for America. Weaving their stories into the American tapestry, just as generations of other immigrants have done before them.
هدى/Houda: From here: we say, Syria remains beautiful.
