Washington Report On Middle East Affairs – October 2018

Exhibit Highlights Journeys of

Iraqi And Syrian Refugees in the

U.S.

On July 28, the Japanese American Na-

tional Museum in Los Angeles held an

event to celebrate the arrival of a traveling

exhibition called “What We Carried: Frag-

ments and Memories from Iraq and Syria.”

The exhibition seeks to highlight the sto-

ries and journeys of some of the roughly

140,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees who

have arrived in the U.S. in recent years.

Free-lance photographer Jim Lommasson,

the mastermind behind the project, asked

refugees to share a significant item they

brought with them on their journey to the

U.S. He then photographed each item and

asked the refugees to write why they chose

that particular item.

The event’s panel discussion included

Yae Aihara, a Japanese-American woman

interned by the U.S. government during

World War II, and Naqibullah Noorzad, an

Afghan refugee who settled in the U.S. Mod-

erating the discussion was Traci Ishigo, co-

chair of Vigilant Love (<vigilantlove.org>).

“On Feb. 19, 1942, the Japanese-Amer-

ican community lost everything. My family

was sent to an internment camp in Idaho.

After the war, the government gave each

person $25 to start his or her life over," re-

called Aihara. She was only 15 years old

when her father was arrested and impris-

oned for two-and-a-half years at Terminal

Island prison in Long Beach, CA.

Noorzad described his experience as an

Afghan refugee. He had to wait for two-

and-a-half years before he received his

visa to the U.S., he said, while his friends

died before they received their visas. When

he arrived in the U.S., he had to stay with

other immigrants, and was one of eight

people living in a room. “Coming to the

U.S. was difficult, but we made it,” he said.

“I came to the U.S. with one backpack.

Now, I have two cars, and a house with two

bedrooms, and a good-paying job in a

bridal-wedding company doing photogra-

phy. I’m married and have two young chil-

dren.”

For more information on the exhibit, visit

<whatwecarried.com>. —Samir Twair

The Magnificat Institute: Playing

The Correct Note

At a time when much dissonance sur-

rounds the Holy City of Jerusalem, one can

hear harmony at the Magnificat Institute—

the Music School of the Custody of the Holy

Land. Countless hours of practice bore fruit

when students and teachers shared their

heavenly sounds from July 12 to 16 in

Washington, DC, at the Shrine of St. John

Paul II, the Museum of the Bible and the

Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in

America, and in Baltimore at the Basilica of

the National Shrine of the Assumption of

the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Magnificat, inspired by Fr. Armando

Pierucci, OFM, has operated in the Old

City of Jerusalem for more than two

decades. It is “a laboratory of coexistence,”

as the Magnificat’s website states, where

students bring their diverse cultures and

experiences in order to enrich each other

and those who attend their performances.

Directed by Fr. Alberto J. Pari, OFM, the

Magnificat provides high academic educa-

tion in music for the local children of

Jerusalem, irrespective of gender, lan-

guage, race or religion. The long roster of

Magnificat courses includes: violin, viola,

cello, piano, guitar, voice, flute, trumpet,

bassoon, music theory and history of

music. These courses enhance the stu-

dents’ knowledge and performance prac-

tice in classical and contemporary music.

According to Fr. Alberto, the Magnificat

“creates an active academic environment

64 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018

(L-r) Yae Aihara, Naqibullah Noorzad and Traci Ishigo.

Iraqi refugee Dr. Baher Butti submitted a family photograph for the traveling “What We

Carried” exhibition.

PHOTO COURTESY WHAT WE CARRIED

STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

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