Q: What brought you to Michigan?

A: “I am from Iraq and in 1990 there was a big war in my country so I was like ‘we were not safe so we have to leave the country and come to the United States’. However, I was in California and I met my husband and moved to Michigan.” 

Q: What specifically brought you to West Bloomfield?

A: “I lived in Southfield first and then I had my one kid, and when I was pregnant with the other and my husband found a house in this area so we had to move here.”

Q: Do you mind sharing how your life was in your country?

A:  “In my country, my life was very very simple. Things were very simple, and we did not have that fancy technology; no computers, no cellphones.  My dad worked and we all went to school. The school was free and hospitals were free. Everything was really simple and with neighbors, everybody knew everybody. Everything was available to us until the war started. We worked, the school was the same as here; but we had uniforms. We had universities so everything was nice as like here. The weather was hot though.”

Q: How is it compared to your life here?

A: “Life here in America; I feel like, if we are parents and two kids, we all need to work to make a living but it’s kind of a lot harder. We pay taxes for everything and it’s harder to make a simple living. I feel like people here, in the same, subdivisions, I feel like they don’t interact with each other. Everyone is on their own but when I go to the mall everything is there. And everything was available to me and that was something very nice. If you have a car, you live well. At school, there’s whatever you want to study and you can do whatever; if you want to be an engineer, a doctor, an accountant. That’s a lot of difference. But I feel like the language was hard; I had to learn English. Also, I felt something very nice towards American people. When I am struggling the American people helped me a lot to figure out what I need to do. 

Q: What made you become a teacher? 

A: “I was a high school teacher in my country and I taught math and physics. And when I came to this country I didn’t have a job at first. But I work at a mental health clinic. Then  I worked as a paraprofessional at Scotch Elementary and then my husband passed away; 16 years ago. And I had 2 kids and I went back to school. I love kids and I love teaching so I went back to earn my bachelor and masters degrees from Oakland University. I did my student teaching here with Mr. Abel and the school liked me and that’s when I was hired to be a teacher here.”