Abstract
Abdullah (Abby) Mina, is a radio host for the Arabic program on Cleveland State University's WCSB 89.3. He has served as the past president of C.A.M.E.O. (Cleveland American Middle East Organization) for twelve years. Abby immigrated to America in 1956 to Richmond, VA and later migrated to Cleveland, OH after marriage to his wife, Mona. He proudly devoted his life in America helping to assimilate and assist Arab immigrants into American society.
Interviewee
Mina, Abdullah (interviewee)
Interviewer
Assily, Rania (interviewer)
Project
Arab Community in Cleveland
Date
6-7-2016
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
37 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Abdullah Mina interview, 07 June 2016" (2016). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 345003.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/904
Transcript
Rania Assily [00:00:02] Okay.
Rania Assily [00:00:03] This is Rania Assily here. Here we are at Joe’s Deli and restaurant on June 7 of 2016, and I’m here interviewing Abdullah Mina. So happy to be here with Abdullah and his wife as well. And so we’re going to conduct the interview here for Cleveland state’s Digital Oral History Project. So I just want to welcome you, Abdullah, for being here.
Abdullah Mina [00:00:27] Thank you very much. Nice meeting you, indeed, and appreciate your project, whatever you’re doing, and nice meeting you personally.
Rania Assily [00:00:35] Thank you. It’s a pleasure meeting you, too. Abdullah, let’s just start off with your full name and what you go by.
Abdullah Mina [00:00:44] Well, that’s okay. Whatever they’re comfortable with. My name is Abdel Lamina. And when I first came to America, and when I ended up in college in Richmond, Virginia, I met this friend. I said, what’s your name? He said, my name is Philip, but they called me Phil. What’s your name? I said, Abdullah. He said, what? He said, I wonder if we call you Abby? I said, fine. So American, they called me Abby. They know me by both names, Abdullah and Abby.
Rania Assily [00:01:17] Who named you? Your mother or your father?
Abdullah Mina [00:01:20] My father at that time, as a matter of fact, he told me he had a dream my mother was expecting with me that he was holding a little kid by his hand, walking around and somebody said, hey, what’s the name of your boy? He said, Abdullah. So he said, I want to name him Abdullah if we have a boy, so that wherever he goes, Allah is with him.
Rania Assily [00:01:44] That name is a very beautiful name, by the way, for a man. I asked my mother what Abdullah meant, she said ‘servant of God’.
Abdullah Mina [00:01:47] I appreciate that. Yes. Servant of God, or even. Yes, yes, yes.
Rania Assily [00:01:59] So, Abdullah, tell us about you growing up. Where did you grow up? And tell us about yourself.
Abdullah Mina [00:02:03] Well, childhood, we are a family of 1011 people. Really. One of them I didn’t recognize. I didn’t know. My sister passed away before I was, no, I was born, she passed away, and there were ten of us, seven girls and three boys. Grew up in a little village. Nice, happy child. It’s called Kafraiya Beqaa. In the district of Beqaa.
Rania Assily [00:02:31] Oh, in the Beqaa Valley?
Abdullah Mina: [00:02:32] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went to the local British school I attended. Ultimately, I attended Muslim schools, Catholic schools, Presbyterian schools, and non-sectarian schools and Southern Baptist university. So I had kind of good overview vision of all these religious groupings, and I respect a lot of their faiths. All of them.
Rania Assily: [00:03:05] Was that typical in Lebanon to happen sort of?
Abdullah Mina: [00:03:06] No. No, no. That depends on the town you are born in. Believe it or not, in my town, they did not teach French, for instance. Okay, whatever. English, you know, they taught, it was very insignificant. Okay. But we were very good, very strong in Arabic.
Rania Assily: [00:03:33] So Arabic was the first language to learn?
Abdullah Mina: [00:03:34] Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. We’re very good in Arabic. After 60. After almost 60 years in America, my Arabic is still phenomenally good. Almost 60. Almost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1956, I came here to this great country, and I keep telling the people, eleven presidents ago, Eisenhower was president when I came here.
Rania Assily [00:04:02] What was your teenage, what were you like as a teenager, were you ambitious?
Abdullah Mina [00:04:09] Ambitious, nice, bashful little kid? Ya know.
Rania Assily [00:04:17] You always think you would end up in America?
Abdullah Mina [00:04:19] I was hoping to, yeah, I was hoping to. My uncle, I had two uncles in Virginia on my father’s side. One of them visited Lebanon, and he said, I’d like. Would you like to come to America? I’ll sponsor you. So he sponsored me to come to America as a student. That’s 1956. Yes, Virginia. Yes, yes.
Rania Assily [00:04:44] And so when you came here, can you tell us a little bit about what you experienced?
Abdullah Mina [00:04:51] Oh, Virginia, they’re nice, friendly bunch of people. In the United States, people are very hospitable and good. As a matter of fact, they were helpful in school with my broken English and all that stuff. Now they were good. Of course, before I came here, we had good feelings toward America, myself, my family. Okay. So that probably helped to have a positive outlook on America, which we did. And I got involved in school activities here and college especially.
Rania Assily [00:05:29] What kinds of activities?
Abdullah Mina [00:50:30] Okay, activities? I ended up being the editor in chief of the literary magazine. Yes. I used to write article in the weekly paper of the university, and I was in the student government. I was president of the history Society, president of the Philologian Society. Like a debating kind of a thing. Yes, yes. I lost my accent in Virginia. I regained it in Cleveland.
Rania Assily [00:06:03] The South is very different from the North. So did you… I don’t know. I mean, did you get a sense of when you moved here in the North, did you notice that?
Abdullah Mina [00:06:13] Yeah, kind of, a little bit. Because I was born overseas, it didn’t affect me as much. Okay. In the south, of course, they’re still fighting the civil war almost, you know, that happened, so. That’s right. You notice the hospitality of the south. Okay. And in Cleveland, the people are beautiful here, too. So it’s nice people.
Rania Assily [00:06:39] I imagine, if you know, the immigrant population, was it large? Was it pretty small?
Abdullah Mina: [00:06:48] No. Very small. Very small. We had
Rania Assily [00:06:51] Was this at the University of Richmond?
Abdullah Mina [00:06:52] University of Richmond, Virginia. Okay. We had another kid from Lebanon, one student from Jordan, and the rest of them, some oriental students, no black students whatsoever. Of course. Now the black students are about 20% of the campus, and the president of the university is an African American person, which things are changing so much for the better in many cases. Yes, yes. So that’s my story in Richmond, Virginia.
Rania Assily [00:07:27] So, okay, so you came to Cleveland. What brought you to Cleveland?
Abdullah Mina [00:07:30] My wife!
Rania Assily [00:07:31] So tell us about your wife. What’s your wife’s name?
Abdullah Mina [00:07:35] Mona, so Mona Mina is her name.
Rania Assily [00:07:40] So how did you meet?
Abdullah Mina [00:07:42] I met her in Lebanon, really, Her grandfather is my godfather and little kids every night. She knew me in that sense of that story. So she came to America in 1954. She was a baby. Right. I came here in 1956, went to Virginia. After a couple of years, we met here in Cleveland. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Rania Assily [00:08:09] So your families knew each other.
Abdullah Mina [00:08:12] Yes, yes, yes.
Rania Assily [00:08:16] So did you know her pretty well?
Abdullah Mina [00:08:21] kind of superficially almost?
Rania Assily [00:08:24] And what was the courting like, you.
Abdullah Mina [00:08:26] Know, between the family?
Rania Assily [00:08:27] Because, you know, you’re not just courting her, you’re courting the family too, right?
Abdullah Mina [00:08:30] That’s, you know, once the families know each other, that’s no problem there. I mean, my family knew. They are good family. Their family knew they were good family. What they’re afraid of overseas is that you end up in a bad marriage somewhere. Okay? That’s why they’re overprotective of the girls sometimes. And there was no issue in this case here. So we got married here, and I wanted to go back to Virginia. I didn’t like the snow and the ice here, so here she was a better salesperson than I was. Honey, let’s stay here one year, if you don’t like it, we’ll go back to you, Virginia. So I stayed one year. I, you know, got a job and started making friends and all that. So what the heck? One more year. One more year. So I settled here.
Rania Assily [00:09:21] So Mona had a big influence on you, in terms of staying here.
Abdullah Mina [00:09:25] She still does.
Rania Assily [00:9:27] And all of her family is still here?
Abdullah Mina [00:09:31] Yeah. Brother and sister are still here. Parents passed away, my uncles both passed away in Virginia.
Rania Assily [00:09:42] So, tell me a bit more about some of the differences you noticed between coming from Lebanon to ending up here? What were some of the big changes, ya know cultural shock…
Abdullah Mina [00:10:01] Of course, language and customs to start with. Language and customs to start with. Overseas. The kids are, for instance, very respectful of their teachers here, even though in the south they were kind of respectful of the teachers. Now probably the teachers are afraid of the kids in Lebanon. They were very respectful of the teachers, very respectful of their elders. If somebody older than you are, even if you don’t know them, you call them Uncle (Umo), this and that out of respect here, you know, you don’t see it. Even though I’m not saying that all kids are careless here, they have a lot of wonderful, beautiful kids here, also respectful. And, you know, it’s kind of vague memory in my mind because I didn’t feel very strange. One thing that stays in my mind and my old, when my old acquaintances, they tell you why this is how we do it in America. I said, you mean 200 million people, whatever it was at that time, they think the same thing in America, you know, that’s what happened. I didn’t have a cultural shock, you might say. I almost was prepared for that. I got to fit in society kind of fast. Am I right, hon? So I was mentally kind of prepared for it, mentally.
Rania Assily [00:11:35] I am curious in terms, America has changed so much from when you first came…
Abdullah Mina: [00:11:40] Yeah, I know.
Rania Assily [00:11:45] Tell me a little bit about, you know, what were some of the things that you weren’t too impressed with? Did you have anything that you were impressed with? Everyone says its the land of opportunity, it’s a wonderful place. What are some things that you think, you know, as an immigrant, that you felt you had to really contribute because that’s what it’s all about, people coming here and what they bring to the culture. So what would you say, is lacking and in need?
Abdullah Mina [00:12:18] Of course, understanding of the outsiders. Okay. Because America is so great and so vast. People have no time, generally speaking, to learn about Lebanon and to learn about this and that. First you got to know your own country, your own neighbors, Canada and Latin America and all of that stuff, and the big powers in the world. By the time you get to understand what Jordan is and Lebanon is, I mean, just, you know, they had very superficial understanding of the area. Very superficial. To a large degree. They still are. They still are. That would be culturally deep. You gotta understand the culture. Not enough to understand the language. You understand the culture that still is. We’re suffering from that as a nation. We are doing much better now. If you. In the past, nobody wanted to learn Arabic. The immigrants didn’t want to teach their kids Arabic because they were bashful. They were ashamed. We got to belong here in America. That is why they wanted their people to marry their own kind. They felt more comfortable with them because of the language barrier. If the kid got married to an American girl and they spoke in Arabic, the girl might think they’re talking about her. So that’s why a lot of the people stuck together. But nowadays, when the people come here understanding the language and schooling over there is all over the place. There’s no problem, you know? Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:13:55] Yeah. I think that is a big thing. Things have changed so much. I think people are starting to open up more learning about the cultures and learning new languages. So overall would say…what do you think, because I know you are involved in CAMEO…
Abdullah Mina [00:14:18] and other organizations.
Rania Assily [00:14:19] What brought you to wanting to help the Arab immigrant population? Because you yourself seemed, like, really had a quite easy time assimilating and working here. Do you sense that’s the case for a lot of immigrants today?
Abdullah Mina [00:14:35] Essentially. Let me tell you, to start with, I’m not a scientist. I did not learn to be an engineer. I did not study mathematics. I hated it for, you know, I am more of a socialist social, not socialist social guy. And I fit with our people and the American people. And I was asked many times to translate this paper, to do that paper for them, okay. Which I did that got me involved with clubs and so on. CAMEO is Cleveland American Middle East Organization. I learned about it. This is like to empower Arab immigrants here. Okay? And so I became a member…
Rania Assily [00:15:19] When was that?
Abdullah Mina [00:15:21] Probably in the early eighties, eighties or something. I don’t recall. So then there was a vacancy. They wanted me to take over and stabilize the situation, which I did because I believe the credibility of a person or organization. The main thing is credibility. Okay? So stabilize the organization. Stabilize the other organizations also, because I’m, I share the responsibility with the people. I’m not saying I, I, I. All the time, I say ‘WE’. Whereas I’ve seen people after me that tell you, aye, aye, aye. That’s not my style. It’s not my style.
Rania Assily [00:16:12] Do you think that has a lot to do with your culture?
Abdullah Mina [00:16:14] Probably so. Probably so. My culture, my faith. Maybe. So I became president for cameo for twelve years. Twelve years. And I resigned finally. Tell him. Listen, guys, I mean, somebody else take over. I’m still on the board.
Rania Assily [00:16:32] What are some of the things that you’ve done with CAMEO, what are some of the great projects you’ve worked on?
Abdullah Mina [00:16:38] Let me tell you, yeah, in a way, well we taught our people how to vote. Okay. On my own, before cameo, I used to teach them on my radio program how to become a citizen. The questions, Arabic and English. Try to explain to them why it’s so, okay? So they understand it. And I keep telling once they are citizens, they ought to register and vote. Don’t be afraid, nobody’s going to look over their shoulder to say, what are you voting for? Okay? And I suspected, and I was right, that some people don’t vote. They’re embarrassed to tell you, I don’t even know how. And we have somebody, even a doctor or somebody either rented or bought an old voting machine. And we took it in some of our picnics. We told the people, come on, please don’t be, you know, let’s teach them. This is the machine. They’ll be afraid of it. You put the ballot right here and these holes right there. Make sure it’s inside. You got this little right here, you know this name is Joe, you push it down. You voted for them. It’s very elementary, but people appreciated that. I believe that’s one of the main contributions we did. And the fact that in addition to that, that comes my radio show teaching them Arabic and English all the time. If they’re here, they should become citizens. Many times, very often, I fill out their papers. I take them downtown to the immigration for free. I did almost 1000 papers either filled out or translated for free. Absolutely for free. To the point. Yeah, yeah. I teach them how to driver’s license. I teach them the laws and all that stuff. I cannot go teach them driving, but I teach them the laws and the answer the questions, what have you, and take them to the driver, whatever they give the tests. I said to the point where many times I ask somebody, you know, you look familiar, this and that, they tell me, yeah, you need my papers. I went to your house and did my. I’m sorry. You don’t remember. That’s. That came from my family back home. I remember my father, God rest his soul, used to tell me, when somebody came to write something, he used to tell me, “Yaba” means son or dad or something, “you have nice handwriting. Get the pen and all that. Let’s write. You do this and that.” So that became a habit. If the people call me at home, and sometimes when they start asking, how’s the family? I know something else is coming up. Where are you? Haven’t seen you. This and that. I know they want a favor. If there’s any way I can help it, I will never say no. The only time I might say no, if they asked me today and they wanted that paper two weeks ago, I’ve done that, too. Sometimes they came in the evening to our house and next morning I was going to Lebanon and I had to finish the paperwork. I wanted to say, God bless you. Bless your children. God bless your children. God bless your family. I said, well, what to do? I said, people, why don’t you give me some time? I’d love to help you. Give me some time.
Rania Assily [00:20:24] It could be that Arab sense of time. Sometimes we are not the best with time, but you know what? That just says a lot about you as a person wanting to help these people.
Abdullah Mina [00:20:43] It’s been almost economically unfortunate. What can you do? This is. This is how I grew up. This is kind of my faith, shows up in this kind of work. Yes.
Rania Assily [00:21:20] It’s interesting because there aren’t many organizations out there to help particularly Arab American immigrants not a lot of people out there that are willing to go to the lengths that you have to help those people…so do you think that CAMEO makes you think that there is that potential and there are a lot of people following in your footsteps?
Abdullah Mina [00:21:42] Not in that area, not to this extent. Yeah, yes.
Rania Assily [00:21:47] What do you think needs to be done in Cleveland?
Abdullah Mina [00:21:55] We need some kind of unity here. We don’t trust each other. The Arabic people, all of them. I call it the virus of Arabic culture or the virus of Arabic language.
Rania Assily [00:22:06] The violence?
Abdullah Mina [00:22:07] Virus.
Rania Assily [00:22:08] oh the virus!
Abdullah Mina [00:22:10] We’re beautiful people. We have million good things. But one thing we have, we’re either too jealous of each other or I don’t know what it is, or don’t trust each other. Okay. I have. Some people do not believe that my radio program is free to. It cost me money. They think I get paid for it and I spend money buying that stuff, they don’t believe it. I said, okay, don’t believe it.
Rania Assily [00:22:43] okay so tell us about your radio show, I listened there last week. I listened to your show, my mom was like back in time.
Abdullah Mina [00:22:47] I wasn’t there last week.
Rania Assily [00:22:48] Was it last week? Or maybe two weeks ago. I listened to your show. My mom was digging the music you were playing, really, she was like back in time…
Abdullah Mina [00:22:58] I gotta play some old fashioned music for her.
Rania Assily [00:23:01] I mean tell me about that. What brought you into radio? And can I just tell you have a radio voice you could do this professionally and get paid. I mean you could get trained and become professional.
Abdullah Mina [00:23:13] Thank you, I never got trained for radio. I was driving one time in the seventies on Prospect Avenue. There was an ethnic radio station, WZAK. Now they changed Hungarian program, Irish program, this program. I said, do they have Arabic program? They said, no. Why not? Nobody wants to do it, or nobody cares or nobody. So I went to the management at that time, that was a for profit station. They said, it’s going to cost you so much to buy time. 1 hour, which I did, and I went around to get some sponsors to pay for it. I stayed there about ten years and they sold the station. So I said, okay, I’ll rush the heck with it. Then in 1997 or something about. There was an opening at Cleveland state. Friend of mine had it before for a couple of years, Arabic program. He moved to Florida and he said, come on. And this and that. I mean, it’s an expensive hobby in time and money, but especially in time. The time commitment. My time is Saturday, six to eight. Come Saturday, two, three in the afternoon, I’m worried that I’m going to forget my show. So I can’t go any place unless I got to check my time all the time. Check the time. So it’s a commitment, really. And you get to the radio show. So that’s what got me in it, the radio show. I had a nice variety show in the beginning. A little bit of history, a little bit of social things. And I love the languages, Arabic and English. I teach them a lot of the English words that came from Arabic and give them quizzes on Arabic culture, about the Arabic people in America and what they did, what they contributed, what they did. Okay? And that kind of stuff. So. So now…
Rania Assily [00:25:15] How many years?
Abdullah Mina [00:25:19] It’s going on 20, almost 20. Just about. Yeah, maybe 19. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. I still enjoy it. Not as much as before.
Rania Assily [00:25:33] Why not, not as much?
Abdullah Mina [00:25:34] I’m getting older!
Rania Assily [00:25:37] You don’t look old.
Abdullah Mina [00:25:40] I’m limping with my. Whatever it is, pinched nerve, but I still enjoy it. I get the calls from people. Thank you very much. We enjoy your show. Who sang that song? You know, that kind of stuff. And nowadays you could get it on the Internet. I have quite few listeners. I don’t know how many, but I know the spots. Canada and Germany all the time. Then Japan, Korea, Eastern Europe. Unbelievable. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:26:12] Who is the most interesting guest you had?
Abdullah Mina [00:26:16] Let me tell you, that would be interesting also. I used to host like a segment for the immigrants, especially the director of immigration in Ohio and Kentucky. Ask him question and answer. My paper is this, this and that, and whatever it is. And he answers them, okay? And he tell them, call this number for shortcut. Okay? And he takes a lady with him. She’s also an attorney. He was an attorney in immigration. People used to love that. After 9–11, a lot of people didn’t answer no question. They tell me for some reason, they, they get his name and they call the person between them, so it’s no problem. But they still call me about that, and I think that was of great service. I have local politicians and people who became members of the Ohio supreme court. I don’t go all over the place. If I want to, I could interview all kinds of, you know, national politicians. It’s not my cup of tea. You might say I keep it local. CAMEO is also local. We have local politics.
Rania Assily [00:27:50] Would you say that a lot of immigrants today, do they hesitate in terms to contact you for help, or do you think that they’re in need of more than that?
Abdullah Mina [00:28:02] No, no, they’re less in need. They have learned the language now, and they come, you know, differently. And they still call probably two or three times a week anyhow. Even if I don’t know something, I know where to guide them, how to get it.
Rania Assily [00:28:23] That’s really important, Abby. I don’t know what will happen when your show no longer exists. I mean, I don’t even want to think about it, but what will happen? What do you want to happen?
Abdullah Mina [00:28:33] Well, I would love for it to continue. Okay. Non politically, our people are animals for politics. They love politics. We have many factions here from Lebanon especially. My main interests are in Lebanon and Syria and Jordan and Palestine. And those I don’t get involved in their politics. There’s no end to it. People made up their minds what things are ought to be okay? I stay away from religion and politics. Now, I used to interview the local imam. He was a friend of mine, went back to Palestine. And the priest, who is now a bishop in Canada, we used to have good interviews. Okay? So I was kind of a meeting point between these religious groups, and they all enjoyed the show and, you know.
Rania Assily [00:29:35] So you would have interfaith discussions?
Abdullah Mina [00:29:37] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Very respectful, very respectful. Thing is, now my faith is better than, you know that. And you are wrong and I’m right. No, no, no.
Rania Assily [00:29:47] Wow, that is really, there’s not a lot interfaith discussion, I mean I think it happens in academia, but not in the public, the exposure is not in public.
Abdullah Mina [00:30:01] Right, like CAMEO, for instance. We open up with national anthem and so on. And the prayers, we get a priest and a imam. Imam Ramez Islambouli. I don’t know if you know him. He’s instructor in Islamic studies in Cleveland, not Cleveland state. I don’t know if he does at Cleveland State. Maybe he does case western reserve and John Carroll. He’s a beautiful man. We invited. I enjoy. I enjoy exchanges of ideas. I do. The more different they are, the better it is, because my background, my schooling and so on. Time? Okay. Yes, yes. Yeah. Check on Cleveland magazine, even though sometimes there’s a short misquote, but that’s all right.
Rania Assily [00:31:07] Well okay, to continue on here, so I just want to ask you, what would be some good advice to give to people who just recently come here, what would you say to them?
Abdullah Mina [00:31:15] First, discover America. Learn so much about America. It’s a beautiful country, hospitable country. Then in the process, you could keep your heritage. Remember your heritage. We are proud we have a heritage. We can be proud of where we came from. Don’t ever forget that. As I tell my friends sometimes, that Jesus was not born in Chicago and St. Paul never made it to Buffalo. We have a lot to be proud of. Our heritage. The Alphabet came from over there. The word Bible came from Byblos. The word Lebanon is mentioned over 50 times in the Bible, all in glorious terms, of course, the Palestine and Syria and all that learning our history is going to enrich your American experience is not going to go against it. But, of course, adopt America, love America. America is extremely hospitable land that welcomed everybody.
Rania Assily [00:32:31] Can you tell us about your family?
Abdullah Mina [00:32:35] We have one son and a daughter. Yes. My son is married. He has two girls and a boy. And my daughter is not married for health reasons. Her legs and what have you. If she heard me say about that, she feels bad. Huh? What? Don’t. I won’t. So anyhow, you could. You could. Okay.
Rania Assily [00:33:06] So you have your family close to you.
Abdullah Mina [00:33:08] Very much so, yes. Close physically and emotionally.
Rania Assily [00:33:12] I think that makes a difference, you know? Would you say that you have been extended family from any immigrants, like serving as an extended member of many families?
Abdullah Mina [00:33:26] I believe so. With all humility, yes. Yes. Especially the people who came from the general area where we came from? Yes, they count on me for a lot of things, and I very gladly accommodate them.
Rania Assily [00:33:42] Abby, now that your sort of enjoying your retirement time years and your just enjoying life at this point of your life and your children and your grandchildren and your radio show, what do you hope that the Cleveland immigrant community and the Arab American community, what is your hopes and your vision for the future?
Abdullah Mina [00:34:03] The future? I don’t know. I believe. I wish there would be some kind of unity because we have a lot to offer as a united group. Also, we have a lot to offer this nation to this area, which welcomed all of us. We still have this unity among our people. They bring their disunity from overseas with them to here. There are some good attempts, but not enough. Not enough. I wish for that. The area, of course, I wish the areas to stay prosperous and happy and that kind of stuff. If they can do anything about no more snow, that’s okay with me.
Rania Assily [00:34:52] Is there anything else you want to share? Is there anything particular that you want to share about your story and just sort of give that message off to others who have been in your predicament, let’s say, coming here and having to make a name for themselves.
Abdullah Mina [00:35:11] I would say if you’re able to help your fellow men or human beings, your immigrants, do it, do the best you can, love this country and be a good person. Generally speaking, whatever your faith is, there’s no faith that I know of that taught us to hate each other. That’s generally speaking, what I believe in. Our people are very enterprising. They can fit reasonably well immediately after they arrive here. I’m not worried about them in that regard. But if they can unite or semi unite or pretend they’re uniting a little bit and have a good time, enjoy themselves in this greatest nation on God’s green earth.
Rania Assily [00:36:01] Abby, can I ask just ask you, have you been back to Lebanon since you left?
Abdullah Mina [00:36:05] Yes, many times. Yes, yes, many times.
Rania Assily [00:36:09] And did you, what do you feel when you go back?
Abdullah Mina [00:36:25] Emotional [fighting back tears] Sorry. I remember the family when we were kids, that kind.
Rania Assily [00:36:48] Abby, we’ve been blessed to have you here in this country, and I know Lebanon has blessed you and brought you here to share your memories, to share your story.
Abdullah Mina [00:37:01] Thank you very much. It’s been blessing to know you and I wish you the best in your mission here, and I appreciate knowing you also.
Rania Assily [00:37:09] Thank you Abby, thank you so much.
Abdullah Mina [00:37:11] I hope we’ll meet again!
Rania Assily [00:37:12] We will I’m sure!
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