Abstract
Mary Harami, wife of the late David Harami, speaks about her life growing up Palestinian of Armenian descent in Jerusalem and working in Jordan and Jerusalem, where she met her husband David, a Palestinian businessman. Mary explains life growing up during the British Mandate of Palestine and recalls becoming a refugee during the Arab-Israeli war. She also speaks about her time working for the American Embassy in Benghazi, Libya which she remembers vividly.
Interviewee
Harami, Mary (interviewee)
Interviewer
Assily, Rania (interviewer); Tayyara, Abedel (interviewer)
Project
Arab Community in Cleveland
Date
7-2-2016
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
40 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Mary Harami interview, 02 July 2016" (2016). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 345004.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/905
Transcript
Rania Assily [00:00:06] Okay, so here I am. This is Rania Assily, another interview for the Cleveland Digital Oral History Project. And I’m here with Mary Harami, and I’m interviewing, Mary. This is June, excuse me, July 2, 2016. And I want to welcome you, Mary, for being part of this project with me.
Mary Harami [00:00:31] Thank you.
Rania Assily [00:00:34] Mary, can you give me your full name?
Mary Harami [00:00:36] Mary Harami. H-a-r-a-m-i.
Rania Assily [00:00:46] And, Mary, what’s your maiden name? Or your.
Mary Harami [00:00:46] Jacob…(unintelligible) no, it was Ramian. Ramian. R-a-m-i-a-n. That’s my.
Rania Assily [00:00:55] That’s before you got married.
Mary Harami [00:00:57] Yes.
Rania Assily [00:00:59] And what kind of name is that?
Mary Harami [00:01:01] It’s an Armenian name. Armenian name. It should have i-a-n. All Armenians have should have Ian in the end of their last names. Any i-a-n. It should be Armenian. It means family. Family. Really? I-a-n means family.
Rania Assily [00:01:23] Oh, okay.
Mary Harami [00:01:24] That’s what she says.
Rania Assily [00:01:24] So means family. So would you say that’s pretty accurate for you, your family?
Mary Harami [00:01:28] Of course, yes.
Rania Assily [00:01:32] Mary, where were you born?
Mary Harami [00:01:34] I was born in Jerusalem out of Armenian parents.
Rania Assily [00:01:42] And when were you born? What was the…
Mary Harami [00:01:45] 1932.
Rania Assily [00:01:48] So what was Jerusalem like when you were born, when you were growing up?
Mary Harami [00:01:53] It was a beautiful place. I remember when I was young, very nice place. Under the British mandate. We were under the British mandate. And so far, when this war started in 1948, we had to leave Jerusalem and go to Jordan. Everybody started leaving, you know, the thinking that they will come back to their own homes, but they never did. So we went to Jordan for a while. I worked as a nurse in a hospital, Ajloun hospital. I was given babies to take care of them.
Rania Assily [00:02:41] How old were you when you worked as a nurse?
Mary Harami [00:02:43] I was in my, you know, in the teens. I was in my teens, yeah, I was in my teens when we had to go to. Huh?
Rania Assily [00:03:00] So, Mary, you were mentioning that you were a teen when you were a nurse. Can you tell us about what, what it was like growing up as a young child in Jerusalem? What was your experience like?
Mary Harami [00:03:12] Well, I don’t remember too much of my childhood. I was put in a German school when my mom died, and I had to be put in a German school for women. For girls. The name is Talitha Kumi school, which was German school. And the principals and everybody was nuns, they were nuns.
Rania Assily [00:03:43] Was it an all girls’ school?
Mary Harami [00:03:45] Yeah, all girl. Because my brothers had to be put in boys school. Mine I went to, and I went to the girls’ school.
Rania Assily [00:03:53] So did you learn German growing up?
Mary Harami [00:03:55] Oh, yeah, I used to speak beautiful German. What? Since I haven’t used it for a while. I can understand some, but not as I have a sister who really speaks fluent German, speaks and writes and reads and teaches German now.
Rania Assily [00:04:18] Mary, what are some of your fondest memories growing up in Jerusalem and being in this German school?
Mary Harami [00:04:28] It’s hard to say. It’s really hard to say. I can’t remember too much, but I was really, I was very young when I was put in the gym. Really very young. I can’t remember too much about that school, except when I grew up, the war started between, you know, the Arabs and the Jews, so we had to leave that country. So.
Rania Assily [00:05:04] Would you say that, was there a lot of conflict when you were growing up in Jerusalem? Did you know, did you feel that as a young child, or did you just sort of like.
Mary Harami [00:05:14] No, I was really treated as a real child, really, because I was very young when I was put in that boarding school and as an Armenian.
Rania Assily [00:05:26] Were there a lot of Armenians in Jerusalem?
Mary Harami [00:05:29] There were, yeah, there were lots of Armenians in Jerusalem.
Rania Assily [00:05:34] Can you tell us about growing up Armenian in Jerusalem? Did you feel.
Mary Harami [00:05:40] No, we lived in. We lived in an Armenian, you know, community. And that’s it. I mean, we lived in that. In all Jerusalem. Yeah, there were many Armenians. It was an Armenian quarter.
Rania Assily [00:05:59] Did you feel comfortable?
Mary Harami [00:06:01] Yes, I was. We were. Yeah, we were. Because that community was mostly Armenians where I used to live. Yes. But, you know, it was. It was fun. We used to have parties. We used to have so many. Yeah. Then my father, when I grew up, my father had to put me in with a lady who was a dressmaker. He wanted me to learn dressmaking, which I didn’t. I didn’t want to, but he told, you know, he knew the lady. She was a friend of my mother. And so he wanted me to go learn like her as a dressmaker, which I did. And I’m really. I mean, I was happy to learn that later on because I wanted to do an office work before I used to leave that area, sometimes go to the YMCA and learn typing, so I would work in an office or something. But I learned both professions. The one, the one the dressmaking profession. I didn’t want to, but my father had to put me in that, you know, to introduce me to that lady that he knew who was my mother.
Rania Assily [00:07:17] How old were you when you learned that?
Mary Harami [00:07:19] I was in the early twenties. Early twenties, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:07:23] But you said you served as a nurse, too.
Mary Harami [00:07:25] I did. When we immigrated to Jordan, we fled the war. We immigrated to Jordan. I went. My father built that hospital. My father built that hospital. Jacob Ramian and he was a builder, which he built many, many schools and churches in Jerusalem itself. But it happened that my father, you know, he built that hospital. It’s in Ajloun. They call it Ajloun. And in Jordan. Ajluon. Jordan. Yeah. What was.
Rania Assily [00:08:09] Do you remember immigrating to Jordan? What was the difference between.
Mary Harami [00:08:12] Yes, I do. I do remember. We left everything because we were scared about, you know, the war and so on. We didn’t take anything with us. We left the home open, and we. I mean, yeah, yeah. We could not even take our pictures when we were young, when we were babies. I remember having my father had all our pictures as babies in our house. We didn’t even take anything. Just your clothes, you know.
Rania Assily [00:08:41] How do you think that affected your family leaving everything?
Mary Harami [00:08:46] Well, we were like other people that fled the war, you know, we. We were thinking we would go back. What we never did. We never did. No, we never did. And we never even got any of our belongings. Never. This. That’s it.
Rania Assily [00:09:12] where we left off, you were working as a nurse.
Mary Harami [00:09:13] Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:09:14] Okay, so, Mary, you were saying that you were. You couldn’t take anything with you moved to Jordan. Now, where were you living in Jordan?
Mary Harami [00:09:25] We were in the new city of Jerusalem before.
Rania Assily [00:09:28] Okay, before you left?
Mary Harami [00:09:30] Before we left, we were living in the new city of Jerusalem, which is called Talbiya.
Rania Assily [00:09:34] Talbiya. Okay. And then when you left Talbiya, again, you were forced out of Talbiya?
Mary Harami [00:09:41] Not forced out. We had to live afraid from the war, you know. So many people left afraid from the war, you know?
Rania Assily [00:09:49] And when you went to Jordan, where did you live? In Jordan?
Mary Harami [00:09:52] In As-Salt. We lived in As-Salt. I had, I wanted to work. I was a teenager, and there was an opening in that. Not opening, I went to apply for a job in that hospital which was built by my father.
Rania Assily [00:10:09] Do you know the name of the hospital?
Mary Harami [00:10:11] Yeah, hospital Ajloun. Mamadani Baptist Hospital. It was a Baptist hospital, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:10:24] And what was your father an architect?
Mary Harami [00:10:27] He was. He was a builder. He was a builder. He built many, many homes in Jerusalem. He went as far as Lebanon. He went as far as Jordan. He went as far off Jerusalem. I mean, Jerusalem. He built many churches, embassies, homes, schools. Yes.
Rania Assily [00:10:47] Would you say this was typical of the Armenians to be very skilled in building things or making things? Were they sort of.
Mary Harami [00:10:54] Well, he was. He was a skilled builder, really, although he wasn’t too much educated. But he would be given, you know, a plan, and he would do the work. He would do. He built many, many buildings in between Jerusalem, Lebanon and Jordan. And that hospital in Ajloun, he built it.
Rania Assily [00:11:20] And do you, what about your mother? Were you close with your mother?
Mary Harami [00:11:25] I never knew her. I never knew her.
Rania Assily [00:11:35] So, Mary, can you just tell us more about when you moved to Jordan, you said in your early twenties around that time?
Mary Harami [00:11:47] Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:11:48] So what was your impression of moving from Jerusalem to Jordan? What were the differences you noticed between the two areas?
Mary Harami [00:11:57] Well we were refugees, there was a difference, but we were refugees. And in fact, when I went to Jordan, I wanted to work. I used to flee to get out of my sewing and then go to the YMCA to learn typing because I wanted to work in an office. So then when we went to Jordan, I worked in an office that was, he was a London Times correspondent and a French news agency. Yeah, he was. I used to work for him in the office. I worked for him for almost two years, three years, I think. I’m not sure about the real timing. But then I had to go back to Jerusalem again after, you know, because I lived in Jordan for a while with my brother. He was married and he said, you know, you can come and stay with us. And I lived with him for a while. He was married also.
Rania Assily [00:13:07] And how many brothers and sisters do you have?
Mary Harami [00:13:09] I do have, but that brother was the oldest brother I had. And he, you know, he asked me if I like to go stay with them, you know, since I’m working in Jordan, in Amman. You know, I did work in Amman, then I moved back to Jerusalem again.
Rania Assily [00:13:28] And how old were you when you moved back to Jerusalem?
Mary Harami [00:13:31] Well, I was in my, I mean, I was, I think, in my early twenties. Early twenties.
Rania Assily [00:13:38] And what made you go back to Jerusalem?
Mary Harami [00:13:40] We moved back to Jerusalem. We did. We did move back to Jerusalem.
Rania Assily [00:13:45] Was it the new city or the old city?
Mary Harami [00:13:46] The old city, because it was partitioned and we could not go back to our normal homes. We could not back, you know, so we went to the old city of Jerusalem and I worked with Swissair Company, then. After I learned typing and I wanted to work in an office, I worked with the Swissair company.
Rania Assily [00:14:10] And would you say that Jerusalem, I imagine this was the eastern part of Jerusalem, right?
Mary Harami [00:14:17] Is it? Yes.
Rania Assily [00:14:19] So was it. Were there plentiful opportunities for people?
Mary Harami [00:14:23] There was. There was, yes, there was too many. Yeah, I used to work, I had a friend who used to work with another, you know, the airline. So we used to go together walking from Jerusalem, the old city, to then to then to the area where we used to work. You know, it was all, you know, traveling agencies there. So we used to go all together, back and forth. She still lives in Los Angeles, my friend.
Rania Assily [00:14:53] So what brought you here to Cleveland? I’m curious were you…
Mary Harami [00:14:57] Well, I got married after I worked in Swissair company. I got married to somebody who is an Arab.
Rania Assily [00:15:06] And what’s his name?
Mary Harami [00:15:07] His name is David Harami.
Rania Assily [00:15:13] And tell us about David. What made you drawn to David? Was there something about him that?
Mary Harami [00:15:21] He wanted see, the way we were? We met. We met with a wedding. In a wedding. The lady who was married, she wanted to have eight men and eight women stand for her wedding. So I was. I was part of the bridal party. I never knew him, but he never, when he saw me, he asked the bride if he could stand with me. I said, no, I don’t know him because I stood with somebody that I knew from our church. And so he kept after me for a while. When I said no, he had to go to Aden and work with the British petroleum company. He was maybe sad because I said no for him. And one time he heard that I was working with Swissair Company. So my friends knew him and they saw him. You know, suddenly a friend of mine was telling me, you know, who is in town? Who is, you know, in town? David is here. I said, it’s okay, he’s here. He’s here. So.
Rania Assily [00:16:42] And how old were you when this was happening?
Mary Harami [00:16:44] How old? Early twenties. He. He must have taken where I work. Somebody must have told him where I work. So he called the office, Swissair Office. One day I answered the phone. I said, this is Swissair company. He said, hi. I said, yes, hi. He said, I am David. I said, I know. Somebody told me that you are in town. So he said, Mary, I’m here from Aden on a vacation, but I want to meet with you and talk to you. During that time, I got engaged to an Armenian guy. I did through my father. My father introduced me to him. In the old countries, the family introduces some. So he was an Armenian guy. And I don’t know how I said yes, because I thought my father picked the guy for me. That was the tradition in the old days. And I said, who told you I work here? They said, friends told me you work here. He said, Mary, I want to go out to lunch with you. And then I said, okay. So we went in that area. We had lunch. He said, Mary, I came here. I came. And he knew that my, the one that I got engaged to, I left him. I didn’t stay with him too long, so he knew about it. And he said, well, we went out for lunch together in a restaurant. He said, Mary, I came here to ask your hand again, because the first time I said no. He said, I came here, you know, how about, you know, I want to, you know, to approach you for, for marriage. I said, I told him, give me time. I can’t tell you now. Let me check with my parents, with my father, and I will, I will let you know. So after that, I, you know, I… we accepted. He was from a good family, from a very good family.
Rania Assily [00:19:02] Do you, do you think your family, what allowed your parents to say yes to him?
Mary Harami [00:19:08] They didn’t. They gave me the chance because. Because he was really, I mean, he tried before and I said no the first time. And then I said, well, I must be, you know, happy with him if he’s still after. I mean, he wants to marry me. You know, I was guaranteeing that I will be happily, you know, married to him.
Rania Assily [00:19:31] Is that common, that the Armenian community intermixed with the Arab…
Mary Harami [00:19:35] It is common.
Rania Assily [00:19:36] Would you have identified yourself growing up as Palestinian or as Armenian?
Mary Harami [00:19:41] Palestinian. Palestinian of Armenian descent. Yeah, Palestinian of Armenian descent. No, they had no, they gave me the chance. I said, okay. And then we got engaged. We were, you know, we were married in Jerusalem itself, in the old city. Now the new city is not there, but was not there.
Rania Assily [00:20:07] Okay, so when you married David, what did he, where was he living?
Mary Harami [00:20:14] He was living in Jerusalem, but he worked for Aden, you know, petroleum. British Petroleum Company in Aden. Yeah. When he, you know.
Rania Assily [00:20:25] So when you married, did you go and move with him?
Mary Harami [00:20:27] No, I didn’t. He came and stayed in Jerusalem because he said, if, you know, then I’ll stay here. He said, I came for vacation, but if you’ll accept me as you know. Yeah, yeah. So I will stay here. So he never went back. We got married and we stayed in Jerusalem. Then he had to go for a job. His father used to have a company that makes windows and doors. He used to work for his father, but then he wanted to go to go to, he had an uncle who used to be a teacher in Libya, so he encouraged him to go find a job there because he didn’t want to work for his father. And so he went to Libya before me while I was still a bride. I stayed for a while with his family, living with his family. And so he went there for few months before me, and then I had to follow him to Libya. And, you know…
Rania Assily [00:21:39] What was it like living in Libya?
Mary Harami [00:21:40] Very nice. It was very nice in Benghazi, but he used to work in Libya. He worked for the oil companies too. That go to. That go to the oil fields for petroleum, for petrol, for oil, you know. He used to work for one company there, so I joined him in Benghazi, and then I worked for the American embassy there. I wanted to work before American embassy, I worked for United States Operation mission to Jordan. Yeah. There. Since I used to have experience with the airlines. So they put me in charge the Libyan company, when they had that company, they put me in charge of all the passports of the foreign crew that used to fly for Libyan Airlines. They were from France. The hostesses were from Air France. Yeah. And so I was in charge of their passports, making their residency, and I mean, about their passports and residency. I was in charge of that. In that airline.
Rania Assily [00:23:10] But you worked there, then you worked for the embassy?
Mary Harami [00:23:13] I worked later on for the embassy. After I finished from the airline, I mean, I had to quit the airline. The embassy wanted somebody who speaks Arabic and English, which I used to speak, you know, before that. And so I joined the American embassy first the United. I joined the United States mission to Jordan, to Libya, or something like that. Then they asked me if I could move to the embassy. They wanted somebody to use two languages, you know, Arabic and English. So they put me in the consular section.
Rania Assily [00:23:59] So did you…what were some of the experiences you had working with the embassy?
Mary Harami [00:24:05] Well, I had no experience of embassy work, but the consul there was teaching me, you know, how to deal with, you know, and they put me to take care of their passports, too, because I had an experience before with the visas and, you know, so, yeah, I worked for seven, eight years with the embassy in the consular section. I used to make visas to prepare visas to immigration. All the Americans, the residents for the Americans that were there. And…
Rania Assily [00:24:45] What brought you to Cleveland? What brought you and David to Cleveland?
Mary Harami [00:24:49] See, we used to have…we could not get permanent residence there. You could have to change all the, every year…you should have…you should change the residency, but we were never allowed to be there for good. So we tried to immigrate. Since I was with the embassy, I tried to do some paperwork to apply to get to America because, you know, everybody thinks America was good, which is good for everybody. You know, everybody likes to come to America. You can, you have chances for everything there.
Rania Assily [00:25:26] Is that what brought you to America is the opportunity?
Mary Harami [00:25:29] The opportunity, because if you can’t have a permanent residence in a place, you look for another one that will give you permanent residence. Yeah. So we decided to immigrate and we applied. And until we got our, you know, turn to come to America, we immigrated to America in 1966…1966.
Rania Assily [00:25:57] That was a really turbulent time in the country when you had Vietnam and all this stuff happening in America and civil rights.
Mary Harami [00:26:04] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:26:06] Where did you settle in America? Where did you go?
Mary Harami [00:26:08] See, my brother had… my husband had a brother in Columbus. So, you know, you go to the first family that can accept you for a while until you are settled. So we went to Columbus. We stayed with his brother for a few months, and then his brother arranged for a job for him in the company that he used to work. He was a hydraulic engineer. His brother was a hydraulic engineer. And he placed him in a job to start with, you know. Yeah. So we worked for a while, so we had to leave his brother house, and we moved to our own apartment, you know, to be.
Rania Assily [00:26:55] But you were in Columbus.
Mary Harami [00:26:56] We were in Columbus for a while. Yes, we were in Columbus.
Rania Assily [00:26:59] And what made you move to Cleveland?
Mary Harami [00:27:02] We moved to Cleveland. He had a cousin who used to work in Cleveland for an insurance company. So when he talked to him, he said, come over to Cleveland, and we’ll find you a job in an insurance company. So he came to Cleveland and he started studying insurance. When he studied the insurance, he got the job in an insurance company.
Rania Assily [00:27:30] So he went from the oil business.
Mary Harami [00:27:33] He went from airline business to oil business. And then now he ended up in business. Yes, yes. Because, in fact, he learned even accounting by correspondence with Chicago. He had, you know, he learned and, you know, he learned the whole course of accounting. He was supposed to go and make the test. He didn’t do it, but he started working in an accounting in Cleveland.
Rania Assily [00:28:03] So you knew someone then, in Cleveland.
Mary Harami [00:28:06] His cousin Dave’s cousin was in Cleveland. You know.
Rania Assily [00:28:12] What was your impression of Cleveland when you came here, or really Ohio in general, America in general?
Mary Harami [00:28:19] Well, every new place has an impression for you. We try to assimilate with the life. Yeah. And we got fine. I mean, we settled in Cleveland because of his cousin, who told us, come when he worked with the same company, that his cousin was working in an insurance company. I applied for another office, work here. When I came back, I worked in an office that has it import export, which we used to call. They used to call. It was out and in, but it should be all through the, through the government, you know. Shipping company. Yeah. Import and export they used to call it, customs house broker. That’s the right name for, for that job. Yeah. Customs house broker. Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:29:17] And, Mary, what was your impression of America, though? Do you think that the culture. What was the culture? Was it a culture shock for you or did it familiar?
Mary Harami [00:29:26] No, because I worked with the Americans in Georgia. Yeah. It made me, you know, accustomed or used to, you know, mingle with. With Americans.
Rania Assily [00:29:38] Did you ever feel when you came here, any difficulty? Was there ever a time where you felt misunderstood or…
Mary Harami [00:29:45] No, no. No. I was happy, really. I mean, we were happy, and we were both working, and I, I joined, and he worked with that import export company, then I worked with him, too, in the same office. You know, we were working in the same office with him. Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:30:08] So how would you say you and your husband contributed to the community, to life in Cleveland when you moved here?
Mary Harami [00:30:17] He started getting interested in the, in the Arab community with the Palestinian problem, because he was involved in the Palestinian war. He was like a volunteer, taking people. When the war started between the Arabs and the Jews, he was like, taking care of the injured people, taking them to the hospitals and, you know, like volunteering. Volunteering, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:30:55] So he came here and he was helping. Was he helping recent immigrants? Was he involved in…social organizations?
Mary Harami [00:31:01] He was involved mostly in social organizations. Yeah, he was involved in social organization. He was involved in, you know, interpreting people who don’t know the language. I mean, all volunteering. You know, all of volunteering. Yeah. Because he used to volunteer in Jerusalem when the war started.
Rania Assily [00:31:21] So he was carrying on that same…job.
Mary Harami [00:31:23] Yeah, yeah, he was…right.
Rania Assily [00:31:28] Was there a big Palestinian community here?
Mary Harami [00:31:31] There was. There was. We. We knew some families and other families will introduce you to other families. So we got involved in the Arab community here. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:31:42] And that was, like, around the 1990s.
Mary Harami [00:31:44] It was when we came to America. It was 1966. Yeah. Yeah. After that. After that, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:31:54] How do you… how do you…do you feel that, or do you think that when you came here, did you have any trouble holding on to your culture? Or do you feel that you…
Mary Harami [00:32:03] Yeah, I did. I mean, I am a type that I stuck to my culture. I did not change, although, you know, you change in some ways, but you don’t change in everything. So I. Yeah, I got assimilated in both cultures, you know, American culture and Arab culture.
Rania Assily [00:32:22] What would you say is the one thing that always made you feel comfortable holding close to kind of reminding you of life overseas that you could keep with you? Was it, would you say you probably identified more with, could it have been, for example, customs, your language, your religion? What would you say sort of ties were closest to you?
Mary Harami [00:32:49] You closest to customs and language, too? You know, I mean, I really, I got involved with many customs. And…
Rania Assily [00:33:01] Do you belong to any church?
Mary Harami [00:33:03] Particular church in Cleveland? Yes, my husband was Orthodox, you know, and I belong to, you know, I mean, I. Of course, I joined him, and I am of Orthodox Christianity because Armenians mostly are Orthodox. There are some that are Catholics and Protestants, but mostly they are Orthodox. Yeah. So I joined the church where my husband used to go.
Rania Assily [00:33:30] What church was that? Do you know?
Mary Harami [00:33:31] In St. George Orthodox Church.
Rania Assily [00:33:34] And would you say that overall, are you happy with your decision having immigrated?
Mary Harami [00:33:39] Yes, I was, of course, like, you…
Rania Assily [00:33:41] Wish you could still be overseas…
Mary Harami [00:33:43] No, see, you miss overseas sometimes you miss the way, you know, you lived before. But, no, I got accustomed to it very well. Very well. I mean, this is where you feel that you are settled and you won’t move from any other place, you know. So we got settled in Ohio. When we went to Columbus, when my husband’s cousin, he said, come, move to Cleveland, so we moved to Cleveland from Columbus, and he started working for an insurance company first, and then he moved to that company, import export company, and then I joined him with the company, too. I used to work with him in the office, both of us.
Rania Assily [00:34:33] Would you say you and David, your relationship was, you were not only close with each other, but you were helping the community?
Mary Harami [00:34:46] Oh, yeah, he did. He really mostly did. And I joined him with helping the community. Yeah. And in fact, he was more involved with the Palestinian case, you know, explaining. He used to go on radio sometimes with another person, you know, on radio, and, you know, explain what happened. What’s the problem between Israel and the Arab countries? You know.
Rania Assily [00:35:11] Was it a pretty heightened time when you were here in America over that issue?
Mary Harami [00:35:16] It was a little bit because the war was going on all the time. You know, it never stopped. So, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:35:23] Compared to when you first immigrated versus now, would you say things have improved with, you know, in terms of the Arab community and particularly when it comes to, you know, keeping the community strong and keeping it unified, would you say that that has changed over time? It’s become.
Mary Harami [00:35:47] It did. It did. I mean. Yeah, it did. Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:35:51] The longer we stay in America, of course it’s harder to hold onto those roots.
Mary Harami [00:35:54] Yes, yes, yes. Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:36:00] Well, I think that pretty much sums up my interview with you, Mary. Is there anything else that you want to add to this?
Mary Harami [00:36:07] No, I don’t think so, unless you ask some questions. If you want more of, I can get you some pictures, if you want old pictures, I have.
Rania Assily [00:36:18] When you first came here.
Mary Harami [00:36:20] Yeah, I do have an old album that I kept all those old pictures all together in one album. Yeah. I have good, I mean, I have old ones and I have new ones. Yeah. I can get them one day, but I don’t know which ones would you prefer?
Rania Assily [00:36:37] Whatever you’re willing to share.
Mary Harami [00:36:39] Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:36:39] But I want to thank you so much for this interview and for having me.
Mary Harami [00:36:41] Oh, you’re most welcome. I hope I did fine.
Rania Assily [00:36:44] You did wonderfully and very interesting story.
Mary Harami [00:36:47] It is really interesting because when I used to work in the American embassy, one time, they asked me to go translate, interpret some. There was the secretary of state for African affairs that came to visit Libya, and they asked me to go with the ambassador and the wife of the secretary of state to go to the palace and to be interpreted with. With. We are. So we had to go and we were invited. She was a princess. We went to the lady who is a princess, and the men went to the king. It used to be a kingdom before, kingdom of Libya. Yeah. And they went and we had lunch with the princess. And I used to interpret, you know, between that lady and the American wives.
Rania Assily [00:37:49] Now, do you think that life in America was, I mean, I wonder, did you ever feel like compared to where you were in Libya and what you were doing in Libya, was it not as exciting here?
Mary Harami [00:37:59] Here? It was more exciting there. Believe me.
Rania Assily [00:38:02] Yeah, yeah.
Mary Harami [00:38:02] I’m sure it was more exciting there. I had so many other chances to go here and there, you know. Yeah, yeah.
Rania Assily [00:38:09] But I want to. I want to say that you and David have been a wonderful, wonderful channel of just assistance for so many.
Mary Harami [00:38:19] Mostly he was really, you know, but I was helping him, too. I was always, you know. Yeah.
Rania Assily [00:38:26] They say behind every strong man is an even stronger woman.
Mary Harami [00:38:28] Well, I don’t know about that. But I really was always with him, whatever he did. Whatever he did, I was always backing him up and helping him with everything. He used to go interpret. Even between the Arabs, you know. Of course, it was volunteering always. And I, at one time, I volunteered with interpreting documents like Arab documents, Arabic documents that you have to interpret in English. They used to call me, send me, and we, I mean, of course, with my, the help of my husband, we would interpret everything and send them back the papers, like marriage papers, birth certificates. We used to interpret them from Arabic to English and send them as a volunteers. Yeah, we were volunteers.
Rania Assily [00:39:17] Thank you for all that you’ve done, and thank you again for being part of this interview.
Mary Harami [00:39:22] Oh, I’m glad that, you know, you’re satisfied with what I said.
Rania Assily [00:39:29] I am, very much so.
Mary Harami [00:39:30] It’s. History is so beautiful, you know. I mean, some memories are really very nice to hold onto really well.
Rania Assily [00:39:40] And your memories, especially what you brought here to Cleveland, you’ve tied overseas to here. And we’re very lucky to have that connection.
Mary Harami [00:39:50] Yeah, it’s interesting, really. So many people have other stories, but this is part of my family story, me and my husband. Thank you. Unfortunately, I lost him. But what can we do? This end of this year will be 20 years for him. 20 years?
Rania Assily [00:40:12] Thank you, Mary.
Mary Harami [00:40:13:13] Thank you.
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