Profiles

Ramina Samuel becomes first Assyrian counselor at Chicago’s District 219

August 2018 | By Joe Snell | Photos Contributed Chicago, IL – Ramina Samuel’s heart was racing as she walked toward her new office at Niles North High School earlier this August. For years, the Assyrian Iraqi native had grown accustomed to filling part-time and temporary counseling positions in the Chicagoland area. Now, she is a full-time…

Tomas Beth-Avdalla stands up for modern Assyrian literature

Publishing business helps Assyrian authors distribute writing June 2018 | By Joe Snell | Photos Contributed Gothenburg, Sweden – Tomas Beth-Avdalla sits in a cluttered room near his home in Gothenburg, Sweden, surrounded by aged Assyrian pictures, books, audiocassettes, videos, and periodicals that are oftentimes piled to the ceiling. From this small…

Language as politics: Nineb Lamassu promotes heart of Assyrian identity

The Assyrian Journal | May 2018 | Photos contributed | By Robina Lajin Cambridge, England – Nineb Lamassu cannot take credit for his passport reading Assyria. As a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge, Lamassu says his wife Susan did the convincing with Australian passport officials to change their place of…

Juliana Taimoorazy builds bridge between Assyrians, non-Assyrians

The Assyrian Journal | March 2018 | Photos contributed | By Joe Snell Chicago, IL – Juliana Taimoorazy is not bashful when it comes to helping Christians in the Middle East. As the founder and president of Iraqi Christian Relief Council (ICRC), her aggressiveness is part of what makes her such a…

Michael Badal paves way for young Assyrian DJs, musical artists

The Assyrian Journal | January 2018 | Photos contributed | By Joe Snell Los Angeles, CA – Michael Badal pulled up to DJ Club Silk Nightclub in Sacramento with his essential spinning equipment – USB sticks, headphones, and ear plugs. At only seventeen years old, the Assyrian Los Angeles native had just…

Chicago attorney on promoting law education among Assyrian students

The Assyrian Journal | January 2018 | Photos from Assyrian American Bar Association | By Ramsen Shamon Name: Phillip Rehani Hometown: Skokie, Ill. Occupation: Attorney at O’Hagan Meyer, LLC Phillip Rehani, the 30-year-old secretary of the Assyrian American Bar Association, always knew he wanted to find creative ways to help people…

: Dallas, TX – “Having grown up in the West, one of the positives is that my girls have the ability to empower themselves. For me, raising girls here is similar to raising boys. I’m going to teach them what I know, whether it’s science, engineering, you name it, it doesn’t make a difference to me their gender. There is no glass ceiling from my perspective, I want them to be as successful as they can be.”

: Chicago, IL – “I never get tired of traveling because I travel for my people and enjoy accomplishing something for my nation. I also love people watching. That’s why I go to the airport an hour earlier, just to sit around and watch everyone and listen to my podcasts. I love people and I get joyful when I hear them laughing. We need more happiness in the world. We don’t see it anymore. Everyone’s head is down, everyone is looking at their phones, everyone is so intense. There is so much conflict in the world, you don’t see anyone laugh anymore. So when I do see those glimpses of joy and happiness, it makes me so happy.”

: Chicago, IL – “I started vlogging to have a more highly produced version of an archive of my life. This year’s vlog of the Assyrian convention is footage from a lot of different things. It’s both the pool parties and something more in-depth and cultural, so a mix of both. I also did a lot of things that doing a vlog for wouldn’t do justice, like the youth summit. You have to be there for that, it’s not the same to see it, you have to be there and interact with people. One day I’m going to look back and have all of these memories nicely produced of what I did at this convention. I encourage everyone to do it.”

: Dallas, TX – “With motherhood, you first think of all of those happy times of sitting down and playing and going out. But it’s more about giving all of who you are, everything you have, plus more. When you think to yourself, ‘I’ve given everything I have,’ and then they wake up at night one more time and you say, ‘I have to do this again, I have to give more after I’ve already given everything.’ It’s the hardest job and it takes everything out of you, but it’s worth it and you would do it all over again when you see them happy.”

: Dallas, TX – “I started playing soccer in my village. It was a reason to get together as Assyrians every week. We would play soccer and then go eat or hang out. I eventually played for the Assyrian club in Urmi. When I moved to San Jose, I helped found the Infinite Sports Association. Now in Dallas, it’s funny that there are a lot of empty soccer fields that you don’t get elsewhere. We used to pay a lot of money to get a couple hours to play on this type of field. In San Jose, for two hours we would pay almost $250 and here in Dallas this field is free with beautiful grass, free goals, everything free.”

: Chicago, IL – “I grew up in a bad country and couldn’t talk about anything, even our flag because you were always scared of the government. A lot of people don’t know how this flag is special for people. That’s why we do this in our yard, because we want people to recognize that if we didn’t have this American flag then we wouldn’t be sitting in this house today. People fought for this flag, for this freedom so we can sit here together and talk about being both Assyrian and American. You lose one of your identities if you don’t.”