1
2
Round 3
4
5
6
Against All Odds | By Stacy Howard Hajer Al-Faham, ’11, is making a difference while fighting cultural stereotypes PHOTO BY CHRIS JOSEPH TAYLOR
L/C
“I would much rather be telling my own story than have someone telling it for me.” HAJER AL-FAHAM, ’11
Hajer Al-Faham
For Hajer Al-Faham, life changed dramatically on Sept. 11, 2001. Al-Faham is a first-generation Iraqi who experienced firsthand heightened fears and stereotyping of Muslims that followed in the hours and days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In a matter of hours Al-Faham went from a popular eighth grader to invisible to her friends and peers. “Every friend I had stopped talking to me, teachers too,” she recalls. Al-Faham could have retreated but instead chose to face what she was subjected to head on. She occupied herself by volunteering and enrolled in Running Start, a program that gives high school students the opportunity to take college courses prior to graduation. Although she opted to skip her high school graduation ceremony because of the backlash she faced from some, she stayed focused on school and community service. “Volunteering helped me become more successful academically,” says Al-Faham, who volunteers at organizations including Everett Providence Medical Center Hospice, the Snohomish County Women-to-Women program and the King County Domestic Violence Unit. After earning a double scholarship to Seattle University, Al-Faham continued not only volunteering, but also for the first time in years became involved in activities on campus. She simultaneously served as president of the Muslim
Student Association and Jesuit Honor Society. “I knew U was committed to embracing diversity,” she says. “That’s why I had no concerns about being involved with both groups.” A 2008 trip back to Iraq inspired her to educate others about Islam. It was the first time she returned to her birth country since her family left a refugee camp in 1993. Though she was young when they fled, her memories are clear. “We went by foot, hitchhiked, whatever we could do to get to the Saudi Arabia border,” she says. “From the time I was born, we were on the run.” Saddam Hussein’s Royal Guard killed Al-Faham’s Shiite Muslim grandparents and uncles, then came after her father. With no options left, the family left everything behind and lived in the camp for four years before moving to the United States. As she looks to life after graduation, and now as an alumna of SU, Al-Faham is considering becoming a professor, a move inspired by a class on politics in Islam. “I was sitting in [Associate] Professor Erik Olsen’s political science class and thought I can do this someday,” says Al-Faham, who majored in political science and women’s studies. Associate Professor Olsen says Al-Faham is not only one of the most amazing students he’s had, but also one of the most amazing human beings he’s met.
SU Magazine Summer 2011 / 9
ICS# 110290 • Seattle University 2011 Summer Seattle U Magazine - 44pg PAGE 9 8.5” x 11” • 175 lpi • PDFX1a • NEW-SWOP • 80# Nature Web Matte
Color OK_____ Layout OK_____