{"id":7704,"date":"2025-06-11T12:48:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7704"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:48:08","slug":"from-i-was-a-refugee-to-i-am-a-teacher-randa-hourani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7704","title":{"rendered":"From \u201cI was a refugee\u201d to \u201cI am a teacher\u201d: Randa Hourani"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Diversity Coverage<\/strong>
2023-24, Division 1, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Fayeza Muizz Paniorotan<\/strong>
The Emery
Ann Arbor Huron HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merriam-Webster defines the word parallel <\/em>as \u201csimilar, analogous<\/a>, or interdependent in tendency or development, exhibiting parallelism<\/a> in form, function, or development\u201d. For Randa Hourani, her own definition of parallel is: Growing up in a war-torn country where school was never an option, then finding her way back to the four walls of school, teaching as an educator.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hourani, 63, a substitute teacher in Huron, knew and understood that the first two years of her teenage period were not as normal as what others would think. She never got to hang out with her friends and be naive like how kids her age would be, school was not as accessible like how it should be today, and going out for outdoor activities was stupid. Instead, Hourani, 13 when it happened, had her days filled with the sounds of bombs and gunshots constantly ringing and bouncing within the four walls of her home in Beirut, Lebanon, deaths being often reported, families crying out for justice, and her country was on the brink of being partitioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1976, I came to this country because my dad left during the Civil War, brought my mom and my other siblings (three brothers), and I stayed [in Beirut, Lebanon],\u201d Hourani said, a nostalgic smile on her face. \u201cHe\u2019s afraid \u2013 he was so scared, scared to bring us [to the U.S.]. So, I basically stayed there with my two other (younger) sisters, then the war escalated, so we came here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was 1975 when the Lebanese Civil War happened. The tension between the country\u2019s Christian and Muslim populations was rising until Phalangists, a Lebanese Christian political party, attacked a bus carrying Palestinian refugees, who were on the side of Lebanese Muslims, on their way to a camp. The armed conflict lasted for a decade and half, leading to 150,000 casualties. Hourani was 14, one year into the war, when she left her home with her other two younger sisters on the 22nd of February 1976 through her dad\u2019s EB1 visa, starting an entirely different life in Dearborn, Michigan with her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was sad \u2013 I thought that no one should be happy,\u201d Hourani laughed, recalling what she had felt about the whole situation back then. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anybody. My dad knew people, that\u2019s why we came to Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in her time, Dearborn was not exactly very nice to Arabic people. Hourani had a clear memory of the racial discriminations she suffered from, also having a fair share of the other race riots she had witnessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were a minority at that time,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cThere used to be bloody fights everyday. The White kids used to call us \u201ccamel jockeys,\u201d [chanting] \u2018Go back to your country!\u2019. The people in Dearborn back then were very racist \u2013 they targeted minorities like Muslims. They didn\u2019t sell anything to us. So mean, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up, Hourani has had really interesting and memorable experiences that were unique to her culture, but is something that is unusual for many other people of different cultures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy dad arranged me in a marriage; he was 32, I was 18,\u201d Hourani said, smiling knowingly, aware that the age difference was quite uncommon for younger people. \u201cIt\u2019s common [for my culture], but now, it\u2019s becoming better. My family knew his family. It was okay, but I wouldn\u2019t do this to my kids. Imagine: you get married, and you don\u2019t know that person? I was like, \u2018No, I didn\u2019t even know him!\u2019 It was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite barely knowing English when she lived in Dearborn, Hourani did not let this interfere in her way to pursue education as a student in Fordson High School where she had to take three hours of it and another foreign language, which was French. She graduated, then went to Wayne State University in Detroit where she majored in Business. Magically, Hourani\u2019s path was suddenly redirected to teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I took French into business,\u201d Hourani said, laughing. \u201cI was not that good in business! Then, my friend told me that they have these workshops and they\u2019re recruiting people (to become teachers). So I go there, and they proposed and said that \u2018if you switch, we\u2019ll give you more salary\u2019. [I was like] \u2018Switch to what? No!\u2019 It never even crossed my mind. It was very hard, [but] it was good. At least they gave you [an] opportunity. We lost everything in the war, so I needed the money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like that, Hourani now had a teaching degree. However, there was a halt before her teaching journey even started. She did not get to teach after graduating as she had to move to San Diego, California in 1986 with her husband and two children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe got a job in San Diego, so we moved,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cI had a son who was two years old and a baby who was four months old. We stayed there for a couple years, then he got laid off, so we came back [to Michigan] in November after three years of graduating. They needed a teacher in Detroit, I applied everywhere, and it was hard. I ended up getting a job, November 2nd, [that] I signed. He stayed there because he didn\u2019t like Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still vividly ingrained in her memory, Hourani remembers every moment she struggled financially when she came back to Michigan while also having to raise her two young kids alone without her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe lost so much money,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cLuckily, I didn\u2019t sell my house [in Dearborn when we left]. Everything I had, my clothes, I borrowed from my sister. To me, it\u2019s important \u2013 and I had nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her job search around Detroit in 1987, she finally found an opportunity that would become her home for most of her teaching career. Within the halls of Mumford High School, Hourani had now begun her teaching career \u2013 her first teaching job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI stayed at this school as a teacher for 21 years,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cIt was a good school, a neighborhood school. It was something. They had a merit program, like between honors and regulars. You have to have a foreign language, so that was good [because I was a French teacher].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hourani taught at Mumford for two decades and a year, then switched to Henry Ford High School as the state took over her first school. She spent four years teaching in Henry Ford before she transferred to Renaissance High School, also teaching there for four years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI retired in 2016,\u201d Hourani said, wearing a proud smile. \u201cI worked from 1987 to 2016 straight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hourani\u2019s 29-year teaching career had brought her many good memories that she still continues to look back to up to this day. When asked what were some of the most memorable moments from her almost three decades of teaching, Hourani can only think of two certain stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne kid had an introduction in front of our class, and said that he was stabbed in his stomach,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t believe him, so he showed us. He was like \u2018Here. I almost died in Turkey.\u2019 He was a Syrian who had to go to Turkey, so he could come here [to the U.S.]. Turkish people were mad at him \u2013 didn\u2019t like him there. He was stabbed, and he showed us his stitches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, she had also heard a \u201ccrazy story\u201d from her sister who also became a teacher like her, also proudly sharing that \u201cher two [younger] sisters followed her path\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c10 years after Iraq was bombed, one of my sister\u2019s kids (students) was born in captivity in prison,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t know anything, and he had trauma because it was just underground. He was born in an underground prison in Iraq, his mom was pregnant with him when she was captured in Iraq. So, he was born there, and stayed there. My sister cried \u2013 she was tormented, and tried to help him because he was like a wild child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hourani still looks back on the moments Middle Eastern people suffered from wars with a tormented heart. Aside from these two stories, Hourani can \u201cnever forget\u201d how much she suffered as an Arabic teacher in the United States after 9\/11 happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a hard time in 2001,\u201d Hourani said, \u201cAfter 9\/11, they hated me; I was the only Arabic person in the whole school. The first two weeks were hard \u2013 even the teachers hated me. I was like \u2018It\u2019s not my fault!\u2019 When I walked into the teacher\u2019s lounge, they would be quiet. It was horrible; I was like \u2018Are you talking about me?\u2019 One of my students said \u2018We\u2019re gonna kill you all!\u2019, so I paid the price of being Arabic. It took me two years to tell them I was Arabic. I thought they were gonna put a blog (about me).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the racial discriminations she had encountered and been challenged with, Hourani still loved being a teacher and continued her career. Certainly, like other teachers, Hourani also had what she thinks her favorite or best part about teaching is. For her, it\u2019s the \u201cdifference she gets to make to others\u201d despite the cultural differences and gaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that: you made a difference in someone\u2019s life,\u201d Hourani said. \u201cBecause I feel like I did, honestly. I\u2019m giving confidence to someone and helping them, and they see you, you know? They\u2019re successful \u2013 that\u2019s how I feel. You\u2019re not only teaching the language, you\u2019re teaching about life. I always like to teach about me (my experiences), and teach them. It\u2019s like, you did something, and they appreciate you. They appreciate you more later on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sense of fulfillment had encouraged Hourani to continue as an educator, though not as a teacher anymore, but now as a substitute teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best thing about subbing is you feel like you\u2019re still in the loop; you\u2019re still with the young people,\u201d Hourani said, giggling. \u201cAnd also, you don\u2019t have responsibilities, but you still feel alive. And then you get your pension!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was how she got to Huron. Hourani now subs for certain foreign language classes in Huron High School, also filling in for Plymouth High School and Canton High School as a substitute teacher sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midway through the interview, as she shares her stories on the people from the Middle East coming into the United States to escape wars and other conflicts, Hourani thought of the perfect word that is befitting for their whole situation. Similarly, as she realizes it was the same for her too, like a Eureka moment had just gone off, Hourani took a pause for a moment, before nodding with a warm look, eyes crinkling with her big smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-16. Diversity Coverage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This story tells about the lifestyles, challenges and potential of those from a diverse background. It will cover not just the plight of the subjects, but may also look at how subjects deal with their diverse backgrounds and how diverse backgrounds are dealt with by others. The term \u201cdiverse\u201d is not limited to ethnicity and may focus on a wide range of subjects, depending on the author\u2019s story angle. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Topic relevant to the school or students and reflects lifestyles, challenges and potentials of those from a diverse background<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of facts\/quotes from both primary and secondary sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Balanced, fair and sensitive presentation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar; use of third person<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

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