City of Alexandria Office of Historic Alexandria Alexandria Legacies Oral History Program Project Name: Immigrant Alexandria: Past, Present and Future Title: Interview with Aida Abdul-Wali Date of Interview: August 25, 2015 Location of Interview: Aida Abdul-Wali’s Home in Alexandria, Virginia Interviewer: Apasrin Suvanasai Transcriber: Adept Word Management Abstract: Aida Abdul-Wali was born in Ethiopia. She has lived in Alexandria since 1980. She talks about leaving Ethiopia to the sound of machine-gun fire and escaping to Yemen and Egypt before finally reuniting with her mother in the United States. She discusses the differences in culture, schools, and food of the many places she has lived. Years later, she revisited all those places with her daughter. Interview with Aida Abdul-Wali August 25, 2015 Page 2 of 20 Table of Contents/Index Tape: Recording 1 Minute Counter Page Topic 0 00:00:13 3 Introductions 2 00:01:55 3 Childhood in Ethiopia 6 00:06:22 5 Childhood in Yemen 9 00:09:16 7 Childhood in Egypt 14 00:14:45 10 Coming to America 18 00:18:10 12 School in America 21 00:21:04 13 American Culture Tape: Recording 2 Minute Counter Page Topic 1 00:00:00 15 Secondary Education 2 00:01:19 15 Family and Traditions 5 00:05:09 17 Going Back 8 00:08:57 19 Advice to Immigrants Interview with Aida Abdul-Wali August 25, 2015 Page 3 of 20 Introductions Apasrin Suvanasai: My name is Apasrin Suvanasai. I am here with Aida Abdul-Wali. It’s August 25, 2015, and we’re at Aida’s home in Alexandria, Virginia. And she is helping us with our Immigrant Alexandria oral history project. So thank you very much for taking the time to do this with us today. Aida Abdul-Wali: My pleasure. A.S.: Great. Okay. So, Aida, let’s begin with your background, where you’re from, where you were born. Aida Abdul-Wali: Okay. I was born in Ethiopia, and I was there until I was eight. And the war was breaking out at that time. And my father was from Yemen, so we migrated to Yemen out of Ethiopia. And we stayed in Yemen for about three years. And my mother was high on education, so she insisted that, “My kids need to be educated,” so we moved to Egypt. And we went to boarding school there for about three years. At that time, my mom had moved to America, so she asked my dad, “I want my kids to be with me,” and that’s the reason we came into America. So I came here in 1980, and I was just turning fourteen. And I started school in eighth grade at that time here. So that’s how I came to America really. A.S.: Okay. So that’s a great overview about what we’re about to experience with you. So starting with Ethiopia, what city where you born? Childhood in Ethiopia Aida Abdul-Wali: I was born in Addis Ababa, the capital. A.S.: Okay. And so you were there until—how old? Aida Abdul-Wali: Eight. A.S.: Eight years old. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah. A.S.: So what are some of your memories that stick out the most to you of being home in Ethiopia? Aida Abdul-Wali: In Ethiopia, I remember just playing soccer—coming home after school, changing my clothes and going outside just to play soccer. A.S.: Soccer. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah. That’s the big game. So that’s what sticks out. Interview with Aida Abdul-Wali August 25, 2015 Page 4 of 20 A.S.: Okay. And so your home life, who did you live with at home? Aida Abdul-Wali: At that time, my father had left for Yemen, so I just lived with my mom and my grandfather. A.S.: Okay. So just—. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah. I had my brother, my sister, and my mom. And my grandfather was like the main—you know, family figure—. A.S.: Yeah. Okay. And so what was school like? Aida Abdul-Wali: School was really strict. I went to a Catholic school—uniforms— and I remember that was a big contrast for me. It was a strict discipline, respect—that was a big thing. So when I came and started school here, that was a big shock. That was a culture shock. A.S.: Probably we’re not as strict as—. Aida Abdul-Wali: Not at all. And it was a shock to see how the kids spoke to the teachers, really bad, put their feet on the tables and what not. It was just like really shocking to see. It was undisciplined, no restrictions at all. It was disrespectful. A.S.: I was going to say—. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah. Yeah. A.S.: Okay. What were some of your favorite subjects in school? Aida Abdul-Wali: From back home, I really can’t say much because I barely got into like the heavy-duty school work and all that—I was really early. So just going to school was a big deal. A.S.: Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. And so you said you left because the war broke out, so there was conflict at home. Can you describe what you remember from that? Aida Abdul-Wali: What I remember from that is it was a peaceful time, and the next thing you know, it was like a military takeover. And I remember one day—like the next day, there were just like bodies outside, like we’d never seen it before. But it was just like literally blood coming down the hill because they had just taken and killed so many people. A.S.: So you remember seeing that? Aida Abdul-Wali: I remember seeing that. I remember that there was blood running down the street. And that was like immediately my mom was like, okay—everybody was just scrambling to get their families out as best they can. People walked out, you know? But we were lucky. Interview with Aida Abdul-Wali August 25, 2015 Page 5 of 20 A.S.: Do you remember what your mother or grandfather were telling you as to what’s going on outside your door? Aida Abdul-Wali: Basically it was like—everybody was just like, “Don’t go outside,” because you could literally hear the machines guns just going for hours. And you just knew those people were being—and you could hear it from everybody, like somebody—so-and-so got snatched up last night. And they’ll take you out and they’ll kill you. A.S.: And who was invading? Aida Abdul-Wali: It was like a military such and other. Then they were—the Communist Party basically came into Ethiopia. So that was their way. They’d just kill anybody who was—that they thought was over-privileged, which was anybody that was educated. But that was it. It was just like a really harsh thing. A.S.: So were you able to go to school still through this? Aida Abdul-Wali: I can’t even remember. It was so quick. We pretty much left within a couple of weeks. A.S.: Oh, okay. That’s fast. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah. A.S.: And then you went to Yemen. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah. A.S.: So how was that—do you remember what it was like getting everything together and leaving? Aida Abdul-Wali: It happened really, really, really quickly. I remember, like a week before we left, me and my brother had gotten in a fight, and I had a hurt hand in a way. And I didn’t get punished for that because we were about to leave. And I also remember that—it was like, oh, my mom didn’t even get mad at me [laughs]. Childhood in Yemen A.S.: Least of her worries. Aida Abdul-Wali: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it just happened really quickly, and then in Yemen, it’s a completely different culture. They’re from Middle Eastern background, speaking Arabic, and Ethiopians speak Amharic. So we’re going to meet family members that we’ve never met before. A.S.: Even your mom? Interview with Aida Abdul-Wali August 25, 2015 Page 6 of 20 Aida Abdul-Wali: Even my mom, because that’s my father’s side of the family. So like we’re going—and my mom didn’t come with us. So it was just us three kids that left. A.S.: Oh. So who’s the oldest? Aida Abdul-Wali: My sister. She was about twelve. My brother was about eleven. And then I’m eight. So the three of us left. Yeah. And we’re meeting family members who did not speak our language. A.S.: So you had no clue—. Aida Abdul-Wali: We had no clue what was going on, but we just knew, okay, these are our relatives, and we’re okay. Some family members spoke broken Amharic because they’d been in Ethiopia. And basically my father at that time was in the U.S. He had married—remarried—and had a family here in Connecticut. So he was being called back—you need to come and take care of your other children. A.S.: Right. Right. So did he come back? Aida Abdul-Wali: So he came back. It took a little while for him to get there. So we were just waiting on him. And once he got there, my mom was like, “Okay, make sure they’re enrolled in school.” And I remember, there was not any English-speaking schools in Yemen.