blue water woman--winter 2017--YUMPU

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American woman by Patti Samar Rasha Demashkieh of Fort Gratiot is an immigrant. She is a naturalized citizen of the United States. She is a proud Arab-American woman. A native of Syria, Demashkieh, a local pharmacist, and her family recently “adopted” a Syrian refugee family that had relocated to metropolitan Detroit, one of more than 25 similar families being assisted by ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), a nonprofit based in Dearborn that provides a wide variety of services to the Arab immigrant population in southeastern Michigan and across the nation. Demashkieh, a former board member for the Port Huron School district and volunteer with numerous organizations in the Blue Water Area, serves as the president of the ACCESS board of directors. As an Arab American woman who immigrated to the U.S. as an adult, she understands that assimilation to a foreign country can be difficult. But when Demashkieh immigrated, she and her husband, a physician, both spoke English and were educated. “This family…the parents are in their late 30s and they have four kids and they live in a small home in Detroit,” she said. “The situation they came from in Syria is horrifying. Millions of people have been displaced. The father paid smugglers to smuggle them out of Syria and into Jordan, where they were settled in a refugee camp, the Zaatari Refugee Camp, which is in the middle of the desert. “To help them get out of there, he signed up with many settling agencies through the United Nations. They were interviewed seven times before they were admitted to this country. It was not an easy process. It took them three years. “They are so grateful and so kind.” Demashkieh said that ACCESS is helping the refugee families with a variety of assimilation issues, including learning the language, accessing education, housing and other social services. “I was very apprehensive about meeting them,” said Demashkieh. “I had never met a real refugee before. What I found was a very gentle family. They actually made me feel better. They are so grateful to be here.” Demashkieh noted that the children are learning the language more quickly than their parents, but the father, who was a painter in Syria, has found work in metro Detroit as a painter. “I’m just amazed at their resilience,” Demashkieh said of the family’s transition into American life. “Everything is so different for them, but I believe they will be okay.” As an immigrant herself, Demashkieh can identify with some of the issues the family faces in the United Rasha demashkieh Fort Gratiot “We need to stand up and say we are Arab Americans and we are productive citizens of this country. And I also want you to know me as an Arab American.” States in 2017. When she came to the U.S. with her husband in the mid-1970s, their status as immigrants from the Middle East was not an issue. “Before September 11, it was never a topic of conversation where I came from,” she said. After September 11, all of that changed. “You always feel like you have to justify yourself to others,” she said of her heritage. “I have friends who gave their children American names and they did not want to be identified as from the Middle East.” Demashkieh doesn’t believe anyone should have to wish away their identity. “We need to stand up and say we are Arab Americans and we are productive citizens of this country,” she said. “And I also want you to know me as an Arab American.” When Demashkieh left Syria for the U.S. in 1975 so her husband could complete his medical training, she fully intended to return and raise a family there. But, after a few twists and turns in the road of life, she found herself a naturalized United States citizen with no intention of returning to Syria to live and no one was more surprised than was she. “It was heart-wrenching when I realized I wasn’t going to live in Syria again,” said Demashkieh, who moved to St. Clair County in 1980. “Even when we got our green cards, we didn’t think we’d stay. “But we lived under a dictatorship in Syria – your phone calls are monitored and it is very different than what we experience here -- and it got to the point where we had children and we realized life would be better for our children if we stayed here,” she said. And so Demashkieh and her family became embedded in the Blue Water Area. She became engaged with the community by volunteering for a wide variety of organizations ranging from the PTA at her children’s school to various health-related charitable organizations. She served on the Port Huron Schools board of education for 13 years. She is also a member of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and currently serves as cochair. “I wanted to give back to my community and my country, as well,” she said of her dedication to volunteerism on a local, state and national level in her adopted home. “Syria is the original melting pot due to its geography,” she said. “It is at the crossroads of the continents. “That is the beauty of this country...we are diverse. We should capitalize on that. That’s what makes us strong.” 4 winter 2017 BlueWaterWoman.com
winter 2017 BlueWaterWoman.com 5
Page 1: RASHA DEMASHKIEH passionate, commit
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Page 9 and 10: Protect your world Auto • Home
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