SEPTEMBER 2022

METRO DETROIT CHALDEAN COMMUNITY VOL. 19 ISSUE VIII SEPTEMBER 2022 

On the Run 

in America 

The true story of 

an Iraqi Christian’s 

struggle to stay one 

step ahead of ICE 

PLUS 

Mar Matti 

Iraq’s Political Crisis 

St. Thomas in India

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SEPTEMBER 2022 CHALDEAN NEWS 3

4 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022

METRO DETROIT CHALDEAN COMMUNITY | SEPTEMBER 2022 | VOL. 19 ISSUE VIII 

ON THE COVER 

20 On the Run in America 

One man’s story to evade ICE 

By Amanda Uhle 

FEATURES 

26 Mar Matti in the Frame 

Photo essay of the famous monastery 

By Wilson Sarkis and Alan Mansour 

28 St. Thomas Basilica 

Spotlight on St. Thomas’ final resting place 

By Weam Namou 

DEPARTMENTS 

6 From the Editor 

Looking to the Future 

By Sarah Kittle 

7 Opinion 

Insuring Middle Easterners 

By Dawud Walid 

8 Foundation Update 

Breaking Barriers Field Trip, 

Back to School 

10 Noteworthy 

Annette Tomina, Rony Foumia 

12 Iraq Today 

Political Unrest in Iraq 

14 Unease in the Middle East 

By Cal Abbo 

16 Chaldean Digest 

Iraqi Kurdistan, Chaldean Patriarch 

18 In Memoriam 

18 Obituaries 

Suad Zia Dawod 

Nuha Mansour Yousif 

34 Sports 

Dominic “The Dominator” Gasso 

By Cal Abbo 

36 Culture & History 

Hands Clasped 

By Dr. Adhid Miri 

38 Family Time 

Krav Maga: A family sport 

By Valene Ayar 

40 Events 

The 3rd Annual Chaldean Cup Golf Outing 

42 From the Archive 

Dressing the Part: 

Village and city dress 

26 

30 Giving Parents a Voice 

Vincent Sitto runs for office 

By Paul Natinsky 

32 Profile: Chris George 

The branding guru 

By Cal Abbo 

28 


FROM THE EDITOR 

PUBLISHED BY 

Chaldean News, LLC 

Chaldean Community Foundation 

Martin Manna 

EDITORIAL 

EDITOR IN CHIEF 

Sarah Kittle 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Cal Abbo 

Valene Ayar 

Sarah Kittle 

Dr. Adhid Miri 

Alan Mansour 

Weam Namou 

Paul Natinsky 

Amanda Uhle 

Dawud Walid 

ART & PRODUCTION 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Alex Lumelsky with SKY Creative 

GRAPHIC DESIGNER 

Zina Lumelsky with SKY Creative 

PHOTOGRAPHERS 

Dany Ashaka 

Wilson Sarkis 

SALES 

Interlink Media 

Sana Navarrette 

CLASSIFIEDS 

Sana Navarrette 

Subscriptions: $35 per year 

CONTACT INFORMATION 

Story ideas: edit@chaldeannews.com 

Advertisements: ads@chaldeannews.com 

Subscription and all other inquiries: 

info@chaldeannews.com 

Chaldean News 

30095 Northwestern Hwy, Suite 101 

Farmington Hills, MI 48334 

www.chaldeannews.com 

Phone: (248) 851-8600 

Publication: The Chaldean News (P-6); 

Published monthly; Issue Date: 

September 2022 

Subscriptions: 12 months, $35. 

Publication Address: 

30095 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 101, 

Farmington Hills, MI 48334; 

Permit to mail at periodicals postage rates 

is on file at Farmington Hills Post Office 

Postmaster: Send address changes to 

“The Chaldean News 30095 Northwestern 

Hwy., Suite 101, Farmington Hills, MI 48334” 

Looking to the Future 

In today’s restless political climate, it is all too 

easy to be swept away with righteous anger and 

indignation when others do not see things the 

same way that we do. We ask ourselves, “How can 

they think like that?” while shaking our heads (and 

even sometimes our fists). Dinner table conversation 

has become much more heated and families and/or 

relationships have been split apart by the topic. 

In Iraq, recent elections have fractured the 

community. Rallies, protests, and demonstrations 

have sprung up all over Baghdad demanding the 

dissolution of parliament. The followers of one 

leader, a cleric named Muqtada al-Sadr, have declared the 

most recent election corrupt. He won the largest share of 

seats in October but failed to form a majority 

government. Does any of this sound familiar? 

Our cover story tells the tale of an Iraqi 

man who followed all the rules and still ended 

up on the run, facing deportation to Iraq and 

separation from his family here in the U.S. It 

was first printed in The Delacorte Review, part 

of the Columbia Journalism School, and was 

sent to us by the publisher. Any opinions, 

comments, or letters in response to the article 

should be sent to edit@chaldeannews.com. 

September also brings us an article written by Weam 

Namou about the St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in India. 

As you may know, St. Thomas is typically credited with the 

conversion of certain Mesopotamians to Christianity. His 

journey ended on the Indian subcontinent with his death by 

piercing with a lance. His bones are buried at the Basilica 

there, and it is considered a most holy place. 

In a continuation of our Iraqi photo essay, we focus the 

frame on Mar Matti, the monastery located in the mountains 

of northern Iraq and named for St. Matthew. Reportedly, the 

bones of the saint are buried there along with the remains of 

many other monks and priests. 

We profile a couple members of the community this 

month, including Vincent Sitto, who is running for a seat on 

SARAH KITTLE 

EDITOR 

IN CHIEF 

the Oakland County Commission. Like many who get 

into politics, Sitto is concerned for the future of his 

children. He won the primary unopposed but will 

have a tough race against incumbent Kristen Nelson 

in the November general election. 

Cal Abbo also interviewed and profiled Chris 

George, an entrepreneur who has made a name 

for himself with subscription services including 

“The Gentlemen’s Box.” Chris has gone on to become 

a branding expert and ultimately feels like 

he found his calling. 

You may recall an earlier story about Al Jamoua 

and his fight against Michigan Farm Bureau, a business he 

claims has discriminatory practices. Special writer Dawud 

In Iraq, recent elections have fractured the 

community. Rallies, protests, and demonstrations 

have sprung up all over Baghdad 

demanding the dissolution of parliament. 

Walid expounds on the issue in an opinion piece. Dawud is 

the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council 

on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI). 

We have many reasons to celebrate this month as well, 

with the rise of football star Dominic Gasso, the appointment 

of Rony Foumia, and the acknowledgement of Annette 

Tomina’s success with Aqua-Tots, a swim school franchise. 

As we head into the last quarter of 2022, let’s look to the 

future for inspiration and to the past for guidance. 

Sarah Kittle 

Editor in Chief 

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OPINION 

The perils of insurance 

while Middle Eastern 

The problems of racial 

and religious animus 

are unfortunately ongoing 

challenges for Michiganders 

with ancestry from 

the Middle East or who adhere 

to the Islamic faith. 

These challenges exist despite 

the density of Arab 

and Chaldean Americans 

and American Muslims 

who reside in Southeastern 

Michigan. 

Although issues such as 

hate crimes against persons within 

these demographics are not common 

in our region, what is an ongoing 

problem is the issue of discrimination 

that takes place from the private 

sector. To be more specific, there 

are growing concerns about unfair 

treatment from insurance companies 

against Arab and Chaldean Americans, 

be they Christians or Muslims. 

Discriminatory practices by insurance 

companies against racial and 

ethnic minorities is not a new phenomenon 

in America. Systematic racism 

against African Americans as it relates 

to increased rates to denial of automobile 

and life insurance is a phenomenon 

that is as American as cherry pie. 

In May of this year, a federal 

judge in Michigan denied an appeal 

for summary judgment by Michigan 

Farm Bureau, which will send to 

trial a lawsuit filed by Al Jamoua, a 

Chaldean American who claims discrimination 

by the insurance company 

against Arabs and Chaldeans. 

The plaintiff, who is a former agent 

of Michigan Farm Bureau, claims 

with corroborating evidence that 

the insurance company systemically 

discriminates against both Arab and 

Chaldean agents and customers. 

From claims that Jamoua sold too 

many policies to “his own people,” 

to the company setting purportedly 

higher rates for customers in Dearborn, 

Oak Park, Sterling Heights 

and Warren, areas with large concentrations 

of Arabs, Chaldeans and 

Muslims, Michigan Farm Bureau has 

much to answer for. Hence based 

DAWUD WALID 

SPECIAL TO 

THE CHALDEAN 

NEWS 

There are growing 

concerns about unfair 

treatment from 

insurance companies 

against Arab and 

Chaldean Americans. 

upon these claims and other 

reported facts as well as concerns 

voiced to CAIR-MI, it 

is highly probable that the 

macro issue of insurance 

discrimination that negatively 

impacts African Americans 

also effects Arab and 

Chaldean Americans in our 

region. 

As we are assisting legal 

counsel in this case, CAIR- 

MI is concerned about insurance 

discrimination being a 

broader constituent problem. Hence, 

we are releasing an online Insured 

While Muslim Survey to gauge this issue 

and to potentially take further action 

against the insurance industry in 

Michigan. Whether there is a broader 

industry issue or just a problem with 

a particular company, we have to play 

our part to hold those accountable 

who mock our communities and discriminate 

against and overcharge us 

based upon our ethnicities and religious 

backgrounds. 

Dawud Walid is currently the executive 

director of the Michigan chapter of the 

Council on American-Islamic Relations 

(CAIR-MI) based in Canton, Michigan 

and is a member of the Imams Council 

of Michigan. 

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FOUNDATION UPDATE 

A Trip to Candyland 

On August 4, the Chaldean Community Foundation’s 

Breaking Barriers Academy students visited 

Sanders Chocolate Factory in Clinton Township, 

Michigan. 

The students had the opportunity to tour the 

shop, see how the chocolate at Sanders is made, 

and purchase chocolate to bring home to their 

families. The field trip is a regular tradition that 

the program uses to help acculturate the participants 

into the community. 

For more information on Breaking Barriers 

Academy, visit www.chaldeanfoundation.org or 

call 586-722-7253. 

Project Light 

Receives 

Accreditation 

The Chaldean Community 

Foundation’s Project 

Light program recently 

received a CARF Accreditation, 

which will 

go through September 30, 

2023. Through Project Light, 

licensed professionals provide mental health 

services including individual, group, and family 

therapy based on individual needs to Michigan 

residents ages 13 years and up, regardless of insurance 

status. 

CARF accreditation distinguishes a provider’s 

service delivery and signals to the public 

that the provider is committed to continuous 

performance improvement, responsive to feedback, 

and accountable to the community and its 

other stakeholders. 

Breaking Barriers Academy students touring the Sanders Chocolate Factory 

Summer’s Almost Over 

The Chaldean Community Foundation hosted the annual Warren Consolidated Schools (WCS) Back-to-School 

Open House on August 11. The event was attended by nearly 300 people and offered information on WCS transportation, 

technology support, K-12, athletics, nutrition services, and much more. Each student in attendance also 

received a backpack courtesy of Warren Consolidated Schools and Stellantis. 

For more information regarding the upcoming Warren Consolidated Schools 2022-2023 school year, visit 

wcskids.net. 

Spotlight On… 

4TH ANNUAL AWARDS GALA 

Presented by Ronnisch Construction with support 

provided by United Wireless 

When: Thursday, September 29, 2022 starting 

at 6:00 pm. 

Where: The Palazzo Grande, 54660 Van Dyke 

Avenue, Shelby Twp, MI 48316 

Lifetime Humanitarian Awardee: 

Akram Kareem 

A lifelong entrepreneur, Akram Kareem has 

been involved in major philanthropic efforts for 

the Chaldean Churches in Southeast Michigan 

and internationally. 

For more information on sponsorship, contact 

Jubilee Jackson at jubilee.jackson@chaldeanfoundation.org 

or call us at 586-722-7253. 

Upcoming Events 

September 7 – Community Job Fair 2022 Time: 

3:00pm-6:00pm. 

September 8 – Emergency Preparedness Town 

Hall Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm. 

September 20 – National Voter Registration 

Day Time: 6:00pm-7:30pm. 

September 22 – Henry Ford Diabetes Prevention 

Town Hall Time: 6:00pm-7:30 pm. 

From left: Families from all across Macomb County came to the Warren Consolidated Schools Back to School 

Open House on August 11. Each student received a backpack at the conclusion of the Open House 


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NOTEWORTHY 

Dbusiness 

Powered by 

Women 2022 

Annette Tomina, co-owner of an Aqua- 

Tots Swim Schools franchise, was recognized 

by Dbusiness as one of the 

“Powered by Women” class of 2022. It’s a 

family business, and since they opened 

their first school in Troy, the family has 

added outlets in Farmington Hills, Sterling 

Heights, Novi, Auburn Hills, Canton 

Township, Woodhaven, and Dearborn. 

An Aqua-Tots opened in Berkley in August 

and is scheduled to open in Grand 

Rapids late this year or early next year. 

Tomina and her family also have five 

schools in California and one in Florida. 

Tomina came across the Aqua-Tots 

franchise while on a trip to Arizona. 

She filled out the franchisee form online 

and one of the owners called her 

within 20 minutes. A lunch meeting followed, 

and Michigan’s first Aqua-Tots 

Swim School opened in Troy in 2011. 

“I came home (from Arizona) and 

Annette Tomina 

told my siblings, this is what we’re 

opening,” says Tomina, who owns the 

local franchise with her brothers Patrick, 

Brian, and Faraj Tomina, and a 

cousin, Chris Jaboro. 

Aqua-Tots is a swim school for 

children ages 6 months to 12 years. 

It’s based in Arizona and has more 

than 130 locations across the United 

States and around the world. The pool 

at Aqua-Tots is always a comfortable 

90 degrees, and instructors have 40 

hours of classroom and in-pool training 

based on a proven curriculum. 

Although Tomina says the Grand 

Rapids school likely will be her last 

Aqua-Tots in Michigan, she expects to 

expand further in California and Florida. 

She also has Waxing the City hair 

removal franchises in Canton Township 

and West Bloomfield Township, 

and is opening a Vio Med Spa franchise 

concept, where customers can 

get Botox and other appearance treatments, 

in West Bloomfield Township. 

Michigan Board 

of Pharmacy 

Appointment 

Rony Foumia of Commerce Township, 

the Michigan pharmacy area director 

for Ascension Health, was appointed to 

represent pharmacists for a term commencing 

August 11, 2022, and expiring 

June 30, 2026. He succeeds Charles Mollien, 

whose term expired June 30, 2022. 

The Michigan Board of Pharmacy 

was enacted as part of the Public Health 

Rony Foumina 

Code to oversee the practice of pharmacy 

as a health service, the clinical application 

of which includes the encouragement 

of safety and efficacy in the 

prescribing, dispensing, administering 

and use of drugs and related articles for 

the prevention of illness and the maintenance 

and management of health. The 

Public Health Code mandates certain 

responsibilities and duties for a health 

professional licensing board including 

promoting and protecting the public’s 

health, safety, and welfare. 

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IRAQ TODAY 

Iraq Shiite cleric’s supporters demand 

assembly be dissolved 

BY QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA 

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of supporters 

of an influential Shiite cleric in 

Iraq rallied on August 23 in Baghdad’s 

heavily fortified Green Zone, demanding 

the dissolution of parliament and 

early elections. 

The demonstration outside the 

Supreme Judicial Council and parliament 

buildings in the Iraqi capital underscored 

how intractable Iraq’s latest 

political crisis has become. 

The followers of the cleric, Muqtada 

al-Sadr and his political rivals, the 

Iran-backed Shiite groups, have been 

at odds since after last year’s parliamentary 

elections. 

Al-Sadr won the largest share of 

seats in the October vote but failed to 

form a majority government, leading 

to what has become one of the worst 

political crises in Iraq in recent years. 

His supporters in late July stormed the 

parliament and have held frequent 

protests there. 

Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa 

Al-Kadhimi called a meeting of senior 

political leaders and party representatives 

to find a solution — but al-Sadr’s 

party did not attend. 

The firebrand cleric’s supporters 

pitched tents outside of the Supreme 

Judicial Council and carried banners 

calling for the authorities to dissolve 

parliament, schedule early parliamentary 

elections, and combat corruption. 

They decried what they say is the politicization 

of the judiciary in favor of the 

Coordination Framework, an alliance 

of Iran-backed parties and al-Sadr’s 

Shiite rivals. 

The Supreme Judicial Council and 

Federal Supreme Court in a statement 

said they have suspended court sessions 

after receiving “threats over the phone” 

to pressure them to dissolve parliament. 

That step would leave Iraq with both a 

paralyzed parliament and judiciary, and 

a caretaker government that can only 

perform some of its duties. 

Al-Sadr’s Baghdad office in a statement 

called for the resignation of the 

PHOTO BY HADI MIZBAN/AP 

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr protest in front the Supreme Judicial Council, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, 

Aug. 23, 2022. Dozens of supporters of al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, rallied on Tuesday in Baghdad’s 

heavily fortified Green Zone, demanding the dissolution of parliament and early elections. The demonstration underscored 

how intractable Iraq’s latest political crisis has become. 

chief of the Supreme Judicial Council, 

which has issued arrest warrants for 

three members of al-Sadr’s party, accused 

of threatening the judiciary. 

The Coordination Framework has 

said that parliament would have to 

convene to dissolve itself. It urged al- 

Sadr’s camp to “retreat from occupying 

constitutional state institutions 

and return to the forces that believe in 

peaceful and democratic solutions.” 

On the day of the protests, al-Kadhimi 

left a regional meeting of leaders 

in Egypt to return to Baghdad following 

the developments. A statement 

from his office warned that suspending 

the judiciary could push the country 

into “grave dangers” and called for 

calm and resumption of political talks. 

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed 

al-Halboosi tweeted appeals to 

protesters not to quarrel with the judiciary, 

which he said was crucial at a 

time of crisis. 

The United Nations also sounded 

the alarm on further political paralysis 

in Iraq. 

“The right to peaceful protest is an 

essential element of democracy. Equally 

important is the assertion of constitutional 

compliance and respect for state 

institutions,” it said in a statement. 

“State institutions must operate unimpeded 

in service of the Iraqi people, including 

the (Supreme Judicial Council).” 

Al-Sadr on August 17 gave the judiciary 

a week to dissolve parliament, 

to which it responded saying it has 

no authority to do so. His supporters 

stormed parliament in late July. 

On August 20, he called on his followers 

to be ready to hold massive protests 

all over Iraq but then indefinitely 

postponed them after Iran-backed 

groups called for similar rallies the 

same day, saying he wants to preserve 

peace and that “Iraqi blood is invaluable” 

to him. 


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IRAQ TODAY 

Unease in the Middle East: 

Iraq’s political crisis explained 

BY CAL ABBO 

Muqtada al-Sadr 

Iraq is in the midst of its worst political 

crisis since the U.S. invasion in 

2003 and the execution of Saddam 

Hussein in 2006. 

The famous cleric and political figure 

Muqtada al-Sadr has disrupted the 

government for months now. It all began 

ten months ago, when Iraq elected 

a new parliament that was supposed 

to form a government. Al-Sadr’s bloc 

won a strong plurality of votes, but his 

political rivals refused to acknowledge 

his win and participate. 

In June, al-Sadr directed his entire 

bloc to resign from parliament, which 

resulted in 73 vacant seats that were 

filled in the interim mostly by an alliance 

of Iran-backed parties. Since the 

resignation and subsequent appointments, 

the country has been rocked 

by popular protests and calls for a new 

election by many in the Sadrist camp. 

This year in Iraq has been a particularly 

bad one with regard to the 

economy and standard of living. Iraq’s 

water supply, which is affected by the 

third consecutive year of drought, has 

also suffered at the hands of countries 

reducing water flow in the Tigris and 

Euphrates. 

Its power supply, which is notoriously 

problematic, has been affected 

by the intense summer heat and excessive 

demand. This summer is one of 

Iraq’s hottest on record. 

These issues are difficult to address 

for an interim parliament that 

is without an official government. In 

this political crisis, the parliament 

is limited in what it can do because 

Corruption is an 

extraordinary issue 

in Iraq. Almost daily 

it seems there is 

news about another 

corruption scandal 

having to do with the 

government. 

it first has to solve months-old disputes 

over the election. 

Protests have also penetrated 

inside the Green Zone, the district 

where most government business 

PHOTO BY THOMAS KOCH 

in Baghdad is conducted. The protestors, 

who are part of the Sadrist 

movement, continue to emphasize 

they are fighting against corruption 

and to help the poorer districts in 

Iraq that are struggling with food 

and water. 

Corruption is an extraordinary issue 

in Iraq. Almost daily it seems there 

is news about another corruption 

scandal having to do with the government. 

Those in al-Sadr’s camp claim 

to be firmly opposed to corruption and 

there are some reforms in the movement’s 

platform that would reduce it. 

On the other hand, while many political 

figures have promised to remedy 

the problem, little has changed in the 

last two decades. 

The former president of Iraq, Barham 

Salih, said in 2021 that $150 billion 

of oil money had been stolen 

and smuggled out of Iraq since the 

U.S. invasion in 2003. Among political 

analysts, Iraq is surely considered 

one of the most corrupt countries on 

the planet. Petty corruption, which 

involves low-level administrators taking 

small bribes, is almost expected 

in certain aspects of the public-facing 

government. 

In June, Iraq’s anti-corruption 

commission exposed a massive scandal 

in which 41 people misappropriated 

nearly $700 million in public 

funds through forgery, embezzlement, 

manipulation, and money laundering. 

Iraq’s economy relies heavily on cash, 

which has made this type of corruption 

simple and low risk. 

In addition, earlier in August, 

Iraq’s finance minister Ali Allawi announced 

his resignation from political 

office. This decision, he said in a letter, 

is the direct result of the political 

crisis. The government, his letter said, 

has made exceptional achievements 

regarding development and progress. 

The current situation, however, leaves 

the government “shackled by a power 

struggle.” 


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CHALDEAN DIGEST 

Salah Hadi is determined to rebuild his home in the town where his family has lived for generations. 

Pope Francis’ visit brings Iraqi Kurdistan’s 

safe-haven status into sharp focus 

On a recent afternoon, Salah Hadi applied a coat of cement 

on a large ceramic tile and carefully pressed it into 

place. The 51-year-old’s home in the northern Iraqi town 

of Qaraqosh is still blackened with soot after Daesh militants 

set it ablaze in 2014. But with long ancestral ties 

to the town, Hadi is determined to repair the damage. 

“I came back to Qaraqosh in 2017 after the war was 

over,” Hadi told Arab News as he stepped back to check 

that the new tiles were level. “The town was full of rubble 

and destruction. There were war remnants. Most of 

the houses were burned.” 

The arrival of Pope Francis has offered the Nineveh 

governorate’s Christian population a keen sense of spiritual 

renewal, but also a moment for sad reflection on 

its traumatic recent experiences. 

“The Daesh period was a time of pain and hardship,” 

said Hadi. “Every community in Iraq was hurt 

by Daesh’s attack. What happened during the time of 

Daesh was hard, but it has to be told.” 

Hadi’s neighbor, Sharabil Noah, also fled to Irbil 

to escape the Daesh invasion. There he and his family 

rented a house until they felt it was safe enough to return. 

“We didn’t take our belongings when we left. We 

thought it would be only a few days and we would be 

back home,” the 52-year-old told Arab News, a large 

cross hanging on the living room wall above his head. 

“When we came back, the town was destroyed. It 

was a ghost town full of stray dogs. There was no water, 

no electricity, no infrastructure. All of it was gone.” 

Although he has struggled to find work, Noah is 

determined to rebuild his life in Qaraqosh. “This is the 

land of our ancestors. We will not leave it,” he said. 

Noah wants security guarantees to prevent further 

persecution. “I would like to have international protection 

for us here that can assure the Christians that they 

can stay here, where their rights will be given and the 

Christians who left are allowed to return,” he said. 

“The pope’s visit raises the spirits of Christians in 

Iraq and tells them there are people who care for them 

out there. I hope this visit will strengthen relations between 

the communities here.” 

With help from aid agencies, life is gradually returning 

to normal in Qaraqosh. Hadi, for one, is confident better 

times lie ahead. “It is sad what has happened to Iraq,” he 

said as he scooped up more cement using a trowel to install 

another tile. “We have to stand together and be united 

in this country, so we can rebuild it over again.” 

“Daesh feels like a far-off memory that is long gone 

now,” Hadi said, dusting off his hands. “We forgot 

about them. It’s over.” 

– Arab News 

PHOTO BY MAHAMAD AMEEN ABDUL AL-JAWAD 

Chaldean 

Patriarch Sako 

Confirms His 

Intention to 

Resign 

Baghdad — The intention announced 

by Chaldean Patriarch 

Louis Raphael Sako to present his 

resignation to the Pope from the 

patriarchal office at the age of 75 

continues to be discussed. 

This intention had been expressed 

by the Iraqi Cardinal in the 

course of a television interview by 

Jordanian priest Nabil Haddad and 

broadcast by Nour Sat TV. Over 

the past few weeks, the Patriarch’s 

words have aroused controversy 

and comments on social networks, 

prompting the Patriarch to draw 

up a clarification note, released in 

recent days by the official media 

of the Chaldean Patriarchate. The 

note clarifies that Patriarch Sako 

had also mentioned in the past his 

intention to resign from the patriarchal 

office when he reaches the 

threshold of 75 years of age. 

According to the canonical provisions 

in force, all Catholic Bishops 

are required to present their 

own letter of resignation to the Pope 

when they reach the age of 75. This 

rule does not apply to the Patriarchs 

of the Eastern Catholic Churches, 

for whom there is no ‘retirement’ 

age. “But it is a pity” reads the clarification 

note issued by the Chaldean 

Patriarchate “that among the 

Orientals, both in the institutions 

and in the political parties and in 

the Churches, an appropriate ‘culture 

of retiring’ is not widespread in 

due course.” The role of Patriarch - 

the patriarchal text points out - “is a 

role of service that does not depend 

on the individual person who holds 

it, however charismatic he is.” 

– Fides.org 



OBITUARIES 

Suad Zia Dawod 

Nov 18, 1948 – July 19, 2022 

Suad Zia Dawod was born on Thursday, 

November 18, 1948, and passed 

away on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. 

Bebe’s life in five simple words: 

Love. Faith. Education. Family. Sacrifice. 

In the beginning, Bebe was love. What 

a funny word, love. What does it mean? 

There are so many ways to describe it, so 

many ways to express it. But everyone 

knows love when they feel it. And when 

people were with Bebe, they felt love. 

From the time she could remember, 

Bebe’s guiding light was faith. Her 

faith in people. Her faith in justice. Her 

faith in learning. And, of course, her 

faith in God. Bebe’s faith was singular 

and complete. Unwavering and direct. 

This could be no other way because 

Bebe’s faith was built on love. 

Growing up in Baghdad, the youngest 

of nine children, Bebe found her 

calling in education. First she educated 

herself. Later, as a primary school 

teacher, she educated others. Bebe 

listened, Bebe mentored. She thought 

broadly and she thought deeply. Bebe 

never tired of teaching and she never 

tired of learning. Bebe’s mind was always 

open. She embraced her world 

completely and accepted it with love. 

And Bebe gave all of her love, all of 

her faith and all of her knowledge back 

to her family. Bebe’s days began and 

ended with the dreams, aspirations and 

care for her loved ones — especially for 

her children and her grandchildren. For 

her family, Bebe cooked. For her family, 

Bebe baked. For her family Bebe smiled. 

And for her family, Bebe sacrificed. 

In her final years, Bebe sacrificed her 

comfort, hosting frequent sleepovers 

for her many grandkids — staying up 

as late as they did — though, at times, 

she could barely stand. In her final 

months, following a series of debilitating 

strokes, Bebe sacrificed her peace, 

undergoing painful physical therapy, 

all to grant her family the gift of hope. 

After many years of illness, Bebe’s 

body had grown tired but her spirit 

never wavered. All through her life, 

Bebe gave love. Bebe was love. Bebe is 

love. And, in the end, only love endures. 

IN MEMORIAM 

Ammar Al 

Dawoody 

July 12, 1975 – 

July 14, 2022 

Aseet Ramo 

Yaqo Buni 

July 1, 1943 – 


Lazar Damerci 

Sept 14, 1958 – 


Jeffrey George 

Najor 

Feb 15, 1983 – 


Maryam Hanna 

Odeesh 

July 1, 1933 – 


Bianca Mary 

Kashat 

Aug 11, 1983 – 


Dhaher Gorguis 

Allos 

Jan 7, 1946 – 


Saad Sarhan 

July 1, 1940 – 


Lamees Korkis 

Jindo Bakos 

July 4, 1962 – 


Nimat “Nina” 

Kallabat 

April 19, 1948 – 


Mary Salmo 

Abbo 

July 1, 1937 – 


Mendo Mendo 

July 1, 1951 – 


Najah Petros 

Mansoor 

July 22, 1946 – 


Manoel Jamil 

Attisha 

Jan 1, 1952 – 


Saleemah 

Oraha Hanna 

July 1, 1943 – 


Kamel Tobia 

Kirma 

Aug 31, 1950 – 


Talal Matlob 

July 1, 1944 – 


Korkis M Mansor 

July 1, 1933 – 


Nabil Zaref 

Ghatas 

Sept 8, 1943 – 


Wadou Sevany 

Zaitouna 

July 1, 1929 – 

Aug 2, 2022 

Johnny Zia 

Attisha 

May 6, 1963 – 


Khudhur Bahnam- 

Afram Afram 

July 1, 1944 – 


Hanni Jajju 

Yawer 

July 1, 1944 – 


Najiba “Jeeba” 

Ayar Shouneyia 

Aug 30, 1935 – 



Nuha Mansour Yousif 

Aug 26, 1957 – July 13, 2022 

Nuha Mansour Yousif was born in 

Baghdad, Iraq on August 26, 1957. 

She passed away peacefully surrounded 

by loved ones in Michigan 

on July 13, 2022. She joins her parents 

Mansour and Aida Mansour in 

Eternal Rest. She is survived by her 

husband of 31 years, Wilson Yousif. 

Nuha was a loving mother to two 

boys, Lawrance and George. She was 

also a dear sister to May Mansour, 

Nazar (Nadia) Mansour, Nabeel Mansour, 

and Souha (Robert) Maltese. 

Nuha was the best aunt ever to Chantel 

(Alan) Shamoun, Steve Oram Jr., 

Audrina Maltese, Nathan Mansour, 

Natalia Mansour, great-nieces Elise 

and Caroline Shamoun, and greatnephew 

Noah Shamoun. 

Nuha moved to the United States 

in 1973 with her parents and siblings. 

In 1988, she took a trip to Fatima, 

Portugal, which reinvigorated her 

faith and had an impact on her 

through the day of her passing. Nuha 

was fortunate enough to experience 

Fatima first-hand at the same place 

where the Virgin Mary appeared to 

three children. Nuha’s connection 

to Fatima was evident as she passed 

away on the Feast Day of the third 

apparition, July 13. 

Throughout her life, Nuha always 

gave to others before she thought of 

herself. She was compassionate and 

caring and many sought her advice 

and friendship. Nuha made each holiday 

special with her thoughtful gifts 

and delicious dishes. Graceful and 

elegant, she had a presence about 

her that seemed special in a way 

no words could describe. Incredibly 

stylish, she stood out in any photo 

she was in. She had a reserved, quiet 

demeanor but a giant, lovable laugh. 

Nuha would have not wanted us to 

remember her with sadness. She 

would have wanted us to think of her 

and smile. 

Michael Odisho 

Hermiz 

May 15, 1936 – 


Essa (Isaac) Jalal 

Essa Koja 

Aug 7, 1985 – 


Najiba “Jeeba” 

Ayar Shouneyia 

Aug 30, 1935 – 


Nahida Yalda 

Dabish 

May 5, 1945 – 


Sabah Salem 

July 1, 1939 – 


Omar Nabil Issa 

Sept 16, 1982 – 


Shamoon 

Sumoo Sada 

Dec 20, 1989 – 


Kinar Sarkees 

William 

July 1, 1947 – 


Juliet Esho Sawa 

Sulaqa 

Feb 15, 1957 – 


Anthony Paul 

Orow 

Jan 29, 1998 – 


Riad Faraj 

Yatooma 

May 1, 1968 – 


Ryath Jamil 

Lousia 

Sept 28, 1950 

– Aug 16, 2022 


COVER STORY 

On the Run in America 

An Iraqi Christian’s struggle to stay 

one step ahead of ICE 

BY AMANDA UHLE 

Originally printed in The Delacorte 

Review August 15, 2022. 

ILLUSTRATION BY LÉO HAMELIN 

In winter, the four-hour drive from 

Detroit to Youngstown is particularly 

bleak. One February 2018 day 

I couldn’t discern any contrast between 

the snow on the farm fields, the faded 

white of gambrel-roofed barns, and the 

dove-gray sky behind them. The landscape 

alternates between fast food and 

agriculture, the flat road stretching on 

and on. Drive the length of Ohio and 

you’ll pay more than $15 in tolls. 

For more than a year at that time, 

dozens of Detroit families made this drive 

often to see detained fathers, husbands, 

brothers, and uncles, all held by ICE at 

the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. 

I joined them, and on one of my visits, I 

was scheduled to meet two men for backto-back 

interviews. Instead, prison staff 

decided we could all talk together. 

So Peter Abbo—a name I’m using 

for this story to protect his anonymity— 

pushed another man’s wheelchair into a 

tiny metal room, the two of them sharing 

a single phone on their side of the plexiglass. 

Peter was bald and pale, a red-orange 

beard on his chin but no mustache 

above it. The man in the wheelchair fit a 

more expected version of “Middle Eastern,” 

with olive skin and graying black 

hair. They looked nothing alike but had 

established a brotherly rhythm, telling 

each other’s stories, passing the plastic 

phone between them. Neither man’s 

family had visited yet. Peter’s wife had 

breast cancer, I learned, and the other 

man had a first-grade son. 

The man in the wheelchair dominated 

the phone but if Peter was annoyed, 

he didn’t betray it. When I indicated 

that Peter should speak he did 

so with equal urgency, but also with a 

self-effacing demeanor. Repeatedly he 

said, “I take responsibility” or “I did it. 

I own that,” in explaining his crimes 

and circumstances. 

Peter pressed a family photo and a 

Xerox of a handwritten letter against the 

plexiglass for me to read. The judge at 

his recent hearing had ignored the letter, 

and Peter wanted me to see the injustice 

of it, to understand his situation. 

These were two of more than 300 

Iraqi-born Detroit-area men arrested 

in a surprise ICE raid back on Sunday 

morning, June 11, 2017. They both have 

criminal records, for which they’ve 

served time. In 2010, the man in the 

wheelchair worked in a liquor store that 

sold fake Nike shoes. He was charged 

with a counterfeiting felony and went 

to prison. Seven years later, shoeless 

and in his underwear at six in the 

morning, he was handcuffed and taken 

out of his home and into one of the 

SWAT vehicles idling on his suburban 

street. More quietly, in the weeks before 

and after, others were arrested in Michigan 

and beyond. At the time there were 

just over 1,300 men in the U.S. who fell 

into a narrow category of immigration 

law—Iraqi-born people who had “final 

orders of deportation.” A few had been 

convicted of serious crimes. Many more 

were guilty of non-violent offenses or 

even simple lapses in paperwork. In the 

summer of 2017, the Trump administration 

planned to deport them all. 

This was a hard turn in policy. For 

decades, the U.S. did not deport Iraqis. 

The situation in that nation was deemed 

so dangerous that even the George W. 

Bush administration had understood it 

to be inhumane to deport Iraqis to Iraq. 

People who had been “Americanized” 

by spending time in the U.S. would be in 

extreme danger there, and their presence 

was considered a risk to Iraq’s precarious 

security situation. Citing logistical and 

humanitarian reasons, the Iraqi government 

refused to repatriate them anyway. 

Under current immigration law, felons 

generally cannot remain in the U.S. 

But when an Iraqi-born person was 

convicted of a felony, he or she would 

be sentenced according to the courts 

and then, instead of being deported, 

as other foreign-born felons might be, 

they were assigned supervision from 

ICE—usually monthly or annual checkins. 

Officially their status included the 

designation “under final orders of deportation,” 

even though the deportation 

aspect hadn’t happened in a generation. 

Sending someone back to Iraq 

was all but unimaginable. 

Until it wasn’t. 

ON THE RUN continued on page 22 


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COVER STORY 

ON THE RUN continued from page 20 

By mid-afternoon on June 11, 2017, 

the Detroit ICE office was filled with 

recently-arrested men. Detroit-area 

Iraqi families were urgently trying 

to reach one another and warn them 

about the surprise raid. Peter Abbo 

was out on an errand when his wife 

Mimi answered their door. She called 

him. According to a letter she sent immigration 

count, he “…turned himself 

in within ten minutes of getting my 

phone call. [He] would never run away 

from his situation and never has.” Peter 

and Mimi were both aware of the 

other Detroit arrests that day. “I knew 

what was happening. I could have 

run,” he said. “I faced up to it.” 

He came home and ICE agents 

waiting there arrested him. 

It seemed reasonable to Peter Abbo 

that his situation could be sorted out. 

He did not have a violent past. He was 

involved in a weird and spontaneous 

armed robbery in 1990 and a cocaine 

deal in 2009, but had served time years 

ago for both. He had scrupulously kept 

up with ICE check-in appointments, even 

as the appointments had become more 

tense and punitive since Donald Trump 

had taken office six months before. 

The day after the 2016 election that 

brought Trump the presidency, Peter 

remembers, he had a scheduled meeting 

with his immigration officer. He 

was in the waiting room with several 

other people when his officer called 

out across the room: “Hey Peter, did 

you hear Trump won? All you guys are 

going to get deported now.” 

Peter chose not to answer. He 

looked down and shook his head. 

With a thick Michigan accent, elongating 

the first “a” in “Arabs,” the officer 

said, “All you A-rabs. Wait and 

see.” 

More than half of the Iraqis arrested 

and threatened with deportation 

in 2017 are neither Arab nor Muslim. 

Peter is Chaldean, a sect of Catholicism. 

He grew up speaking Aramaic, 

not Arabic. A minority group in Iraq, 

the Chaldean community has endured 

an epic list of injustices through history, 

from its formation in the Mesopotamian 

era to the present. Ostracized 

and in danger in Iraq, Chaldeans are 

the primary subset of all Iraqi immigrants 

to the U.S. The first influx 

began around 1914 when Henry Ford 

offered appealing wages of $5 a day 

for autoworkers. As generations of suffering 

followed for Chaldeans in Iraq, 

they continued to slowly immigrate 

to the Detroit area. At least 250,000 

Iraqis are known to have died at the 

hand of their own government during 

Saddam Hussein’s brutal twenty-fouryear 

reign. And Chaldeans’ suffering 

didn’t end with Saddam’s death in 

2006. Thirteen years later, in 2019, the 

Chaldean archbishop announced that 

Iraqi Christians faced “extinction” unless 

there was a change in the political 

situation. 

Peter and his twin brother were 

born in 1969 in Baghdad. The Abbos 

had come from a village in northernmost 

Iraq, near the borders of Iran 

and Turkey. Red-headed, fair-skinned 

people—like Peter and his twin—are 

common there, and Chaldean culture 

is dominant. Peter tells me that during 

World War I his family and his village 

helped the Russians and, as a result, 

“The rest of Iraq has always treated us 

as traitors.” His parents were forced to 

move south when the violence against 

Christians became intolerable. “Kidnapping 

and killing Christians happened 

so much,” he said. 

His parents thought they’d be safer 

in the city, but living there was substantially 

worse. In the north, the Abbos 

had been almost exclusively among 

Chaldeans, but in Baghdad they were 

a minority. The family spoke Aramaic 

at home. Everyone around them spoke 

Arabic, and most were Muslim. Peter 

couldn’t get his footing in school because 

of the language difference. His 

sister was harassed because she didn’t 

wear a hijab. The children were bullied, 

and Peter has a bright white scar 

on his forehead from an injury sustained 

during that time. He touches 

it when he talks about those years in 

Baghdad. “They jumped me,” he says 

quietly. “They threw rocks.” 

In 1980 the Iran-Iraq War began. 

The same year, doctors told Peter’s father 

that he needed a pacemaker. Fortunately 

for the family, his father became 

eligible for a visa to have surgery 

in the U.S. It would also allow his wife 

and children a respite from the day-today 

brutality they were facing. 

Peter and his twin brother were 

both given traditional Chaldean 

names when they were born, but when 

they moved to America, they took 

their baptismal names. They learned 

English. Their father recovered, then 

began working as a cook for a suburban 

Detroit banquet hall. Peter’s older 

sister married and had children. Four 

years passed. The Abbos overstayed 

their visitor visa, and, in 1984, left the 

country in order to re-enter later using 

proper immigration channels. 

Returning to Iraq in the interim was 

not possible. Peter’s oldest brother 

– the only immediate family member 

to have stayed behind – was by 1984 

in his fourth year as a soldier in the 

Iran-Iraq War. It became known in his 

army unit that his family had moved to 

the U.S.—an unforgivable stain on his 

name. Anyone traveling to America, 

and especially coming back to Iraq after 

living in America, was assumed to 

be involved in espionage. His brother 

learned of a secret and credible plan 

for his fellow soldiers to torture and 

kill him; he absconded instead, running 

into the mountainous wilderness 

near their home village and surviving 

on little until he arrived in an Iranian 

refugee camp. 

To avoid endangering other family 

members or risk torture and death 

themselves, Peter and his family 

moved to Casablanca in 1984, living 

off of their small savings. His now-naturalized 

adult sister sponsored their 

re-entry to the U.S. in 1986, when Peter 

was seventeen. 

The Abbos moved to Detroit’s Chaldean 

Town, near 7 Mile and Woodward 

Avenue, a neighborhood of densely 

packed single-family houses without 

driveways—built before cars—and a 

small strip of Iraqi bakeries and meat 

markets. Of the roughly 640,000 Chaldeans 

worldwide, about 120,000 reside 

in Metro Detroit. Saddam’s rule 

had prompted thousands of Chaldean 

families to flee persecution in Iraq beginning 

in the late 1970s. Many went 

to Detroit, and a large number of them 

settled into jobs operating corner convenience 

stores as family businesses, 

as they had done in Iraq. Living in a 

contemporary food desert, many Detroit 

residents rely on corner stores 

for nutrition. The Chaldean Chamber 

of Commerce says that nine out of ten 

food stores in the city are owned by 

Chaldeans. Muslims are forbidden to 

buy and sell alcohol, creating a business 

niche for Chaldeans both in Iraq 

More than half of the Iraqis arrested and threatened with deportation 

in 2017 are neither Arab nor Muslim… the Chaldean community has 

endured an epic list of injustices through history, from its formation 

in the Mesopotamian era to the present. 

and in the U.S. Chaldeans and their 

late-night liquor stores, called party 

stores here, are stalwarts of Detroit 

culture. Like bodegas in New York, 

party stores in Detroit are handy for 

beer or milk or toiletries, and a reliable 

source of friendly conversation. I spent 

an afternoon in a West Side Detroit 

party store in 2019 and its Chaldean 

owner, who himself spent ten months 

detained in 2017-18, greeted everyone 

who entered by name, usually referencing 

their family. “Terry, we got diapers 

in for your sister’s baby,” he told 

one visitor. 

In the mid-80s, when Peter was a 

teenager, Pershing High School, on 

Detroit’s West Side, proved even less 

welcoming than Baghdad had been. 

Detroit is a majority Black city. Most 

other Middle Eastern kids—who were 

generally Muslim and had immigrated 

to Dearborn, adjacent to Detroit—had 

olive skin and dark hair. Peter was 

freckled and pale, ginger-haired. Peter 

said he tried at school and tried not to 

get distracted by various criminal activities 

in his neighborhood. “But my 

head wasn’t in place.” 

He was working after school and at 



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STORY continued from page XX 

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COVER STORY 


night, at a liquor store on 6 Mile and 

Telegraph. That neighborhood was 

also a hub for drugs. “I used to look at 

the dope dealers and think, well, what 

a life. I mean that’s what you saw,” he 

said. “Starting in mid-’80s, mid-’90s, 

there was nothing but cocaine, hard 

drugs, fighting, robbing, killing.” 

On Mother’s Day 1990, when Peter 

had just turned twenty-one, he 

was hanging out with several high 

school friends near a party store. One 

of them, he says, spontaneously decided 

to rob someone coming out. The 

man was holding a bouquet of flowers, 

presumably for a mother in his 

life. As he opened the door of his car, 

a red Corvette, Peter’s friend pulled 

a gun on the man, took his keys, and 

got in the car, yelling at Peter to hop 

in. This had not been Peter’s idea. He 

says he felt almost as confused as the 

Corvette owner. But Peter opened the 

passenger door, grabbed the flowers 

from the front seat, handed them to 

the man who’d bought them, and got 

in the back seat. 

“Stupid, stupid,” Peter says, recalling 

the incident. “Me and another guy 

jumped in the car and took off.” They 

drove the Corvette for ten minutes 

around Chaldean Town. The police 

asked the victim who stole the car, and 

the owner reported that one of them 

was a redhead. “Everyone else with me 

was African-American. So the police 

knew exactly who it was,” Peter said. 

“I am the only red-haired guy in that 

neighborhood. When they came to 

me, they asked me whether I was the 

guy with a gun. I said I was. I couldn’t 

snitch. In that neighborhood, in that 

time, you can’t do that. They would 

have burned my house.” 

Peter says he never held the gun. He 

was holding the bouquet during most 

of the frenzied interaction. The victim 

agreed and told law enforcement so at 

a hearing—that Peter was an accessory 

and bystander, but not the gunman. 

“He said that I had nothing to do with 

it,” Peter said, that he had been “nice 

enough to give him his flowers back because 

it was Mother’s Day.” 

Peter was offered a plea bargain for 

a lower charge, unarmed robbery, but 

when he got the paperwork it was for 

the original charge, armed robbery. But 

Peter still agreed to protect his friends, 

and to protect himself from retribution. 

“I was young and stupid,” Peter said. 

He served one year and three months 

in a state prison. He’d understood that 

the plea meant his record would be 

clean, but he was wrong—those ten minutes 

in 1990 are indelibly marked on his 

record as “armed robbery.” His family 

paid $1,000 for the lawyer who urged 

him to take the plea deal. It’s unclear 

whether this lawyer considered the consequences 

of adding a felony to an immigrant’s 

record, or if he did understand 

but assumed that it was irrelevant, since 

Iraqis were never deported anyway. 

Peter spent his twenties back in 

the same Detroit neighborhood. His 

girlfriend got pregnant and then left, 

shortly after their son was born. Peter 

and his mother raised the boy together. 

There was never enough money. 

“It’s so stupid to even say it now,” he 

tells me, “but I wanted to be a drug 

dealer. They had money, friends. They 

were the only ones who didn’t have to 

worry. I should have wanted to be a 

doctor, but I didn’t know to want that.” 

In 2009, at age thirty-nine, he was 

arrested for selling cocaine. He hired 

a friend of a friend’s lawyer, who was 

Yemeni. 

But at the time neither Peter nor 

his attorney knew that something important 

had changed in the nineteen 

years since his 1990 felony for armed 

robbery. “Janet Reno changed the law 

back in ’98,” he says. “If you’re not 

a citizen and catch a felony, you are 

deportable.” He felt a rush of fear as 

this fact emerged during the prosecution’s 

remarks at the hearing. Serving 

more time in a U.S. prison was a very 

unpleasant prospect but was nothing 

compared to being deported to 

Iraq as a fair-skinned Chaldean who’d 

spent decades steeped in U.S. culture. 

He didn’t know Arabic, and he didn’t 

know anyone in Iraq. Deportation was 

effectively a death sentence. Even if 

actually being deported was unheard 

of, he didn’t want to be put on that list. 

During the court recess, Peter sat at 

the wooden defendant’s table next to 

his Yemini attorney, who raised his eyebrows 

and leaned toward Peter’s ear. 

Get out, he said. 

“He looked at me. He told me, 

‘They’re going to lock you up. Send 

you back.’ I remember that day. Wow. 

How he looked at me. He said ‘Run.’ 

And with my, with my dumbness, I believed 

him. I hate to admit it. It’s nuts. 

I got up and left. My lawyer said to run, 

and my dumb ass ran.” 

When the court recessed, Peter just 

walked out and went home. Not for 

long, though. “It took them a month or 

two to come get me. ICE came, and I 

was in for three months, but then the 

policy with Iraq was that they wouldn’t 

deport me.” That would change. 

Immigration and Naturalization 

Services arrested Peter in 2009, and 

he served three months in the Calhoun 

County Jail in Battle Creek. His trial 

for the drug charge proceeded – this 

time with a public defender after he 

parted ways with the Yemini attorney. 

In January of 2011, he was sentenced to 

thirty-two months in prison and four 

years of probation. He served about 

thirty months in state prison. After 

his release, he reported to ICE every 

six months. Like all Iraqi immigrants 

with final orders of deportation, he 

was assigned an immigration officer 

whose job was to check up with an 

individuals’ employment and housing 

situations and monitor them to be 

sure they were accountable, with no 

criminal activity. They could be hard. 

“The ICE people, I’ve never seen anything 

like it,” Peter says. “A few are 

okay, normal. Most of them, it seems 

like they’re there because they want 

to show you their power, to disrespect 

you. They call you liar, call you piece 

of shit, Arab.” 

Peter worked for a disaster cleanup 

company at the time, entering homes 

and businesses after destructive 

events such as fires and floods, and 

even crimes. “We would go to burnt, 

damaged properties, water-damaged 

properties, and we’d tear them down 

and rebuild them,” he says. 

His boss would put him on the 

phone or in front of customers whenever 

possible because, he says, he was 

the friendliest, most outgoing man on 

the crew. His boss wrote a letter in support 

of his release in 2018, telling the 

immigration court that Peter is “hardworking, 

trustworthy, a team player, 

and a huge asset to our organization. 

He has always been reliable…we continually 

receive positive comments 

about his work ethic and personality 

from many of our clients.” 

Because of his light skin and red 

hair, Peter says, co-workers often took 

“The ICE people, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Peter says. “A few 

are okay, normal. Most of them, it seems like they’re there because 

they want to show you their power, to disrespect you.” 

it for granted he was white. A surprising 

number of them, he says, were allied 

with white supremacy groups and 

assumed that he’d be sympathetic. He 

wasn’t. “They thought I was thinking 

the same way, so they’d say things 

about the Hispanic people, about Jewish 

people. They hate Jewish people 

more than anything.” 

“They’re all thinking it’s going to 

be a race war,” Peter said. He makes an 

upside-down “okay” hand gesture, now 

associated with white supremacists, 

and says, “This is how they identify 

each other, how they say white power. 

They’re signaling.” They sometimes signaled 

him that way, Peter said, because 

of his looks. “I’m thinking, Honest to 

God, this is everywhere. This is ugly.” 

Peter has been married to Mimi 

since 1999. (For her privacy and Peter’s, 

Mimi is not her real name.) She’s 

also from a Chaldean family, though 

she was born in Detroit, and she is 

kind and beautiful, with long hair and 

a wide-open smile. The couple tried 

for a baby, and she miscarried several 

times. Years passed. They adopted 

dogs. Mimi worked in a hair salon and 

started a cookie business. In 2015, a 



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or call 586-722-7253. 


PHOTO ESSAY 

Mar Matti 

in the 

Frame 

A photo essay of 

the homeland 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILSON SARKIS 

CAPTIONS BY ALAN MANSOUR 

Top of page: The monastery now serves the small farming villages located at the foot of the mountain. Above: Mar Matti or Mattai (St. Matthew) is the name 

of a Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) monastery that sits atop Mount Maqlub (also known as Alphaph or Alfaf Mountain) at the height of 2,010 feet above sea level. 

It is located 15 miles from Nineveh and just under 13 miles northwest of Mosul. 


Left: Seated on the shelf of a 

rocky peak, the monastery offers 

an exceptional double view. As 

seen from the valley, it appears 

as being suspended between 

the earth and the sky and leads 

us to meditation. On the other 

side, from its terrace, it offers a 

180° panorama and seems to be 

keeping a watchful eye on the 

world below, the world of the 

people of Nineveh. 

Below: Mar Matti was buried 

among many bishops, monks, 

and priests in this monastery. 

It was well known for its large 

library and Syriac Christian 

manuscripts. Also buried in Mar 

Matti Monastery is one of the 

great scholars at that time, Ibn 

Al Ibry. Many caves and silos remain 

around the monastery; they 

used to house all the people that 

lived there. 

Above: Mar Matti 

Monastery is only the 

mere shadow of its 

former magnificence. 

The small monastic 

community which still 

lives there watches over 

an immemorial heritage. 

It is recognized as 

one of the oldest 

monasteries, dating 

back to 363 AD. King 

Sennacherib built it 

during the reign of the 

Prussian King Shaboor 

(Shapur). 

Right: The last attack, 

by ISIS in 2014, was 

stopped down in 

the valley, just a few 

kilometers away from 

the monastery. At 

that time, some of the 

villages below had 

been evacuated and 

their inhabitants were 

temporarily transferred 

to Mar Matti. 


FEATURE 

Celebrating 

1,950 Years 

The year 2022 marked 1,950 years of service, 

with a jubilee and various projects 

launched, including: 

• 1,950 hours of continuous Eucharistic 

Adoration performed where people 

come in groups and pray in front of the 

Blessed Sacrament. 

• 1,950 rosaries prayed at the altar of 

Our Lady of Little Mount, conducted by 

Marian Legionaries. 

• 1,950 Bibles given to catechism children 

who do not own a Bible. 

• Distribution of 1,950 rosaries to children 

in rural villages. 

• 1,950 poor families selected and distributed 

with dry rations. 

• Planting of 1,950 saplings throughout 

the Diocese starting from rural to city 

parishes. 

• Distribution of food to 1,950 prisoners. 

• Distribution of 1,950 dress materials to 

the poor and needy. 

St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in India 

BY WEAM NAMOU 

Apostle means “one who is sent 

off.” It was the name Jesus 

gave to the twelve disciples he 

chose to go into the world and preach 

the kingdom of God and heal the sick. 

While eleven of the apostles preached 

mostly within the limits of the Roman 

Empire, the twelfth, St. Thomas, 

was assigned to preach in faraway 

lands, including India. It was during 

this missionary journey that his caravan 

passed through Mesopotamia, 

spreading the good news of Jesus to 

the people there. 

St. Thomas is said to have arrived 

in the Malabar coast in 52 A.D. The 

primary religions of India at that time 

were Brahmanical Hinduism, ancestral 

devotion of the common folk, 

Buddhism, and Jainism. 

“St. Thomas influenced the people 

in India spiritually, culturally, and socially,” 

said Rev. Fr. H. Joe Bala Ph.D., 

the Rector and parish priest of the 

Holy Shrine of Our Lady of Health and 

St. Thomas the Apostle in Chennai, 

India. “In short, the local culture and 

the folk traditions of the people got 

soaked in the Apostle. It’s our pride 

that we have the tomb here.” 

St. Thomas originally built the 

church in Chennai which later housed 

his tomb. 

San Thome Church, officially 

known as St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica 

and National Shrine of Saint 

Thomas, was built in the 16th century 

and it was rebuilt in 1893 by the British 

in neo-gothic style. The British 

version still stands today and attracts 

many pilgrims each year. This is one 

of only three known churches in the 

world built over the tomb of an apostle 

of Jesus, the other two being St. 

Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (St. Peter) 

and Santiago de Compostela Cathedral 

in Galicia, Spain (St. James). 

The Death of St. Thomas 

St. Thomas was seen as a threat because 

people started believing him. 

More importantly, they started believing 

in Jesus and they began to dislike 

the Brahmanical cast-oriented religion. 

When Thomas converted his wife 

and son to Christianity, Raja Mahadevan, 

then king of Mylapore, ordered 

the disciple killed. Brahmin enemies 

pursued him from the cave of Little 


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Top of page: San Thome Church was renovated in 1896 according to neo- 

Gothic designs, as was favored by British architects in the late 19th century. 

Above: Thomas Cathedral, Mumbai, is the 300-year old cathedral church of 

the Diocese of Mumbai of the Church of North India. 

Mount and pierced him with a lance 

when he reached the Big Mount. 

At around 1551, Little Mount, 

which until then was only a steep 

rocky elevation, began to be cleared 

and levelled for the convenience of 

the pilgrims of his devotees. Today 

it’s called the Shrine of Our Lady of 

Health and St. Thomas the Apostle. 

The Cathedral is presently monitored 

and maintained by His Grace 

the Most Rev. Dr. George Antonysamy, 

the Archbishop of Madras – Mylapore. 

On July 1, 2022, his Grace solemnly 

inaugurated the “Jubilee Year” 

in Little Mount Shrine, celebrating St. 

Thomas’ martyrdom. 

Under his guidance and encouragement, 

a lot of initiatives were taken 

by Rev. Fr. H. Joe Bala, who said, 

“This special celebration is to cherish 

the faith and history of our place.” 

The Chaldean Connection 

Few Chaldeans are aware of St. Thomas’ 

Cathedral in India. But Asmaa 

Jamil worked in India for over two 

years and at one point lived only 10 

minutes away from it; she attended its 

service every Sunday. Jamil, author of 

the Kingdom of Treasures series, is 

from Tel Keppe and came to the United 

States in 1977. She currently lives 

in Michigan. 

At the Little Mount, where St. 

Thomas was martyred, Jamil was 

amazed by the number of people 

visiting the small church and kept 

thanking God for giving her this great 

opportunity. 

When she visited the St. Thomas 

Cathedral Basilica during Mass, she 

saw many tourists and people of different 

faiths walk in, pray, then leave. 

“But the faithful focused on the Mass 

which impressed me,” she said. “After 

the Mass, I walked towards the altar 

and noticed glass on the floor. When 

I looked down, it was the Tomb of St. 

Thomas.” 

Jamil visited the museum devoted 

to St. Thomas at the back of the Basilica. 

Below the museum is a small 

chapel which had a family preparing 

for baptism. “I remember hearing 

Aramaic words and felt connected 

to St. Thomas, the people that were 

there, and our Lord Jesus,” she recalled. 


FEATURE 

ALL GIRL …All In 

Giving Parents a Voice 

Vincent Sitto Makes County 

Commission Run 

BY PAUL NATINSKY 

FALL INFORMATION NIGHT 

Tuesday, September 27, 2022 • 7pm 

Young women seeking academic excellence, 

exceptional athletics, inspiring arts programs, 

and an empowering environment built on faith 

and sisterhood join Marian. To learn more, 

RSVP below to attend our Fall Information Night. 

For information on shadow visits, tours and tuition 

assistance, visit www.marian-hs.org/#admission or 

call 248.502.3033. Become #MarianStrong 

marian-hs.org 

For Vincent Sitto, politics is not 

a career choice. The Oakland 

County businessman and father 

just wants people like himself to be 

heard and to have a voice — something 

he is not finding within the Oakland 

County Commission. 

Because of that, Sitto 

is running as a Republican 

for the 10th District seat 

on the Oakland County 

Commission. The district 

includes northwest West 

Bloomfield, southern Waterford, 

western Pontiac, 

and a smattering of other 

area towns. 

“Long story short, I 

went to a few county commission 

meetings, didn’t like what I saw. 

I felt like as a parent and a taxpayer, my 

voice wasn’t being heard. I was getting 

the nod from everybody like they heard 

me and then they went on their merry 

way and still did what they want. At the 

end of the day, they’ve got to remember 

that they represent us, the taxpayers, 

and they weren’t doing that.” 

The 10th District used to be a tossup 

with Republicans and Democrats alternating 

election wins, said Sitto. Redistricting 

across the state has changed 

the boundaries of the 10th, making it a 

55% Democratic district, he said. 

“I definitely have my work cut out 

for me, but I’m up for the challenge 

because I’m in this for a different reason. 

I’m not in this because I want to 

get into politics,” said Sitto. “I’m in 

this because my kids are not happy. I 

shouldn’t have had to pull my kids out 

of the school district as a taxpayer because 

I’m not happy with the way they 

are doing things.” 

Sitto said his 10- and 11-year-old 

kids are politically aware in a way he 

was not when he was that age. He feels 

it is a shame that they have to concern 

themselves with school closings and 

restaurant mask policies. 

Sitto has opinions on a number of 

national and local political issues, but 

Vincent Sitto 

he limits his comments to local issues 

he says he can do something about. 

He feels local elected bodies 

should make decisions about COVIDrelated 

issues. Instead, he says statelevel 

unelected officials are making 

policy while the county 

commission follows their 

lead—often without considering 

what their constituents 

want. 

Misspent SMART transportation 

money is another 

hot button issue for Sitto. He 

says the Regional Transportation 

Authority’s $124 million 

allocation for the area 

generated only $10 million 

to $15 million in revenue to 

offset the cost. Worse, Sitto said authorities 

want to levy another $56 million tax 

for transportation services. 

“If they can’t manage $124 million 

for transportation, why in the world 

would we give them another $56 (million),” 

said Sitto. 

Making matters worse, he said, the 

property tax from which the $56 million 

is generated disproportionately 

affects the poor and middle class, who 

can least afford it. 

Opposing Sitto in the November 

general election will be Kristen Nelson, 

a behavioral analyst from Waterford 

who has held the seat since 2019. 

Sitto ran unopposed in the Republican 

primary, so he is only now 

raising general election money. He 

thinks he might have enough with one 

upcoming fundraiser. Sitto declined 

to discuss specifics about campaign 

finances. 

“Win or lose, I’m not going to make 

their lives easy,” said Sitto, who plans 

to stay involved with the county commission 

whether he wins or loses. 

“My parents emigrated to this 

country with a dream, and they were 

able to live and accomplish that dream 

for their kids, and I feel it’s slipping 

away from mine,” he said, “And that’s 

pretty sad.” 


PROFILE 

Chris George, the Branding Guru 

BY CAL ABBO 

Chris George 

Chris George appeared recently 

on Chaldean News Radio to 

discuss his business acumen, 

branding ideas, and how he became 

successful. George has plentiful ideas 

and experience to offer young entrepreneurs 

and branding experts who 

want to take their business to the next 

level or even start something from 

scratch. 

George worked in his father’s liquor 

stores when he was younger. He 

noticed the margins they would make 

– buy an item for $2, for example, and 

sell it for $4 – but his only customers 

were those who lived within a few 

miles of the store. Instead, George 

dreamed big. What if he could sell 

something to the entire world? 

That’s when George decided to create 

Gentleman’s Box. 

This was George’s first wildly successful 

business venture. Gentleman’s 

Box uses a subscription-based model 

for men who want to look “dapper,” in 

George’s own words. This high-fashion 

box contains ties, socks, and other accessories 

that arrive to your doorstep 

on a monthly basis. “You would also 

get the latest issue of GQ magazine,” 

George added. 

In 2016, years after Gentleman’s 

Box saw extraordinary success, George 

decided he wanted to meet others 

in the subscription industry. He had 

finally discerned what his personal 

niche was – building brands and communities, 

especially with a subscription 

model. The next step was networking. 

George and his business partners 

searched for a subscription box conference 

to no avail. Their search, however, 

was not in vain. In the process, 

they figured out that they could host 

a conference themselves. So, they set 

out to plan an event in Detroit, inviting 

the biggest and baddest names in the 

subscription industry they could find. 

“We had no event experience. It felt 

like we were throwing a high school 

party,” George said. “We were hoping 

people showed up.” 

And they did. “We had 200 attendees,” 

George said. “Katia Beauchamp 

from Birchbox came, the queen of subscription 

boxes at that time.” Birchbox 

is a subscription box with selected 

makeup samples. It’s heralded as one 

of the early successes of the subscription 

model, and in 2016, it was a big 

deal to host her at the conference. 

Since that inaugural year, George 

and his partners have built the largest 

community and event for subscription 

brands, which he dubbed SUBTA, or 

Subscription Trade Association. In recent 

years, they’ve even gotten streaming 

services like Netflix and Disney+ to 

join their conference and spice it up. 

George’s most recent venture is a 

partnership with Michael Sana on the 

project Sana Detroit. The Chaldean 

News covered Sana’s success a few 

months back, and he’s only grown 

since then. 

Sana Detroit is Michigan’s premiere 

streetwear clothing brand. George and 

Sana met when they played on the 

same team in the Chaldean Hockey 

League. After Sana found out George 

was a branding guru, he asked him 

for help and advice. It turned into a lot 

more. 

George became an official business 

partner in Sana Detroit after hearing 

Sana’s ideas and strategy. Now, George 

acts as a consultant to Sana for marketing 

and branding strategy. Clearly, 

something is working, as the two of 

them continue to build a magnificent 

brand and community. 

“Consumers love the brand,” 

George said. “They like him and 

they’re loyal. More than 40% of customers 

are buying more than one shirt 

on a drop. He’s keeping longevity with 

customers.” 

George said that he and Sana are 

now very close friends and often stay 

up late working on projects together. 

“I love startup life,” George said. 

“Building brands is what I love. When 

I stopped focusing on money, that’s 

when I found success.” 

According to George, much of the 

Chaldean community is stuck in a trap 

of looking for fast cash. On the other 

hand, “Michael is building a brand, 

not a business. A business prints money 

but it can go sour if you lose loyalty. 

He’s building a community,” George 

said. 

George compared Sana Detroit’s 

model to that of other retailers. He 

pointed out that, no matter how hard 

you work or try, large companies like 

Amazon or Walmart will be able to sell 

your product for cheaper and ship it 

faster. That is, unless you offer something 

special, like the community 

Sana Detroit is building. Amazon can’t 

replicate that. 

George praised several relatively 

new brands in the community. He said 

many of the cannabis businesses have 

done a good job branding, some of 

which have over 20 dispensaries now. 

One of his friends owns Cosmo Salon 

Studios, which are available for hair 

stylists to rent. There are now several 

locations across the metro Detroit area. 

The branding guru’s best advice is 

to find something you love doing and 

figure out a way to make money from 

it. While he recognizes this is difficult 

for many people, he thinks it should 

be a top priority. 

He also suggested using routines 

to build effective habits and work processes. 

“I have a strict routine during 

the week of going to the gym, the office 

for work, and being asleep by midnight,” 

George said. 

George is a big fan of podcasts and 

consistently listens to other brand developers 

for educational purposes. His 

favorites are Gary Vaynerchuk and Simon 

Sinek. He’s had to cut out some 

social media use to make time for his 

listening, but he said it’s been well 

worth it. 

“I’m a big advocate of not doing 

things for the money. Work smart, diligent, 

and be efficient,” he said. “Do 

something fun. 


A CLEAN VISION FOR 

A BRIGHTER FUTURE 

DTE’s CleanVision is about cleaner energy, a cleaner 

environment and a clearly brighter future for generations 

to come. It means even more than doubling renewables 

in the next two years. It’s a big transformation, to protect 

the smallest things. Because little things really matter. 


SPORTS 

Detroit City Football Club 

Signs Young Chaldean Star 

BY CAL ABBO 

Dominic “The Dominator” Gasso’s 

dreams are coming true. 

Earlier this year, at the tender 

age of 18, Gasso was signed to the 

first team at his hometown club, Detroit 

City Football Club. This is a huge 

step for Gasso who, until now, has 

played exclusively for youth teams. 

Gasso grew up in Grand Blanc, a 

city located about one hour north of 

Detroit. Many Chaldeans live there 

and congregate at St. Paul Chaldean 

Church. 

As a teenager, Gasso played for 

Vardar Soccer, which is known across 

Michigan as one of the state’s top 

youth soccer programs. It was there 

that he learned his core playstyle as 

well as an important lesson for young 

athletes with loads of talent: he had to 

work hard. 

“Before joining Vardar, I was always 

the best player on my team, or 

somewhere close,” Gasso remembered. 

“Playing on Vardar, I was average and 

had to work hard to stand out.” 

Gasso saw his time at Vardar as 

a wakeup call. Around this time, he 

started training six hours a day. Even if 

it was just him and his brother playing 

in the yard, all this time spent working 

on his game would allow the young 

star to reach a new level. 

This season, before the recent signing, 

DCFC recruited Gasso to play for 

its U19 academy team. He played well 

enough that he earned a call-up from 

the first team. Gasso said he knew it 

was coming but didn’t expect it so soon. 

“The biggest difference is that I 

get paid,” he said. “Youth soccer programs 

can be very expensive, but now 

it’s the opposite.” 

Gasso has been helped with a lot 

of support from his parents. They are 

divorced, which made it somewhat 

more difficult for him to plan around 

his games and practices. His mother 

stayed in Grand Blanc while his father 

moved to Sterling Heights. With help 

from coaches and mentors, Gasso was 

able to lift himself to the world of professional 

soccer. It’s only up from here. 

Dominic “The Dominator” Gasso 

The Dominator’s next goal is to 

get on the field. He’s been training 

with the first team for months now, 

and since the signing, he’s been in the 

game as a bench substitute. Gasso has 

yet to play, but his opportunity is complicated 

by the team’s performance 

and standing. 

DCFC is currently fighting for a spot 

in the United Soccer League Championship 

playoffs. This is the team’s first 

year in the USL Championship, which 

is considered the second highest 

league in the United States, after Major 

League Soccer (MLS). USL Championship 

is home to second squads of 

several MLS teams, including major 

clubs like New York Red Bulls and LA 

Galaxy. 

Last season, DCFC played in the 

National Independent Soccer Association 

and had a record year. Out of 18 

matches, the club won 14, drew three, 

and lost one. It was time to move on to 

bigger and better things. 

Out of the gate, DCFC competed 

like a top team. At the moment, however, 

they rank 7th in the conference, 

which puts them in the very last available 

playoff spot. After a five-match 

winning streak in April, in which DCFC 

earned nearly half of their points this 

season, the club slowed down significantly. 

In its last six matches, the club 

has won just once, drawn three times, 

and lost twice. 

Put it all together, and DCFC is 

desperately hanging onto its 7th-seed 

playoff spot. This is a good reason to 

avoid fielding 19-year-old Gasso, who 

has yet to see his first minute of professional 

soccer. To be clear, DCFC is fairly 

secure in its standing, as the club 

behind it, FC Tulsa, is three games 

back. With only nine left to play, Gasso 

should see some minutes toward the 

end of the regular season, which concludes 

October 15. 

As a local club, DCFC has seen tremendous 

growth in its decade of existence. 

It has cultivated an extreme and 

loyal fanbase, one that more traditional 

American sports may not recognize. 

Soccer fans are known for their rowdy 

behavior and undying loyalty to the 

team. Detroit is no exception. 

The club is known for giving back 

to the city through charity and its entertaining 

spectacle. It has brought 

Michigan’s soccer scene and its major 

players into the national spotlight. 

Gasso is far from the only local player 

DCFC has recruited. 

Brad Dunwell, a 25-year-old defensive 

midfielder, hails from Grand 

Rapids. Connor Rutz, a 25-year-old attacking 

midfielder, is from Commerce. 

The club’s star goalkeeper, Nathan 

Steinwascher, was born and raised in 

Sterling Heights. Coming from Grand 

Blanc, Gasso fits right in. 

Gasso’s short-term goal is to make 

it to the MLS. This is a lofty goal, but 

given the right attention and development, 

he certainly has the talent to 

achieve it. 

There is already one Chaldean in 

the MLS whom the Chaldean News has 

profiled before, Justin Meram. He has 

had a spectacular career in the MLS, 

scoring nearly 50 goals as a winger. 

Meram also played many international 

matches representing Iraq and has 

paved the way for other Chaldeans in 

professional soccer. 

Gasso’s long-term goal, which is 

much farther out, but still a realistic 

possibility, is to play in Europe. His 

dream team is FC Barcelona, and his 

childhood hero, like many other soccer 

fans, was Lionel Messi. Said Gasso, 

“I won’t be satisfied until I play in Europe.” 


ENGLISH AS A 

SECOND LANGUAGE 

NOW ENROLLING 

ESL 1: Low Beginner 

M-TH 1:00PM -3:00PM 

ESL 2: High Beginner 

T/TH 9:00AM-11:30AM or 

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ESL 3: Intermediate / 

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Advanced 

COMPUTER 

TRAINING CLASS 

EARN A WORKPLACE 

CERTIFICATE 

Course lessons will be a 

combination of instructor led 

and online modules. 

ASSESSMENT AND REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! 

To register please call CCF at 586-722-7253 

$40 registration fee 

• Basic and advanced curriculum 

• Video training and hands on experience 

• Classes will be held at the Chaldean Community 

Foundation in Sterling Heights 

• To enroll in the Computer Training Class: 

Your phone number and email address is required! 

• $40 registration fee 

OCT. 4 - DEC. 15 

10 WEEK COURSE 

1:00PM - 3:00PM 

T/TH 

CHALDEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION 3601 15 MILE ROAD, STERLING HEIGHTS, MI 48310 586-722-7253 CHALDEANFOUNDATION.ORG 


CULTURE & HISTORY 

Hands Clasped: From the ancient Sumerians 

to modern-day Chaldeans 

BY ADHID MIRI, PHD 

Hand gestures are such a part 

of everyday life that we often 

don’t even notice them. They 

have become a habit inherent in world 

culture and are an integral part of communication. 

From the V-sign that we 

often see when people take pictures 

to gestures showing thumps up or the 

relatively new fist bump gesture which 

comes from sport, hand gestures aren’t 

going anywhere anytime soon. 

At times, hand gestures endure 

over spoken languages. According to 

historical records, the “V” sign became 

popular during World War II when performed 

by Winston Churchill, the British 

statesman and Prime Minister of 

the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945. 

He used it to symbolize victory; today, 

it is commonly known as the peace 

sign. In most of the world, anyway. 

“Thumbs up” is perhaps the most 

common of hand gestures, one that 

has been used for thousands of years. 

The thumbs up is commonly used by 

Europeans and Americans as a sign of 

approval or that things are going according 

to plan. 

Handshakes are hand gestures exchanged 

between two people. According 

to some sources, this hand gesture 

originated in ancient Greece. At that 

time, the movement was carried out 

by the soldiers of war to the people 

they met. Shaking someone’s hand by 

grasping it can prove that the person’s 

hand is empty. According to many archaeologists, 

the point was to make 

sure that the person was not hiding a 

dangerous weapon. 

The “OK” sign, which is made 

by curling the index finger over the 

thumb and extending the other fingers 

above them, is another common hand 

gesture in America and in most of the 

English-speaking world. It is generally 

understood to mean that everything is 

going well and according to plan. It is 

also regularly used by divers to indicate 

that all is well to their dive partners. 

However, in Latin America, the 

gesture is seen as extremely rude. 

Hayyat Nadhir and Siyya Arabo, two Chaldean women displaying different 

hand clasping poses. 

Former US president Richard Nixon 

discovered this after flashing it to a 

large crowd of Brazilians awaiting 

his arrival in Rio de Janeiro. They responded 

to his greeting with a chorus 

of “boos.” It is not surprising; a little 

research could have told him the gesture 

is equivalent to a middle finger in 

that part of the world. 

In France, the gesture is also considered 

an insult; in Australia, it 

means “zero;” in New Zealand, for 

some reason, the user is basically considered 

to be lazy. 

Using hand gestures might feel 

like an intuitive way to communicate 

across language barriers, but their 

meaning can change, and there are 

few universal signs that everyone 

agrees on. 

Whether consciously or not, our 

hands are often giving off signals. One 

position we see over and over is the 

hand clasp. Both the gesture itself and 

where the hands are being held in relation 

to the body have meaning. 

Apparently, those gestures have a 

history and origin from the customs 

and characteristics of the Ancient Sumerians. 

There are a few variations and a 

few different placements for the hands 

that we’ll consider. Depending on the 

situation, hands clasped or clenched together 

may mean several things. In this 

position, the hand palms are held together, 

the right on top of the left. It may 

mean that a person using it is about to 

assume a strong stance, or it may mean 

confidence or even nervousness. In general, 

clasping the hands may signify an 

unsettling thought, respect, fear, anxiety, 

insecurity, and the like. 

Hand clasping is the superposition 

of each finger of one hand over 

the corresponding finger of the opposite 

hand. When clasping the hands, a 

person tends to interlace the fingers in 

one of two ways. People who hold the 

fingers of the right hand above the left 

fingers are classified as phenotype R 

(right), while those who hold the fingers 

of the left hand above those of the 

right are phenotype L (left). 

Although some people do not exhibit 

a preference for one type of hand 

clasping, most do. Once adopted, the 

method of hand clasping tends to be 

consistent throughout life. When an 

individual attempts to clasp the hands 

in the opposite configuration from the 

usual one, that person may feel a sense 

that something is out of the ordinary. 

The ‘hands clasped in front’ body 

language gesture is displayed in three 

major ways: clasped hands in front 

of the face; hands clasped on a desk 

or a lap; and, whilst standing, hands 

clasped over the lower abdomen. 

When a person assumes the hands 

clasped in front gesture, they are exercising 

some sort of self-restraint. 

They’re symbolically ‘clenching’ 

themselves back and withholding a 

negative reaction, usually anxiety or 

frustration. The higher the person 

clenches their hands whilst standing, 

the more negative they are feeling. 

The body language of clasping 

hands below the belt reflects that the 

person feels secure and confident. For 

instance, football players display this 

gesture when they’re listening to their 

national anthem, to show their respect 

for the anthem. This gesture is also 


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From left: This statue of a woman from Ur shows the right hand over left 

technique of hand clasping. This statue is typical of Sumerian art, with the 

ritual hand clasping displayed prominently. 

commonly observed when leaders and 

politicians meet and stand to pose for 

photographs. You might also see this 

gesture when a priest delivers a sermon 

or any other social meeting presided 

over by an authoritative figure. 

When we study and look at the 

hands in primitive Sumerian statues, 

we find that it does not express an 

expanding global empire. Rather, the 

pose suffices to embody a state of devotion, 

humility, asceticism, and compliance 

with prayer before God. Usually, 

the hands are interlaced, right 

over the left, and placed on the center 

of the chest or waist in a gesture of disciplined 

attention that has religious 

connotations, symbolizing devotional 

practices and representing the readiness 

to approach the Gods with reverence, 

awe, and respect. 

Therefore, it aims at stillness and expressing 

a state of stagnation and calm 

deposited with complete superiority 

within the human being, as represented 

by the block of stone itself. It is totally 

different from gestures used by other 

ancient civilizations such as Egyptian, 

Hindu, Roman, Buddhist and the Inca. 

One may not realize the power you 

literally have in your hands. There are 

times when our hands can save or betray 

us, and it all happens without our 

conscious involvement. That is, unless 

one knows how hand language works. 

In most cultures, an open hand is 

associated with honesty. Throughout 

history, a palm held over the heart or 

in the air when giving testimony was 

meant to emphasize truthfulness. 

Arabs, Malaysians, and Indonesians 

have a habit of holding their 

hands over the heart when they greet 

each other as if to show their sincere 

happiness. For some reason, it is difficult 

to lie with your palms exposed. 

The Arabic idiom, “I’ll imprint with 

my ten fingers” is used to mean you 

don’t just approve of something, but 

you completely and utterly approve of 

it without a scintilla of doubt—you are 

in till the end. 

Amazingly, we find characteristics 

of Sumerian origin still rooted in the 

people of Mesopotamia and Chaldeans 

of Iraq. Customs and characteristics 

of the Ancient Sumerians are still in 

common use among modern day Chaldeans, 

especially women. It is exactly 

as inherited from our heritage and use 

as it was in Sumer 5,000 years ago. 

The significance of this posture is 

in its style and symbolism. It is not just 

the way the hands are interlocked, but 

rather in the specific style, the placement 

on the interlocked arms and 

their position on the chest. 

To this day, we find the same hand 

clasps present in Sumerian artifacts in 

use among elder Chaldean women in 

the Nineveh Plain villages, in Iraqi cities, 

and even in the United States. 

Sources: Wikipedia, writings by 

William Park, Howard Allen, Chris 

Miller, Fawzi Rasheed, Taha Baqir, 

and Ahmmed Sosa. Special editing by 

Jacqueline Raxter. 

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FAMILY TIME 

KMD Young Warriors class is the perfect blend of fitness, self-defense, character development, and fun. 

Krav Maga: An activity 

for the whole family 

BY VALENE AYAR 

As the weather begins to cool and 

our days get shorter, it can only 

mean one thing — Fall has arrived! 

As we say “goodbye” to swimming 

pools and lake houses and say “hello” to 

pumpkin spiced lattes and cider mills, it 

also means that kids are going back to 

school. With that, parents are undoubtedly 

thinking about extracurricular activities. 

While I am a huge advocate of 

organized team sports, I have become an 

even bigger advocate of another athletic 

endeavor that parents can (and should) 

also take part in — that is, martial arts, 

and more specifically, martial arts centered 

around self-defense. 

A new after-school activity 

In this ever-changing world where 

kids and teens are glued to their 

phones and constantly seeking validation 

from how many “likes” an Instagram 

post gets, there has never been a 

greater need for finding ways to instill 

a sense of self-worth in our children. 

While organized team sports are 

a great way to impart this self-worth, 

they do have their shortcomings. For 

example, team sports are seasonal, 

they are not as inclusive as they may 

seem as less skilled team members 

are given much less playing time, and 

they do not offer as many real-life applications 

as other activities do. 

This is why I am such a strong advocate 

for kids and teens learning martial 

arts. To highlight a few of the benefits, 

martial arts can (and should) be 

practiced year-round, they are 100% 

inclusive - no one is ever “benched,” 

and while it is a solo activity, there 

is still a sense of community and camaraderie 

to be found amongst other 

participants. I know that has been 

the case for me where I practice Krav 

Maga (Krav Maga Detroit in Troy). And 

as an added bonus – parents can also 

participate in the adult classes as well, 

making it a great opportunity to create 

a bonding activity everyone can enjoy. 

While traditional martial arts definitely 

have their benefits and teach 

so many invaluable skills (i.e., selfdiscipline, 

respect, physical activity), 

there is one area where they fall 

short — real-world application. Many 

traditional martial arts classes focus a 

great deal on the philosophies behind 

the art, competitive fighting, and abiding 

by an honor code. While those are 

all well and good, they do lack a certain 

real-world application in regard to 

self-defense. I wouldn’t go so far as to 

say those martial arts cannot be used 

as a form of self-defense, but in doing 

research for myself some years back, I 

found that the best and most useful of 

all the disciplines is Krav Maga. 

What is Krav Maga? 

Created during WWII in Europe by 

Imi Lichtenfeld – the Jewish son of a 

police officer – Krav Maga is a military 

self-defense and fighting system 

that has become the official fighting 

method of the Israeli Defense Forces 

(IDF) and Israeli Security Forces. 

Additionally, it is now taught worldwide 

to military and police officers 

(including in the U.S.) as a means of 

self-defense. 

Although it implements strikes 

and practices from Karate, Judo, Boxing, 

and Akido, Krav Maga is technically 

not classified as a martial art as 

many of the strikes and maneuvers 

would be grounds for disqualification 

in any competitive setting. The 

whole point of learning Krav Maga is 

not to win a fight or earn a trophy; 

it is strictly to defend yourself, incapacitate 

the attacker and run like 

hell once they are down. There is no 

room for ego or any need to “win” the 

fight or prove anything. 

Benefits of Krav Maga 

As there is no honor code to abide 

by and because it was created, categorically, 

as a means of self-defense, 

there is far more real-world application 

with Krav Maga than there is 

with any other form of martial art. It 

is a “no holds barred” form of self-defense 

and nothing is off the table in 

regard to acceptable strikes. In fact, 

there are even classes which teach 

how to defend against an armed assailant 

as we learn how to disarm an 

attacker with a knife, pistol, or rifle, 

just to name a few. 

Although I am not a fan of fearmongering 

of any kind, the fact of the 

matter is that we live in a very scary 

world and while we can’t change that 

fact, we can take steps to learn how 

to protect ourselves and our children. 

And because Krav Maga is centered 

around efficiency, quick thinking, 

proximity, and acquired skill rather 

than strength or brute force, it can be 

learned by literally anyone – regardless 

of size or innate strength. One 

of the top trainers at Krav Maga Detroit 

is a woman named Mallory who 

looks to be about 110 pounds, soaking 

wet, but was the first woman in 

the state of Michigan to earn a Black 

Belt in Krav Maga. As someone who 

has taken her classes, I can tell you 

firsthand she is not to be trifled with. 

While some hold the notion that 

learning a skill like this teaches children 

to resort to violence when dealing 

with peers, nothing can be further 

from the truth. One of the core 

principles in the practice of Krav 

Maga is learning how to de-escalate 

an altercation or escape the scene 

before ever throwing a single strike. 

This is especially beneficial for kids 

and teens when dealing with bullies. 

It is drilled into every practitioner’s 

head, both child and adult, that it 

is imperative to be able to identify 

a perceived threat before it occurs, 

escape, or try to calmly neutralize 

the threat; you are taught to only use 

physical self-defense when all else 

has failed. 

This year, as you look for new and 

fun extracurricular activities for your 

kids to partake in, I urge you to look 

into Krav Maga. I began the practice 

a little over 2 years ago and I can tell 

you, it has completely changed my 

life and the way I value it. My only 

regret is that I didn’t start doing it decades 

ago. 

Contact Lisa at Krav Maga Detroit in 

Troy at (248) 688-9501 to set up a free 

introductory class for you and your 

children. 


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Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho, P.L.C. 

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to protect children and families from the dangers of 

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call Stacy at the Chaldean Community Foundation 586-722-7253 

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EVENT 

1 

3rd Annual 

Chamber Golf Outing 

2 3 

On August 18, the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce 

hosted their third annual benefit golf outing at 

Wabeek Country Club. 140 golfers vied for the honor 

of winning The Chaldean Cup, and the Absopure Team 

came out on top. Many sponsors supported the event, 

including Hollywood Greektown and Hollywood Toledo 

Casinos, the presenting sponsors. 

4 5 

1. It was a bright and beautiful day for the muchanticipated 

annual golf outing at Wabeek. 

2. The winning team (Absopure) with Golf 

Outing Committee Chair Matt Loussia (on left); 

Ryan Yost, Bill Rabe, John “Butters” Bonczak. 

3. The players who participated in the putting 

contest. The winner, Cal Dabish, donated his 

winnings back to the CACC. 

4. Members of the presenting sponsor team, 

from left to right: Dustin Huynh, Sam Arabo, 

Robert Giles, Michele Keagy, Joseph Williams, 

and Octaveious Miles. 

5. Up for raffle was a trendy Vespa Sprint. 52 

players went “all-in” on the playing card raffle 

and Johny Kello was the lucky winner! 

6. The John Loussia Cancer Foundation Team, 

left to right: Diane Kello, Carol Loussia, Debbie 

Leon, and Carol Boji. 

6 


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ELIAS KATTOULA 

CAREER SERVICES MANAGER 

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Sammi A. Naoum 

1815 Maplelawn Drive 

Troy, MI 48084 

TEL 248-537-7467 

MOBILE 248-219-5525 

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CHALDEAN 

AMERICAN 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 


FOUNDATION 

CHALDEAN 

AMERICAN 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 


FOUNDATION 

SANA NAVARRETTE 

DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 

30095 Northwestern Highway, Suite 101 


CELL (248) 925-7773 

TEL (248) 851-1200 

FAX (248) 851-1348 

snavarrette@chaldeanchamber.com 

www.chaldeanchamber.com 

www.chaldeanfoundation.org 

3601 15 Mile Road 

Sterling Heights, MI 48310 

TEL: (586) 722-7253 

FAX: (586) 722-7257 

elias.kattoula@chaldeanfoundation.org 


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SANA NAVARRETTE 

MEMBERSHIP MANAGER 


daughter was born, prematurely, and 

lived only eight days, leaving behind a 

sadness that still reverberates. 

In 2016, when Donald Trump was 

running for president, they noticed 

their Chaldean community rallying 

behind him. “I am my aunt’s favorite 

nephew,” Peter says with a smile. 

“She’s very religious, and she started 

telling me about Trump. The lobbyists 

had started influencing the Chaldean 

churches, and they told their members, 

‘You have to vote Trump. He’s helping 

us.’” Peter disagreed with his aunt and 

30850 TELEGRAPH ROAD, SUITE 200 

BINGHAM FARMS, MI 48025 

TEL: (248) 996-8340 CELL: (248) 925-7773 

FAX: (248) 996-8342 

snavarrette@chaldeanchamber.com 

www.chaldeanchamber.com 


Twitter: @ChaldeanChamber 

Instagram: @ChaldeanAmericanChamber 

told her Trump was a con artist. “I’ve 

never ever seen her so mad at me.” 

In July 2016, at the Republican National 

Convention, Trump accepted 

the party’s nomination and delivered a 

particularly xenophobic speech. At one 

point he said something that directly 

addressed Peter’s situation: “Nearly 

180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal 

records, ordered deported from 

our country, are tonight roaming free 

to threaten peaceful citizens.” Trump 

promised deportations, construction 

of the Southern U.S. border wall, and 

tightened immigration restrictions. 

Like the Michigan Chaldean community, 

Peter’s co-workers were energized 

about Trump. “I saw it right 

away, what Trump was giving them,” 

Peter says. “I was afraid.” 

The rhetoric that had particularly 

resonated with Peter’s aunt and her 

church was Trump’s promise, again 

and again, to help persecuted Middle 

Eastern Christians. It paid off for him. 

Traditionally Democratic, Michigan 

favored Trump by 10,000 votes, the 

smallest margin of any state, but 

enough to have him carry all of its 

electoral votes. A key part of that support 

came from Macomb County, a 

Chaldean stronghold. Mostly white 

and blue-collar, the county is a political 

bellwether. It swung right in 2016. 

(In 2020, Joe Biden handily defeated 

Trump by 154,000 votes in the state 

of Michigan–a margin fifteen-times 

higher than the previous election. But 

Macomb County remained solidly red.) 

On election night 2016, Peter went 

to sleep when the tallying was still underway. 

At 2 a.m. Mimi woke him, crying, 

saying Trump had won. 

“I’m f---ed,” he said. 

Story to be continued in the October 

issue of the Chaldean News. 


FROM THE ARCHIVE 

Dressing for the Part: 

Village and City Outfits 

In Iraq as in most parts of the world in the 1950s, the average person’s 

wardrobe was made up of work clothes, play clothes, and special occasion 

“dress-up” clothes. In addition, the getup someone wore in rural 

parts was much different from their city duds. These two photos illustrate 

how the attire changes with the environment. For the studio session, the 

Atto Family represented their village with traditional dress and headpieces. 

The family rooftop photo featured more modern dress. 

On the right, (1925 Baghdad Studio) Seated are Ghazala George Qas 

Hanna (with modern light dress) carrying little Raphael Atto, and Amina 

Roumaya (dressed in the village head piece called the Quchma) carrying 

Mary Atto. Standing is Hanna Rufa Atto (wearing a classic village head 

piece called a Shmagh) along with his younger brother, Tobia Rufa Atto 

(wearing the classic royal era Faisalya/Sedara). 

Below, (1952-1953 Baghdad Home Rooftop) Tobia Ruffa Atto and 

Ghazala George Qas Hanna (hands clasped) with their family of 6 (3 boys 

+ 3 girls) taken on the rooftop of their house in an old Baghdad district of 

Sabbabegh Al-Alle. In the background grows a classic Baghdadi Nabbug 

tree (also called a Jujuba Ziziphus tropical tree) with sweet berry fruit.

SEPTEMBER 2022

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