2008 Woodie Awards
10 Questions
azhar al-sayegh
Jeffry Sawyer
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Headlines
Azhar Al-Sayegh is a native Iraqi and teaches the beginning Arab language and culture class at Western. She spent her childhood in the cities of Mosul and Baghdad, leaving in 1979 for England and then the United States as a graduate student.
What religion did you grow up with?
I am a Catholic and have been for my whole life.
What was it like being a Catholic in a predominately Muslim country?
It wasn't that odd for me as a child. In Baghdad- at least when I lived there- there was a hodge podge of different religions and ethnicities. It was a very diverse place.
Because Baghdad is so diverse religiously and ethnically, when you lived there do you remember there being a lot of friction between people of different beliefs/ideologies?
People generally got along with each other in Baghdad as long as we did not discuss religion. We had a silent agreement and in order to continue having good relationships with each other, we needed to steer away from religion. People in the Middle East take religion very seriously. It becomes part of culture and identity, hence the silent agreement.
Where did you learn English?
English is a second language in Baghdad. I also had to learn English because I was studying to become a pharmacist. Medical schools, even in Iraq, use English because it became problematic translating the different medicines and medical terms into Arabic. I also know a little Spanish, German and Italian.
What did your parents do when you were growing up?
My father was a clerk and a railroad worker while my mother taught botany and zoology at a high school. I still have family in Iraq that I keep in touch with.
How did you make the journey from England all the way to the west coast of the U.S.?
I started a post graduate degree in Pharmacology in England but ran out of money after the first year. Then I managed to get a scholarship in Omaha, Neb. where I met my husband at church. I then moved to Oregon because he found a job here.
What religion did you grow up with?
I am a Catholic and have been for my whole life.
What was it like being a Catholic in a predominately Muslim country?
It wasn't that odd for me as a child. In Baghdad- at least when I lived there- there was a hodge podge of different religions and ethnicities. It was a very diverse place.
Because Baghdad is so diverse religiously and ethnically, when you lived there do you remember there being a lot of friction between people of different beliefs/ideologies?
People generally got along with each other in Baghdad as long as we did not discuss religion. We had a silent agreement and in order to continue having good relationships with each other, we needed to steer away from religion. People in the Middle East take religion very seriously. It becomes part of culture and identity, hence the silent agreement.
Where did you learn English?
English is a second language in Baghdad. I also had to learn English because I was studying to become a pharmacist. Medical schools, even in Iraq, use English because it became problematic translating the different medicines and medical terms into Arabic. I also know a little Spanish, German and Italian.
What did your parents do when you were growing up?
My father was a clerk and a railroad worker while my mother taught botany and zoology at a high school. I still have family in Iraq that I keep in touch with.
How did you make the journey from England all the way to the west coast of the U.S.?
I started a post graduate degree in Pharmacology in England but ran out of money after the first year. Then I managed to get a scholarship in Omaha, Neb. where I met my husband at church. I then moved to Oregon because he found a job here.
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