McCollough-Unis school teachers and students celebrating Thanksgiving.

DEARBORN — When three refugee students were asked last Friday what they learned about the history of Thanksgiving, the best friends brawled and talked over each other— all trying to answer.

They eventually agreed to let Sleiman Alaeddin, a 13-year-old Palestinian refugee, respond first. 

“The Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, beans and other food because they were starving,” he said. “Then, the Pilgrims invited them to a feast to show their gratitude.”

He added that this launched the Thanksgiving holiday and every year Americans celebrate it by feasting on turkey and pie with their families.  Alaeddin noted that it reminds him of Eid al-Adha because Muslims butcher sheep just like celebrators here butcher turkey for Thanksgiving Day.

His friends, Abdelrahman Alshami, 14, and Mohammad Alkaddour, 13, said the same. 

The two Syrian boys also agreed that Eid al-Adha is a time of giving, just like Thanksgiving. They said the meat of the butchered sheep is shared with relatives, friends, neighbors and the needy.

The heads of McCollough-Unis school’s Refugee/New Immigrant Outreach Program, psychologist Muna Mashrah, resource teacher Mariam Abadeh and instructional coach Karen Ingoglia, were hosting the early Thanksgiving dinner for the 20 refugee and new immigrant students after school that day. Teacher volunteers helped out as well.

(L-R) Karrar, Abdelrahman, Sleiman and Mohammad.

The boys took this as an opportunity to thank them and other educators.

Alaeddin said he has been in the country for seven months. He said he wants to thank them— especially his teacher, Linda Haidar— for teaching him and his friends about American history and culture.

Alkaddour said it’s his third month here and expressed his appreciation for the teachers. He said they gave them a taste of Thanksgiving and taught them so much.

Iraqi immigrant siblings Nabaa, Dhuha and Karrar Fatla also spoke with The AANews about their thoughts on Thanksgiving and who they’d like to thank. 

Nabaa, 5, smiled as she gestured with her hand that she didn’t know what Thanksgiving was. She said she came from Iraq.

Her older sister, Dhuha, giggled as she answered the next question for her.

“We’ve been here for two months,” the 10-year-old said.

She said she learned that Thanksgiving is a holiday that allows people to appreciate each other and that she wants to thank her fifth grade teacher, Asmahan Mashrah. Nabaa then shyly cut her sister off to thank her kindergarten teacher, Margaret Ross. 

Karrar, 14, said he was really excited because he got the gold star, which means he’s on top in class.  “When I first came, the kids told me that it takes so long for newcomers to get the gold star,” he said. “But, I did.”

He said he wants to thank all the teachers and sent a special thanks to Rhonda Lancaster, his science teacher.

Ingoglia carved the turkey for the students while teacher volunteers filled their plates with mashed potatoes, corn, rice, salad and hummus. Abadeh laughed and told them that hummus is usually on any Arab American dinner table, even if it’s not a traditional holiday food.

After enjoying their meal, the students ate desserts— pumpkin pie and cookies— while they watched “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” — nothing more American than that. 

Abadeh and Mashrah spoke to The AANews after the event about the dinner, the program and what they hope to accomplish in the future. Abadeh said the program is still in its beginning stages, so there is a long way ahead. But they are really happy with its direction.

“We are happy with the way it is going,” she said. “Giving the students a chance to talk about their school days or anything else going on gives them a safe place to speak and be heard. And, we hope by exposing them to different parts of the American culture that it will help with adjusting to life in America.”

Mashrah added that they’ve reached out to the community and the sponsors have been nothing but generous. 

“All the sponsors that have been sponsoring us are amazing,” she said. “The turkey meals were provided by Dearborn Fresh and the hummus was provided by Byblos.” 

She said the students have been adapting better to the American culture and to the school. Even though some only speak Arabic, she explained that they no longer fear communicating with teachers who don’t speak the language.

She said that every Friday, program members converse with the children and teach them something new, to get them used to the American way of life.  For the next two weeks, they planned basketball lessons for the kids. 

Mashrah said the next holiday event is a Christmas party and that program members plan on focusing on technology and education resources next semester.