São Paulo – Dentistry student Huda Albandar misses her homeland. Still she does not complain of her luck as she believes she will be in Brazil until the end of her days, probably among Brazilian daughters-in-law and grandchildren. As far as she is concerned, when it comes to human warmth, there is not even that much of a difference. Of Palestinian ascent, but Lebanese-born, she lived in Iraq with her family before moving to Jordan, in 2003. Up until 2007, she lived in a refugee camp in the country. Then she had the opportunity to come to Brazil with her family, more precisely in Mogi das Cruzes, in the state of São Paulo, 60 kilometres away from the namesake state capital.
Huda’s history is similar to those of many Arabs who immigrated to Brazil recently. She is part of a refugee group which arrived in 2007, fleeing political conflicts, and settled in the interior of São Paulo and in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. They are citizens who had backing from the Solidary Resettlement Programme (Programa de Reassentamento Solidário), implemented by the Brazilian federal government alongside the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees. The program counts on support from other organizations, such as Cáritas, which is linked to the Catholic Church, and the Human Rights Centre in Guarulhos, a city in the Greater São Paulo region.
With no hard feelings, Huda explains that she immigrated with her husband Walid and their two sons, Hossam and Mahmoud, now aged 12 and 9, respectively. “Life must go on, I enjoy living here,” she says. Currently, while she attends college, Walid works at a meat packing plant. The boys, who go to school, are the best integrated family members to the new country. “I guess adapting is easier for them,” says Huda.
To her, Brazilians and Arabs are very much alike. “The simplicity is the same,” she says.
Beans every day
Just like Huda’s children, the Palestinian Ahmed Abudemak had no major issues adapting to the new land. A tailor in Mogi das Cruzes, he also left Iraq and lived in Jordan before he settled in the Greater São Paulo. Married and the father to a girl one year and nine months old, Sara, he is awaiting the birth of his second daughter, Lara. His wife is five months pregnant. “I arrived in Brazil on November 15, 2007,” he recalls.
The best thing about living in the country of soccer? “Eating beans every day,” he says. “I really like beans.” But the grain is not the only thing close to Ahmed’s heart. “Living here is just like living in the Arab world,” he says. “There isn’t a single thing here that I do not like,” he says, laughing over the telephone as he pledges his love to Brazil for this 25th of March.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
