Being Arab In Alaska

posted on: May 6, 2016

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By Maria Athens
Your Alaska Link

The city of Anchorage is home to an exceptionally diverse Middle Eastern population, that are both Muslim and Christian.  Youseff Barbour is a doctor at Native Alaska Medical Center, and serves as the spokesperson for the state’s only mosque at the Islamic Community Center (ICCAA), here in Anchorage.  Dr. Barbour is a graduate of the University of Aleppo in Syria.

As the ICCAA spokesman described, “Actually, I don’t even remember applying to Alaska, but a recruitment company got my CV on file and told me, what about Alaska?  And I started to read about it, and I was interested.  I came here and now it has been eight years that I have been working here, and it’s really nice here.”

The speculative number of the tight-knit Middle Eastern Muslim community, here in the 49^th state, is about 3,000 members.  Dr. Barbour described, “Some sincere people in the community decided we have to make a place for the community, a community center.  Particularly with the events happening around the world, using the name of Islam, we needed a place where we can reach out, talk with people, and people can recognize where Muslims are gathering.  So this is a project that is still in progress, and it is going along well.”

Ramzi Abuamsh hails from Bethlehem, Palestine, and is a longtime member of Alaska’s only Greek Orthodox Church, Holy Transfiguration.  Mr. Abuamsh believes of the Middle Eastern Christian community here in Alaska, “In Alaska, I know there are a few families, there used to be an Egyptian family, and we had a few Lebanese families.  We have just two families that are Palestinian and one family that is Jordanian.  That’s all the Christians here in Alaska [that I know] that are Arabs.”

Ramzi arrived in Alaska on June 21^st, 1985, the longest day of the year, after his cousin immigrated to the Last Frontier.  The Orthodox-Christian-Palestinian loves Alaska and feels Alaskan.  The native Palestinian added, “The beauty of Alaska, the view, the cleaner air, the nice people here, you know, it makes me love it.  This is my hometown now, you know.  I forget about back home, you know, but I go visit every year.”

In Part II of “Being Arab in Alaska,” we meet Camilla and Salomé Hussein, a Syrian-American mother and daughter, who call the Last Frontier home.