By Sherry Parmet
STAFF WRITER

January 9, 2003

To learn more about the AjA Project, visit online at www.ajaproject.org.

Fifteen-year-old Habeeb Almudafar said he fled Iraq after Saddam Hussein's regime seized his family's business, imprisoned his father and killed two brothers.

He came to America with dreams of peace, only to find himself under attack once again.

Just as Habeeb was getting adjusted to a new culture, terrorists crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center's twin towers. With his dark brown skin and black hair, Habeeb was an easy target to blame.

"People would throw rocks at me when I was walking home from school," said the El Cajon Valley High School ninth-grader. "It was scary. They'd call me Osama bin Laden."

Habeeb was among the local refugees who spoke yesterday to 650 middle and high school students at the sixth annual WorldLink youth town meeting on global affairs.

The event, at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego, is designed to address issues related to terrorism.

Students from San Diego and Tijuana were introduced to refugee peers from Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Colombia.

Some had participated in the AjA Project, an international nonprofit organization that gave them cameras when they arrived in America to document their stories.

The pictures, combined with audio and written accounts, make up a multimedia presentation designed to educate people about their plight. The AjA Project also has an ongoing project with displaced youth in Colombia.

Though many of the speakers had been through trying circumstances, they could find humor in their situations.

Nasra Abdi, a junior at Crawford High School in San Diego, recalled that after arriving in America from Somalia and seeing all the cars, she assumed everyone must be rich.

Since arriving from Colombia, Andres Parga has accumulated several jaywalking tickets. "There aren't crosswalks in Colombia," said the Crawford High School junior.

Thirteen-year-old Zaman Darwish has been in America only nine months, and though he has adopted some American customs – using silverware to eat – he hasn't quite gotten used to others, such as sleeping in a bed.

The eighth-grader at El Cajon Valley Middle School grew up in Afghanistan sleeping on the floor.

Zaman's life has been hard.

When he was 4, he lost his father to the Taliban.

"One day they come in two cars and took my father away," said Zaman. "When they brought him back, I knew something was very wrong. My father couldn't talk. He couldn't hear. A couple hours later, he died. I don't know what they did to him."

Zaman fled to Pakistan with his mother and brother. He sold socks to earn money for food.

Then he immigrated to America. And for the first time in his life, Zaman attended school. "I was scared that because I didn't know how to write, the teachers would beat me up," he said. "My brother went to school for a year in Pakistan, and he got beaten with a stick if he didn't do his homework."

Students at the conference said they were moved by such stories.

The students also attended workshops on such topics as when and whether it is acceptable to torture terrorist suspects to get information.

The keynote speaker was Pierre-Richard Prosper, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues.

He told the students that terrorism, war crimes and human rights atrocities are not new, but are at the forefront of American attention because of Sept. 11.

Students watched "Between Two Worlds," a documentary depicting the challenges to Muslim teen-agers after Sept. 11.

Habeeb and three other refugee students were featured in the film, produced by the International Rescue Committee of San Diego. The film included segments on what it was like for the students to leave their homes, the transition to America, and prejudice they encountered after Sept. 11.

Some of the students came away shaken by what they had learned.

"I had no idea people could be so mean," said Hannah Fairbrother, a freshman at Scripps Ranch High School. "It makes me really mad. I guess I didn't realize these things were happening here, so close to home."

Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.