Oral History

For my oral history, I interviewed 19 year old, Shamiram Youkhanna. She was born in Iraq to a Christian (Assyrian) family; she lived in Baghdad until the age of 13. Shamiram has witnessed three different wars while living in Iraq. She left Baghdad in 2003 with her family, making their way to Jordan to escape the recent war with America. Shamiram is now a resident of America since 2004, she is also a student at NEIU.

· How young were you when you witnessed the first war?
The first war I have lived through was in 1990 with Iran, but I don’t really remember anything specific because I was one years old, I only know from what I have heard from family members.
· So which war do you remember?
I remember the war with America in 1998; Clinton was president at the time. And of course I remember the most recent war, 2003 with America.
· Which war in your opinion was more terrifying?
Even though I think the war going on right now is much more terrorizing, but in my opinion the 1998 war was more terrifying to me because it was my first time experiencing life through war. There were a lot of bad and scary memories about that specific war, even though it did not last more than one week. Although I was only eight, I remember everything so clearly.
· What do you remember?
I remember one morning I suddenly woke up to the sound of bombs being dropped about 2 miles away from my house. I was so scared, that my whole body was shivering and I wouldn’t talk to anyone for 24 hours. I was a young girl, waking up to the thought of going to school but instead I woke up to violence and people screaming in the streets.
· During the war how did families go shopping to eat or how did people go to work?
People didn’t go to work at all. Everything was shut down. School was open only for one hour and no one really cared if you went or not. Between the bombing periods, one member of our family would go shopping for food, and other house supplies to last for about one month. Oil was something that everyone had to have during the war. It was the hardest and most expensive item, because we used it to light up candles when the electricity went off during the attacks. During the war, I didn’t even have any communications with my cousins or friends, because all phone lines were off too. We also did not have any form of entertainment, no TV’s were working and IF they did work, we were only allowed to watch news about people that died during bombing and people that were injured in hospitals.
· Did you guys ever leave your house?
NO. Actually we only went next door to visit neighbors and if the attacks started while we were there we had to wait until they were done to go back home.
· Do you remember any American soldiers from the current war?
Yes. My first time seeing American soldiers was when they came to my house searching for weapons or hidden bombs. I would also see them driving in the streets with their tanks or during a “street sweep”.
· What is a “street sweep”?
That is when American soldiers noticed any suspicious person or action, they would demand civilians to enter their homes and not come out for a certain time, so they could take care of the situation.
· Were you afraid of the soldiers? Or do you dislike Americans?
I was not afraid of the soldiers but I absolutely hated them! Because Americans were the reason why that war happened and they were the reason why all these people died and because of them (Americans) there is now a civil war in Iraq.
· Now that you are living in America, did your perspective on Americans change?
Even though I shouldn’t hate Americans because I live in America, however I still have the same strong point of view towards them. And every time I hear of a person dying or a church bombing, I blame it on them (Americans) because there wouldn’t have been any of this if America did not enter Iraq in the first place!