Portland block party goes international

by Gillian Frew, The Oregonian

Sunday June 21, 2009, 8:35 PM

Abby Metty/The OregonianFatin Abdullah dances to Iraqi music at a block party organized by Save Refugees on Sunday in Southeast Portland. Abdullah, whose husband is an engineer in Baghdad, spent a year in Syria before coming to the U.S. with her three daughters.

When Zahra Alkabi arrived in Portland in 2007, the people who greeted her were shocked by her short skirt. They expected more traditional clothing, she said, one of the many assumptions about Iraqi culture that inspired her to host an international block party Sunday on her street in Southeast.

She hoped Iraqi refugees settling in the Portland area could connect with one another -- and with their new neighbors. Alkabi has seen the preconceptions on both sides, and the block party was a small step to overcoming them.

"My goal is for Portlanders to know about Iraqi refugees and Iraqi culture," said the 39-year-old. "And for Iraqi families to meet with American families."

Abby Metty/The OregonianIraqi and American flags celebrate the two cultures at the block party. Amaar Alazawi, 17, came from his home in Vancouver for the afternoon. Alazawi has lived here four months.

Alkabi, who left Iraq in 2000 and worked with refugees in Jordan for seven years, came to the United States with her two daughters on an education visa. She founded Save Refugees to help Iraqi refugees connect to their adoptive community after she settled in Portland. Run primarily by volunteers, the small organization also collects donations for much-needed items such as furniture, and sometimes places refugees with local families.

Volunteers worked for about two months to organize the block party. Because many of the refugees who attended have lived in the U.S. for less than a year, Alkabi said, the party was a way to make them feel less isolated. About 10 Iraqi families from the metro area cooked for the party, and Iraqi musicians played guitar and sang Arabic songs all afternoon. Still, persuading some refugee families to participate was a challenge.

Fatin Abdullah, an Iraqi woman who moved across the street from Alkabi four months ago, was wary when Alkabi first contacted her. But she not only came to the block party, she brought homemade kebabs and dolma -- grape leaves stuffed with vegetables and other ingredients -- and stood smiling as the musicians played.

Though getting to know one another wasn't easy and recent refugees such as Abdullah mainly kept to themselves, it was an opportunity to come together and for community members to show support.

"It's about Iraqis meeting Iraqis and Oregonians meeting Iraqis," said Jim Lommasson, who is also involved with the group PDX Peace. "We all have other lives, but we forget that what is going on in Iraq ... is still going on."

Alkabi said the block party had a special message for the refugees, whose diverse religious backgrounds include Sunni, Shiite and Christian.

"No matter what happened in the past, let us be one family here."