But for Walid Al-jabiri, “I was collecting bomb shrapnel from the street. That was the world we lived in. You wake up every morning and there are shells and bomb shrapnel from missiles, rockets and things that never hit their location.”

Al-jabiri was a British citizen by birth, an Iraqi and is now an American citizen. He traveled through various countries, endured many hardships and eventually made his way to the United States, the place he would come to call “home.” He shared his story about immigrating to America with The Post-Journal, providing a window into one experience out of countless from people who come here every year.

Al-jabiri was born in Oxford, England. His father was an Oxford graduate and was a professor of anthropology there.

“I was the only British citizen of my family,” he said. “My dad was never a British citizen, and my mom wasn’t. I was because I was born there and the law got changed after the month I was born there. If I wasn’t born on that day, I would’ve missed out.”

Pictured from left are Al-jabiri’s sister, Shahad Montgomery; his brother, Albasheer Faraj; his mother, Professor Jalila Ali; Al-jabiri; and the judge who presided over his naturalization ceremony. Submitted photo

Al-jabiri said after some time, his father was offered a position with the University of Baghdad as the dean of admission for foreign exchange students. Soon after, the family moved back to Baghdad, Iraq.

“He was kind of lucky, it was kind of a nice gig,” he said. “There was a university vehicle and driver, the same salary he was making at Oxford. Little to be known, the Iraqi regime at the time, Saddam Hussein, was the president and he put a ban on all … highly educated people leaving the country. Most of them have escaped because they were single or they went to travel to see a family member and they just never came back. We got stuck there during Desert Storm in the ’90s and Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

‘UPBRINGING WAS

DIFFERENT’

Al-jabiri said he had a difficult time fitting in while living in Iraq.

“I didn’t have many friends when I was little — I got bullied in that country,” he said. “My upbringing was different — my demeanor was different. My parents were well-educated and I wasn’t like the local kids. So every time I went out, I got bullied. From elementary school through middle school and high school, I paid attention to reading in my dad’s library in the house. He had books literally floor to ceiling on all four walls — everything that he read over the years. I started studying languages, which is how I learned to speak all the languages I speak because I had so much time on my hands.”

Al-jabiri said he now speaks five languages — German, Russian, Polish, Arabic and English.

At one point, Al-jabiri was in the process of being kidnapped by militant insurgents when he said he was saved by a U.S. Marine sniper.

“I don’t want to say the date or time because I have yet to meet the guy who saved me,” he said. “But, I was about to be kidnapped because I was a British citizen in Iraq in a hostile warzone. At that exact moment, the U.S. military blocked the street … because they were doing a checkpoint. I was held up by a gunman between the two buildings and nobody could see me. There were military vehicles at either end of the road … and the whole street was lined with high rises and was full of tall buildings. I was in between, and they were waiting for the kidnapping vehicle.”

Al-jabiri said it was common for kidnapping victims to be taken to a facility to be recorded on video by ISIS members. He said he fully expected to be filmed in front of an ISIS flag holding his British passport begging for his life.

“As you know, they don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said. “The end result would have been without a doubt me being decapitated and thrown into the Tigris River. But, a marine sniper saved my life. If that person is still alive — I hope that Marine is still alive — and I want him to know that I came to the United States and started saving people here to take what he has done and pay it forward.”

Afterward, Al-jabiri began the process to immigrate to the United States and spent time in Syria getting issues with his passport taken care of at the British Embassy. During the eight weeks he was in Syria, he said he met wonderful people who were very hospitable and kind, but the living conditions were difficult.

“The people were nice, the food was great — but really, it’s a difficult, totalitarian regime,” he said. “You can tell that there’s something wrong when a president is president for 40 years, winning every single election hands down with no opponents, and when he dies, his son becomes the next president There is a way to keep all those people submitted to that reality so they don’t revolt — it’s by keeping them chasing the penny. They’re not living paycheck to paycheck — when they get paid on Friday, they’re out of money by Monday. They live paycheck to Monday.”

Al-jabiri said during the last few weeks he spent in Syria, he ended up surviving on moldy bread, pickles and hummus until he could finally depart for the United States.

COMING TO AMERICA

In March 2005, Al-jabiri came to the United States and took up residence in Jamestown. He had a duffel bag full of clothes, a guitar and $550 in cash. He had to wait for his employment authorization to begin work, so he familiarized himself with American culture by watching television.

“I wanted to learn more about America, and there weren’t many people that I could sit down and talk to all these hours of the day that I can’t work,” he said. “I watched a lot of TV. I watched Judge Mathis, and I was surprised at the Maury Show. I saw Jerry Springer’s show after that — I didn’t know what was going on with American television. Then, I see people sit down and watch Blue Collar Comedy and they watch Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy. People are laughing hysterically at these jokes. English is not a second language to me — it wasn’t understanding the language. It was understanding the humor and the culture. I didn’t understand why people are laughing at these jokes.”

Afterward, Al-jabiri was certified to work in the country and worked for various organizations across the area. After some time, he became a volunteer firefighter, an EMT, a paramedic and currently works as a fly car medic with Chautauqua County EMS. He has also been a firefighter for 12 years with the Fluvanna Volunteer Fire Department.

Other cultural differences surprised Al-jabiri, including American currency. Al-jabiri said a friend took him to Davidson’s Restaurant to have coffee. Al-jabiri ordered tea and his friend ordered coffee. He explained that in Iraqi culture, generosity is paramount.

“When you go to the cash register when it’s time to pay the check, battling over who is going to win the check and pay are the marks of a well-brought-up person. That stayed with me,” he said. “To this day, I have some of those aspects with me.”

Al-Jabiri went to pay for the check and his friend didn’t put up much of a fight. When he went to the cash register, the cashier told him the total and he began pulling out $20 bills.

“In my mind, I understood it as $225,” he said. “I pulled the first $20 ad the second $20 and I’m pulling a third, and she says, ‘What are you doing?’ They explained to me that a cup of coffee and a cup of tea in the United States is $2.25, not $225, which is a new thing I had to get used to. I had to get used to how people here address numbers.”

PATRIOTISM

Al-jabiri said one of the things that most surprised him about America was “patriotism.”

“I’ve never experienced patriotism and never knew what the meaning that you belong was,” he said. “What does that taste like? What is it?”

He said he first encountered this on a trip with friends to Stateline Speedway. Al-jabiri said he has always been fond of car racing, especially Formula One racing. However, he was unprepared for the dirt track at Stateline.

“I went there and we sat down — it was sunset,” he said. “We sat at the bleachers, we’re getting baked and it’s hot. The wind is not moving and there’s a lot of dust everywhere. It’s just dirt and I have no idea what’s going on. I can see these cars going in laps on a mud track and I’m wondering what has happened to the pavement. I thought this was like the rest stop where we are actually going to get shuttled to the actual place.”

Al-jabiri said the loud noise also bothered him, as no one had warned him to bring earplugs.

“Then they stopped everything, and they said, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, stand for the National Anthem,” he said. “And everybody near me stood up, took off their hats and put their hands on their chest and they’re singing the Star-Spangled Banner. I thought someone from the government was there — they snuck into the crowd and everybody needed to behave because that’s the culture I came from.”

Al-jabiri said he stood and leaned over to his friends, asking what important official had come to spy on them. Confused, he wondered whom they were putting on a show for.

“Nobody’s talking to me,” he said. “They finish and the girl that was singing the live performance of the Star-Spangled Banner said, ‘The land of the free and the home of the brave,’ and everyone started cheering at the top of their lungs.’ I still asked, ‘Who is here?’ And they said, ‘It’s the national anthem’ — we love our country.'”

Al-jabiri said he was amazed that everyone shared such pride in their country that they showed their pride openly and were not being forced.

“Nobody’s aiming a gun at you,” he said. “You’re not going to go to jail if you don’t. I was so touched that people love their country and nobody’s going to throw them in jail if they didn’t get up and sing the National Anthem. I’ve never seen that anywhere else nor have I experienced it nor can I comprehend it — it was such a strange sight. I was so fascinated by how Americans love America.”

A SENSE OF HOME

“I fell in love with that — I couldn’t wait to become American,” he said. “Over time, I found myself slowly having a sense of patriotism. In the beginning, I was just a visitor, still acclimating. Slowly, I started realizing I had a belonging problem my whole life. I’m pretty sure to say I’m British — I don’t look British, nor am I going to be treated as English. In Iraq, I wasn’t treated as an Iraqi. But in America, I was treated as an American. I came in at a terrible time when people who looked like me were not welcome — that’s what I thought. I thought, this is going to drag, this is going to make it difficult to blend in. But I found the complete opposite. I found access to unfettered love and hospitable people.”

Al-jabiri said he was surprised and delighted with what he found in the nation that is often called “The Melting Pot.”

“That’s how this country started,” he said. “This whole bunch of refugees. This is what the Statue of Liberty says at the bottom, ‘Give me your tired, and your poor.’ It never said, ‘Give me your rich, powerful and endowed.’ It wanted the poor and the tired — if you don’t want them, give them to us. This was the message — the essence — that will make this live on forever. The country is only 235 years old. There have been so many kingdoms before the United States — but they don’t match what the United States has become.”

He became a citizen in August 2016.

Al-jabiri said a ceremony was held with others who were becoming citizens in Buffalo. He wore his paramedic uniform for the ceremony.

“It said wear either professional or a job uniform, so I took my work uniform as professional attire,” he said. “I had professional attire, but I didn’t want to wear a suit and tie like everybody else. I was so proud of being a paramedic. My manager from work at the time went with me. … I thought I was the only one who was going to be there. I told my mom, my father, my brother and my sister and her husband about the date. I was surprised when I saw them. The judge was very “judgy” looking, you know, like Peter O’Toole with his sideway parted hair and he was wearing his robes. And he was speaking to us about becoming Americans for the very first time in our lives, as a birthright of every human being. ‘Some are not fortunate to be born here and find their way home.'”

Al-jabiri said he went to shake hands with the judge and get his certificate when he heard a loud cheer from the back of the room.

“I look and it’s 11 people from the Fluvanna Fire Department,” he said. “They were all there in the back, waiting for me to become a citizen. They didn’t tell me — it was a major surprise.”

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