This is an article that one of our home hosts wrote. She hosted an Iraqi youth for the two weeks the delegation was visiting, and her article is touching and reminds us at CDCSD why we love what we do.

“IRAQI TEENAGER COMES TO VISIT: Our Lives are Never the Same”
By Melissa Aguilar, Dean of Students, High Tech High International

I understood them immediately.  Maybe it was the color of their skin, or their thick accents.  I can’t be sure but when I looked at them, I saw the wonder, excitement, and nerves I imagine painted my mother’s face when she arrived in Long Beach so very many years ago.  Nineteen Iraqis walked off their luxury bus, bright eyed, deeply breathing the crisp San Diego air.  I looked at them, unable to differentiate the teachers from the students, smiling wide as I searched for the eyes that recognized the name on the paper I held.

Here they were; from war-torn Baghdad and independence seeking Kurdistan, from Christian enclaves in Arbil and Muslim families in Basra.  They were more diverse than I imagined yet they all came ready.  I drove them where they needed to be.  I watched as they cheered for Disneyland and shopped in every tourist boutique we could find.  They agonized over gifts for mothers and fathers, uncles and cousins, as they browsed and bought novelties that kept a permanent smile on their faces.  They were like every member of my Colombian family I have ever welcomed.  And they refused exhaustion.  They refused quiet evenings to relax and reload, preferring every outing and every visit they could squeeze in.  I laughed as I stood in line at Wal-Mart at eleven pm – knowing they would have to be up at seven the next morning.  I understood their ability to withstand as I watched some of them break their second days fast for Ramadan.

We ate halal Mexican food on our last night together.  An appropriate metaphor, I suppose for the ways my home had changed as the notion of halal food seemed impossible just weeks before.  At that moment, however, halal Mexican seemed just right.  But, how could the time have come for them to leave?  Perhaps it was the days they spent away that made the time fly, but as I watched them hug hosts and sob openly at the slide show playing, I wondered, how could they be leaving already? I sat and wondered why we rip our world up the way we do.  To be sure, I understand the intricacies of American foreign policy and I get the momentum that power perpetuates.  I understand why we need others – why we comprehend the world in terms of those we get and those we don’t.  On that night, though—on that night, I don’t get any of it.

So tonight, I hope the American Dream is alive and well.  I hope for success for those who, like my parents, left a violent country hoping for something better for the children they had never met nor named.  I hope that in 40 years there are proud children with college degrees telling the story of what their parents did for them to achieve all they have. And now, I want to call my mother. What did she see on that first night in Long Beach? What did that hotel room look like? What did she think would happen?  I want her to tell me – what is she thinking – this young woman on her own?  Does she know all will be well or is she scared?  Is she safe on the streets of a city she barely knows or can her will to survive keep her safe?

Tonight I will dream as I sleep.  I hope they claim their dreams, demanding something more than what fate had handed them.

The Citizen Diplomacy Council of San Diego is preparing for the arrival of an Iraqi youth delegation in the next upcoming weeks. This is the first time that CDCSD is hosting a youth delegation; the Iraqi high schoolers are visiting through the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

It will be busy but very exciting in the days leading up to August 1, which is when the delegation arrives. They are staying for two weeks, and there have been home hosts found for all 11 teenagers. They will get to immerse themselves in San Diego culture by living with local families. They are also here to further their knowledge of civic responsibility, awareness of cultural issues, leadership skills, understanding of ethnic and religious differences, and to promote respect and collaboration between Iraq and the United States. These Iraqi youth are involved, educated teenagers who through these cultural exchange programs are developing into future leaders in their country.

CDCSD is excited to have this opportunity to show the delegation around San Diego as they interact with fellow citizens and civic leaders. It is a continuation of the diplomacy that our organization has been involved in, and another step forward to promoting peace and global understanding through the world’s next generation.