Student from Jordan dispels stereotypes

Published 1:31 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Sarah Abdeldayem, 17, is a junior at Wallowa High School. She resides with Woody and Megan Wolfe on the Wolfe ranch outside of Wallowa. Abdeldayem is from Amman, Jordan.

Like the majority of her country’s citizens, Abdeldayem is Sunni. She wears a traditional head scarf, called a hijab. Contrary to popular belief in the U.S. not all head coverings are called burkas. A burka, which covers more than just the head, is only one of several types of traditional covering.

Abdeldayem wanted to join the American Field Service (AFS) foreign exchange students program to help dispel Muslim stereotypes as portrayed in the media. She is from an urban area and does not ride camels or live in tents. The program chose Abdeldayem, and 19 others from a field of over 500 candidates who applied for consideration.

Jordan is typically on good terms with the U.S. and European countries. “We don’t go marching in the streets holding signs and hating other countries,” Abdeldayem said.

Seeing Muslim families suffer persecution in the U.S. concerns her, but she describes her stay in Wallowa County in glowing terms. “People around here are very good. They didn’t judge me when they saw me wearing my scarf. I’ve had no problems.”

The absence of a Mosque is not a detriment to Abdeldayem’s religious life. Even in Jordan, men are the ones more inclined to attend services, while women tend to worship at home.

Jordanian students start learning to speak English in kindergarten and Abdeldayem speaks better English than many Americans. She had planned to take Spanish but decided to concentrate on improving her English.

After graduation, Abdeldayem plans to attend college with the idea of going to medical school to become a neurosurgeon. If her SAT scores are high enough for a U.S. scholarship, she intends to journey home for a year before returning here to start college.

Being independent and responsible for her own actions were part of Abdeldayem’s expectations for her journey to Wallowa County. She liked the idea of the extensive differences between Jordan and Wallowa County as it’s the point of the program.

Because she kept her expectations to a minimum, Abdeldayem did not find Wallowa County falling short on those expectations. She said she loves the nature, mountains and fresh air of the valley and always wanted to live in such a place, although she previously thought America only had large cities.

Among Abdeldayem’s favorite things to do in the area is skeet shooting with her AFS family. This is something she never did in Jordan.

Abdeldayem said that she, too, harbored stereotypes about Americans and life in America that she had to revise. This included the idea Americans eat and party all day long. “I got that from the international media and the movies, because we watch a lot of American movies,” she said.

After her experience in Wallowa County, Abdeldayem said she feels like a new and different person who feels more responsible, mature, independent and open-minded. She said she now feels like a young ambassador for her country.