Person Record

Metadata

Name

Aljaberi, Layla

Other Names

Laila Al-Jabiri

Birthplace

Iraq

Places of residence

Phoenix, Arizona; Detroit, Michigan

Notes

Layla Aljaberi (also spelled Laila Al-Jabiri) and her children were among the thousands who fled Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. When the war started, the family left their home in Baghdad and took refuge in a small village. Two months later, after the end of the war, they returned to their home. Meanwhile, Layla's son Khaldoon, who was serving in the Iraqi Army, went missing and eventually surrendered to American forces.

When Saddam Hussein's Baath Party came to Layla's house looking for Khaldoon, Layla became fearful for her children and decided to leave Iraq with her sons Majid, Rafid, Samer and her daughter Faten.

Taking only some cash and clothing, the family fled to Saudi Arabia, where they lived in refugee camps for twenty months. Eventually, she found her son Khaldoon, who had been placed in a different camp. At the time, they believed that the US would overthrow Saddam Hussein, and soon they would be able to return to their country. However, Hussein remained in power, and the family made plans to immigrate to the US. In 1992, they received refugee status and were able to come with five hundred other Iraqi families. By this point, they had run out of all their money. In the US, Layla and her children were settled in Phoenix, Arizona by the Catholic Relief Agency and were given a small one-bedroom apartment. After a year, the family came to Detroit because of its large Arab American community. Khaldoon became a computer field engineer and Majid worked as a family doctor. Rafid and Faten studied to become dentists. The family eventually moved back to Phoenix, Arizona.