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Brittany Smith

Edu 280

Professor Chester

October 27, 2016

Multicultural Interview

I chose to interview my step-father Samuel Paul Abdelmesseha for my multicultural

interview project. Samuel was born Mohamed Mahmoud Rahouma in El Minya, Egypt. He later

moved to Samlout, Egypt with his two sisters Safaa and Wafaa, brother Saiah and father and

mother Mahmoud and Mounira, who were both born and raised in El Minya. In Egypt Samuel

was a Dean and Professor with a Ph. D in Islamic studies and Arabic Language. He also worked

with Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Samuel grew up practicing Islam. Islam is an ideology meaning that the church and

government are one in the same. He celebrated Islamic Holidays, such as Ramadan (The Holy

Month) and Eid Al- Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice). Islam is a male patriarchal society where

women have no rights. Women have to dress conservatively usually being covered head to toe

with barely any visible skin. If a Muslim woman is caught talking to a man it is considered to be

a disgrace upon her family. There have been several instants were Muslim women have been

killed by a family member for doing so. Egyptians prefer to keep their race pure and encourage

Egyptians to marry other Egyptians. It is also encouraged for Muslim men to marry Christian

women, so that they will convert to Islam. Muslim women are not allowed to marry Christian

men. Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four women at one time.

While in Egypt Samuel was married three times, though none of his marriages

overlapped. He has four children for these marriages. From his first marriage he has a son, Sherif
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(30), and a daughter, Shaza (26). Sherif currently lives in Pennsylvania and Shaza in El Minya,

Egypt. His second marriage blessed him with his daughter, Ruby (18), who lives in Sweden.

Samuels third marriage gave him his daughter, Yasmeen (15), who is currently living in

Alexandria, Egypt. Sadly, Samuel does not get to see or talk to Yasmeen as much as he would

like, because after he converted from Islam to Christianity his third wife, Yasmeens mother, who

is involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, who want to kill him for converting.

Samuel came to the United States sixteen years ago seeking religious asylum after his

third wife informed the Muslim Brotherhood about his conversion from Islam to Christianity.

Samuel is currently practicing a type of Christianity known as Egyptian Coptic Orthodox they

believe in the Holy Trinity and that Jesus is God. He travels the world preaching the gospel and

helping religious converts finding the jobs, homes and a new community through the Church.

The holidays he celebrates are Christmas (birth of Christ) and Easter (resurrection of Jesus). In

2003 Samuels married for the fourth time to my mother, Yvonne, who has three children. His

step children are Chris (33), who lives in Oregon and Brittany (30) and Josh (29), who live with

him and Yvonne in North Las Vegas. Samuel also has three dogs Lola, Max and Brewtis that he

often refers to as his children.

Samuel came to the United States without any expectations or regrets, though he wished

that he knew more English. Some of the things he loves about America are how clean, tolerance

and the freedoms, especially the freedom of religion. Samuel misses the atmosphere, social life

and friendliness of Egypt. He misses that people will stop and have conversations even if they do

not know each other the most about Egypt. He dislikes that in American it seems that everyone

are in a hurry and do not appreciate the freedoms they have. Samuel felt after coming to United

States that people expected him to forget about his culture and was often treated badly because of
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the way he looks, especially after 9/11. He would like people to keep in mind that not all middle

easterners are terrorists.