Today, the United States hasn’t taken in a lot of Syrian refugees, unlike Europe. But a year after feeling welcomed, and after horrible terrorism attacks in Europe, he is feeling others regard him as suspicion because of his background.Īfter the genocide, the United States took in a lot of Armenian refugees, including my grandfather. Now, he is so grateful to his host country for taking him in. Some are still in Syria, suffering through food shortages and the violence. They are some of the most incredible people I’ve met in my life, the kind of people who took me in, too – a stranger - after a century. When I retraced my grandfather’s steps in 2007, I found the family who saved him. The sheikh took him in and treated him like a son. He heard about about a powerful sheikh in the area and approached him for help. He crossed the desert for six days with two cups of water until making it to the Euphrates River. My grandfather escaped one of the worst killings, near Deir Zor, Syria. MacKeen’s excavation of the past reveals both uncomfortable and uplifting lessons about our present.” “This book reminds us that the way we treat strangers can ripple out in ways we will never know. NPR : 'All Things Considered' Interview with Dawn MacKeen In Syria, MacKeen pays her respects to a relative of Sheikh Hammud al-Aekleh, who helped her grandfather during his escape. From left: Stepan, Anahid, Alice, and wife, Arshaluys. ' God Bless America': Stepan and his family finally arrived in the United States here, they stand near their home in Spanish Harlem in 1931. (Courtesy of the Ararat-Eskijian Museum)Ī refugee in America, Dawn's grandfather is pictured here in front of his Candy Shop in Spanish Harlem, Circa 1930 In her new book The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey Dawn retraces the journey of her grandfather, Stepan Miskjian, as a refugee through Turkey and Syria where ethnoreligious persecution still persists a century later.Ī few photographs! (Copyright: Miskjian family)Įarliest surviving photograph of Stepan Miskjian (pictured left) and his friends, taken circa 1910 in Adabazar, then part of the Ottoman Empire.Īrmenian orphans in Aleppo in 1922. Have a wonderful day everyone.ĭawn Anahid MacKeen is an award-winning journalist who spent nearly a decade researching and writing her grandfather's story. This is such a wonderful community and I'm so grateful that we were able to discuss such an important issue that affected my family a century ago, and so many more today. Hey everyone, I want to thank you for all your thoughtful questions and taking the time to hear my family’s story.
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