Living History Project

Lina Al-Salim

December 1, 2009

FAMILY TREE

FAMILY TREE(continued)

• This is the family tree that has been passed down from generations. This tree does not contain any women on it because when a woman gets married her children do not belong to her family but to her husbands; so the tree has the fathers and sons that have created my family.

Family History

• I am from Bedouin Ancestry, so I am part of the native tribe in Jordan. Most of my family members work for the country as soldiers, police, and some also work for the King of Jordan. My ancestors were Arabian nomads; they would travel through the deserts and live in what we call “bet shaar” which means a house of hair because they used to hunt their food and when they skin the animal, usually a sheep, they would sew together all the pieces of animal hair and make into a tent.

Immigrant RootsTo begin with, I am half Jordanian and the other half Palestinian. My father was born in Jordan and is actually a Jordanian Bedouin. My mother was also born in Jordan but her parents were born in Palestine and thus making her Palestinian. The darkness of my skin comes from my father and my easy going personality comes from my mother. We are Muslim which takes a big part in our traditional background. Our life and most society in the middle east is based around religion and family. And we are very big on tradition; like the way marriage is settled. Even today the way people get married is men suitors come ask for the girls hand from her parents. I am fluent in Arabic and I mostly speak that with my parents, and when I visit in the middle east that is all I speak. And I couldn’t be happier that I am bilingual and I respect our native traditions and follow them. Our religion builds our lifestyle and I really enjoy that fact. And I would hope my children stay true to their heritage just like I do. And my Father was the first one from his family to come to the US. He came to expand his education in later 70’s and learned english while working in a gas station and then when ever he went back to visit Jordan he met my mother and then they got married and they came to America and so my siblings and me are the first generation of Bendouins to be born and raised in America.

Old Cemetery

• While I was visiting Jordan, My cousins showed us to our ancient family grave that goes back for hundreds of years. Everyone buried in that graveyard is related is from our Bedouin tribe. The graveyard is on our tribal land that we have owned for centuries. When I saw that cemetery it was very peaceful and not scary. The graves I visited were my grandfathers and a little cousin of mines. Because of our Muslim religion the way the dead is buried is different. First they are clean and have to be wrapped completely in one cloth and then laid into the ground on their right side without a coffin. And to show how much room the grave for each person was taking, each person’s grave has a rectangular pile of dirt the size of the hole made for them and a tombstone, written in arabic.

Romanian Coliseum in Jordan

Antiques

Antique

• This is an antique olive wood carving of the Petra. This has been in our family for a couple of generations. It was originally my grandmother’s but she gave it to my mom because she liked it so much. What also makes this special is that the Petra is one of the seven wonders of the world.

THE END