A Palestinian Woman’s Courage and Determination

My name is Elaine Rumman, I am a retired school social worker, a proud mother of six children, and a grandmother of sixteen precious grandchildren. 

I was fortunate to be brought up by parents who instilled in me faith and moral values, protected me from emotional harm, and were a positive role model for me. That kind of upbringing is a treasure money can’t buy. 

My husband George was older, charming, more educated, and grew up with the same families values as I.  In 1967, George went on a political trip to Central America a few months before Israel occupied my original country, Palestine. 

Mark Twain once said, “a true patriotic is the one who loves and supports his country not holds seats.” This exactly applied to my husband. He was a true leader, back when the Mandate of Britain was in Palestine.” 

Until my husband passed away in March 2001, he never stopped the struggle for rights and justice for Palestine. He agreed when my brother in law who was a professor at the University of Michigan suggested for him to come from Central America to the U.S because most of our children were at the college age. 

In March of 69, I entered the U.S with my children to join my husband who decided to come. When my brother in law picked us up from the airport, I asked him if there was a school of social work in Ann Arbor. He told me there is one not far from where we are going to live. Happiness touched my heart. We reached our house. It was big and pleasant. Before we moved to the U.S, my husband’s position in Palestine was the supervisor of community development of the West Bank and Jordan. Having such a prestigious job like this made it hard for him to find one as good in the U.S. Thinking of his responsibilities for his family, he quickly took a job as a salesman in an appliance store. Although he was treated respectfully, he was unhappy. He thought about going to Egypt to find a job, but fortunately four of our children managed to get jobs and earn money to pay for their living and college tuition. At this time, my dream of going to college had vanished.