Tidbits of Arabic News translated into English

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Letter from our own correspondent - Chicago

While driving through Chicago on a desperate hunt for Arabic meat and Arabic food, we encountered many emblems of human rights struggles.

First, we drove past the Centro Romero. This is an organization that helps immigrants on Chicago's northeast side. It is named for the Catholic clergyman in El Salvador who spoke out about the rising civil war in his country during the 1970s. One day, while he was giving the mass, he was killed. We watched a movie about him in Spanish class. 

Just a little while later, we drove past a park named for Dr. Janusz Korczak. 


Dr. Janusz was a Polish doctor who set up an orphanage for Jewish children. When they were all forced to go into the Warsaw ghetto, he stayed with the children and kept the orphanage running. He had them writing newsletters and putting on plays. One day, all the children were deported to the death camps. A lot of people apparently offered to get Dr. Janusz into hiding, but he stayed with the children all the way. Here is his Wikipedia page.

The last place we saw was Jane Addams' Hull House. We had to hike to see it. On the way there, we ran into Chicago's finest:

Hull House is very inspiring. It was a place that supported women and immigrants starting in the late 1800s:



Unfortunately, it was closed, but I took pictures through the windows:









I wish they'd put more information about Jane Addams and her house outside the museum. But at least, I can say I visited and stood before the original Hull House.

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