Oral history interview with Hazar Jaber, 2020 May 29

This oral history interview with Hazar Jaber was conducted by Sankar Raman, Nancy Dollahite and Hannah Kendall on May 29, 2020. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the interview was conducted using Zoom video conferencing software. Only an audio recording of the interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

In this interview, Jaber discusses her family background and early life in Marrakesh, Morocco, and in Damascus, Syria, including her father's experiences as a refugee from the Golan Heights. She talks about her education in Damascus, and shares her reasons for attending dental school. She discusses her involvement in the Syrian Red Crescent Society. She talks about her marriage to Hani Eid, and about moving to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1999. She discusses working as a dental assistant, and establishing permanent residency in the United States. She also describes discrimination she and Eid experienced after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She shares their reasons for moving to Portland, Oregon, in 2002. She speaks about opening Happy Kids Dentistry in Longview, Washington, with her husband in 2004, about getting a U.S. dentistry license, and about expanding the business. She discusses her work with Syrian refugees in the Pacific Northwest, and speaks at length about her work with the Syrian American Medical Society. She closes the interview by sharing her plans for the future, and by sharing her thoughts about the humanitarian crisis resulting from civil war in Syria.