Collection is open for research.
Gift of The Immigrant Story, June 2021 (RL2021-057).
Farhia Ibrahim was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1995. When she was 7 years old, her family relocated to Egypt, where her father was working. A few years later, her father left to find work in the Netherlands, while the rest of the family remained in Egypt. Her family applied for refugee status in the United States, and in 2010 they were relocated to Oregon. They lived in Portland and Salem before settling in Hillsboro. Ibrahim attended Portland Community College, and in 2021, she earned a bachelor's degree from Portland State University.
Oral history interview with Farhia Ibrahim, by Shea Seery and Sankar Raman, SR 12307, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This oral history interview with Farhia Ibrahim was conducted by Shea Seery and Sankar Raman on February 2, 2019. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States.
In this interview, Ibrahim discusses her early life in Somalia and in Egypt and speaks about her family's reasons for relocating to Egypt. She talks about life in Cairo, Egypt, and discusses her education, including learning Arabic, bullying she experienced, and transferring to a madrassa. She also talks about experiencing street harassment in Cairo. She shares her memories of the Arab Spring, talks about the process of applying for refugee status in the United States, and describes her living conditions in Egypt. She then discusses adjusting to life in the U.S., her experiences at an American high school, and learning English. She speaks about harassment she experienced for wearing a hijab. She then talks about studying at Portland Community College, about her experiences studying at Portland State University, and about the ethnic diversity of the student body. She closes the interview by sharing her plans for the future, by further describing instances of harassment she experienced for wearing a hijab, and by talking about her interest in photography.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted,
An article about Farhia Ibrahim, "Headphones In, Hate Speech Out" by Shea Seery, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at