Class of 2020 Success Stories: MACIE program enhances Iraqi student s leadership skills as a cross-cultural education scholar
By Bob Cunningham ’18
Shadan Albakua’s life was forever changed in June 2014 when the city of Mosul fell to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents.
More than 500,000 Iraqi civilians became displaced because of the violence, including Albakua and her family.
“We lost our sense of belonging and, after that, we became a different family,” she said. “After 2014, every family in Mosul City lost one of their family members either when traveling outside of the country or killed during the attacks.
“It was a traumatic experience to be away from my hometown and friends. One of the sad moments was when I graduated from college without any of my friends, and most of them were in the city of Mosul. We moved to a small home, and we spent a lot of money paying rent and buying new housing stuff. In the meantime, my family had lost a lot of ou