SEPTEMBER 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE VIII 

METRO DETROIT CHALDEAN COMMUNITY SEPTEMBER 2021 

$ 

3 

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FIVE 

DECADES 

OF SERVICE 

FATHER BOJI RETIRES 

INSIDE 

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CONTENTS 

THE CHALDEAN NEWS VOLUME 18 ISSUE VIII 

42 

16 

on the cover 

16 MORE THAN FIVE DECADES OF SERVICE 

BY SARAH KITTLE AND JONATHAN FRANCIS 

Father Boji retires 

features 

18 A GROWING CONCERN 

BY SARAH KITTLE 

Community concerns about marijuana industry 

20 CASHING IN 

BY PAUL NATINSKY 

Michigan’s marijuana business 

22 IRAQI INVESTMENT COMMISSION 

BY DR. ADHID MIRI 

A visit to the Chaldean Community Foundation 

24 THE IMPORTANCE 

OF GRANDPARENTS 

BY NORA HANNA 

Celebrating grandparents every day 

26 THE COFFEE STORY PART II 


Evolution of coffee houses 

34 POLITICAL ROUNDUP 


Sterling Heights City Council race 

departments 

6 FROM THE EDITOR 


Season of change 

8 FOUNDATION UPDATE 

Workforce development, B.E.A.M. and 

Breaking Barriers 

9 IRAQ TODAY 

The Taliban and Iraq 

10 NOTEWORTHY 

Ur Jaddou, Vocation to Heal 

11 CHALDEAN DIGEST 

12 RELIGION 

The Chaldean Synod 

13 GUEST COLUMN 

BY CRYSTAL JABIRO 

Meet them where they are 

14 IN MEMORIAM 

36 ECONOMICS AND ENTERPRISE 


Entrepreneurs launch new businesses 

38 DOCTOR IS IN 

BY DR. RENA DAIZA 

Vaccine mandates on the rise 

40 CULTURE & HISTORY 


Christian Genocide 

46 EVENTS 

CWC Leadership Breakfast 

CACC Golf Outing 

SEPTEMBER 2021 CHALDEAN NEWS 5

from the EDITOR 

PUBLISHED BY 

Chaldean News, LLC 

Chaldean Community Foundation 

Martin Manna 

EDITORIAL 

MANAGING EDITOR 

Sarah Kittle 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Dr. Rena Daiza 

Jonathan Francis 

Nora Hanna 

Crystal Jabiro 

Sarah Kittle 

Adhid Miri, PhD 

Paul Natinsky 

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Season of Change 

Fall is typically a time 

of change, when one 

season gives way to 

another. Green mellows to 

yellow and orange; sunset 

comes earlier, and the air 

turns crisper. It is a great 

time to reflect and perhaps 

even correct your course. 

For many, it marks a move 

to a new way of life – retirement, 

a new business, 

or a new school. 

For Father Manuel Boji, September 

will be a time of adjustment. 

Retiring last month after 

more than 50 years of service to 

the Church, Fr. Boji has lived his 

calling. Although he may be done 

serving Mass, we don’t believe he 

is done serving the Lord or serving 

the people – he will find a new way 

to do that. 

How did he know at the young 

age of 12 that a life of service in the 

Church was his calling? He felt it 

in his soul. That’s also what many 

healthcare workers say when asked 

what led them to their profession. 

It is a calling that sometimes takes 

every ounce of energy to fulfill, and 

today especially, is fraught with 

peril. We have come to appreciate 

our healthcare workers in new and 

intimate ways. 

That’s why the Chaldean 

American Association for Health 

Professionals (CAAHP) is hosting 

a retreat for students called Vocation 

to Heal, and together with 

the Chaldean Church, holding a 

“Thank You” Mass celebration for 

all healthcare workers. As important 

as it is for everyone to have 

SARAH KITTLE 

MANAGING 

EDITOR 

good healthcare, it is important 

for every healthcare 

worker to take care of 

themselves. 

We know that COVID 

vaccines are a controversial 

topic, but with Pfizer’s 

vaccine recently receiving 

full approval from the 

Food and Drug Administration, 

Dr. Rena Daiza is 

making her case for the 

efficacy and safety of the 

shot, which is now available to every 

American over the age of 12, in 

the column “Dr. is In.” 

Educator Crystal Jabiro writes 

in a guest column that now is the 

time to meet students where they 

are, instead of expecting them to 

“catch up.” Every student is different, 

and a more-personalized-thanever 

approach is what will be facing 

school administrators when school 

starts again. 

Another very controversial 

topic covered in this issue is the 

marijuana business. It has proven 

extremely lucrative for some, but 

many in the community, including 

church leaders, say it corrupts 

the family ideal and is way more 

dangerous than it seems. We cover 

both the business aspect and the 

social, with help from Bishop Francis’ 

roundtable on the topic. 

Dr. Miri graces us once again with 

several articles. Part two of the coffee 

story tells us about the evolution of 

the coffee house and how they came 

to be an accepted part of everyday 

life. 

His series on genocide should 

serve as a warning; events in Afghanistan 

now closely resemble Iraq 

in 2013. Dr. Miri also shares his take 

on the Chaldean Community Foundation 

meeting with the Iraqi Investment 

Commission, and what a partnership 

of businesspeople from the 

US and Iraq may look like. 

Last but certainly not least, Nora 

Hanna shares the importance of 

The September issue covers a range of 

controversial topics — from cannabis to 

vaccines. The changing season offers us 

an opportunity to reflect and perhaps 

even correct our course. 

grandparents to a healthy and thriving 

family. Any community, but especially 

an immigrant community, 

benefits from the wisdom of their 

elders. The Chaldean community is 

blessed to have so many - to share 

stories, recipes and guidance with 

their children and grandchildren. 

May you continue to be blessed! 

Sarah Kittle 

Managing Editor 

6 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2021

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FOUNDATION update 

NEW Workforce 

Development 

Program 

The Chaldean Community Foundation 

is introducing a new Workforce 

Development Program. The Workforce 

Development program will 

offer General Educational Development, 

or GED classes and job training 

classes for career paths within 

retail, customer service, computer 

software, health care, and more. Basic 

English reading comprehension is 

required for both classes. 

Upcoming Events: 

Budgeting 101 Workshop 

September 15, 2021, 

from 3:00pm-5:00 pm. 

Chaldean Community Foundation, 

3601 15 Mile Rd, Sterling Heights, 

MI 48310 

Warren Woods staff posing inside the CCF’s expanded center. 

Preserving the Chaldean Culture 

Warren Woods Public Schools administrative staff visited the Chaldean Community Foundation for a Cultural Competency 

Training on August 16. The event started with a tour of the Chaldean Community Foundation and overview of the 

different services and programming offered at the facility. After the tour, the group attended a presentation about Chaldean 

history and culture that helped to create an understanding of the Chaldean community in Southeast Michigan. 

3RD Annual Awards Gala 

November 11, 2021, 

starting at 6:00 pm. 

Palazzo Grande, 54660 Van Dyke 

Avenue, Shelby Township, 

MI 48316 

This will be the premiere annual 

event to celebrate the success of a 

healthy and vibrant Chaldean community 

here in Southeast Michigan. 

For more information on any of these 

programs or for sponsorship information, 

call 586.722.7253 or visit chaldeanfoundation.org. 

B.E.A.M. Project Returns to CCF 

The B.E.A.M. Project, a program dedicated to helping those 

with visual impairments live independent lives welcomed 

back its participants in-person, on August 12th. B.E.A.M. 

stands for Braille, English as a Second Language, Acculturation 

and Mobility. The program is held in collaboration with 

the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons and is intended to 

help these individuals in acculturating to life in the United 

States. For many of the students, this was their first visit inside 

the CCF since the expanded center was constructed. 

Breaking Barriers 

9th Anniversary Celebration 

CCF’s Breaking Barriers program families celebrated their 

9th anniversary at St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church 

Hall on August 21. Nearly 60 families came together to 

dance, talk, and have fun with their fellow friends in the 

Breaking Barriers program. 

Multiple musicians and entertainers put on a show for the 

celebration including Dany Boutros, Raad Hakeem, Dani 

Barno, Waleed Bahoura and The Arabian Nights. The event 

was one of laughter, love, and family and those who attended 

made up for lost time by quickly reconnecting with friends 

and colleagues. 

For more information on how to donate to the Breaking 

Barriers Program, visit www.chaldeanfoundation.com/ 

Clockwise from top left: Eman, one of B.E.A.M. Projects participants laughing while talking with her 

colleagues. B.E.A.M. Project participants touring the expanded facility for the first time. Group of 

Breaking Barriers participants dancing during the event. Breaking Barriers participants danced in front 

of Waleed Bahoura during the celebration. 


IRAQ today 

Taliban in Kabul cast a shadow over 

Iraq’s future, says Chaldean priest 

ASIA NEWS 

The withdrawal of US troops, 

the fall of Kabul, and the rise 

to power of the Taliban in 

Afghanistan “reminded many Iraqis 

of the tragic fate of Mosul in the 

summer of 2014,” when the city was 

seized “by the Islamic State (IS),” 

said Fr. Paul Thabit Mekko, speaking 

to AsiaNews. 

Head of the Christian community 

in Karamles (Nineveh Plain), 

Fr. Mekko was appointed last week 

as coadjutor bishop of Alqosh (Iraqi 

Kurdistan) at the Chaldean synod. 

“At the time, Iraqi troops pulled 

back and Daesh (IS) took over the 

area and collected abandoned weapons,” 

explained the clergyman, who 

has been actively involved in caring 

for Christian, Muslim and Yazidi 

refugees who fled the jihadis. 

The international community, 

NGOs, and other activist groups 

are currently focused on the fate of 

the Afghan population, especially 

women, who are at risk under Taliban 

rule. 

Many Afghans are desperately 

seeking a way out, while those who 

remain fear retaliation from the Islamist 

group, whose goal is to impose 

an Islamic emirate in which women’s 

“rights” are subordinate to “Sharia, 

Islamic law.” 

What is happening in Kabul at 

present resembles what happened 

in Mosul, the Nineveh Plain, and 

northern Iraq in the summer of seven 

years ago, when the forces of the selfstyled 

Caliph al-Baghdadi took control 

of the area. 

During their point of maximum 

expansion, jihadis ruled over half of 

Iraq and neighboring Syria. 

Now many fear that, should the 

international coalition (US troops in 

particular) leave, Iraq’s regular army 

might break up and the country fall 

Many fear that, should the international 

coalition (US troops in particular) leave, Iraq’s 

regular army might break up and the country 

fall into the hands of extremist groups. 

into the hands of extremist groups. 

The latter are still active and responsible 

for attacks against civilians. 

“Lately, there have been rumors 

about a possible withdrawal of US 

troops,” Fr. Paul said. “This is fueling 

fear and concern in people because 

what happened in Afghanistan could 

happen here if they suddenly leave.” 

At present, the situation “is not 

quiet.” In fact, “now and then, attacks 

are reported in cities and 

against sensitive targets” including 

local US bases. “The Islamic State is 

behind them, or forces (militias and 

paramilitary groups) who are interested 

in sowing confusion.” 

The “mindset that will rule in Kabul” 

is cause for concern. The Taliban’s 

worldview is “similar to that of 

the Islamic State, of dark and gloomy 

domination.” 

Of course, “today’s Iraq is not Afghanistan, 

but it is clear that if coalition 

forces leave, these groups will 

have a stronger grip on the country.” 

Meanwhile, Iraqi public opinion 

and social media users are slamming 

the Americans for their betrayal and 

the politics of a nation “that does 

and undoes, and then leaves behind 

confusion.” 

In a context of uncertainty, “the 

key step is represented by the next 

elections in October, which are still 

hanging in the balance with the risk 

that they might be cancelled.” 


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noteworthy 

Statement from Ur M. Jaddou as New Director 

of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

(uscis.gov) 

“As a proud American and a daughter 

of immigrants, I am deeply humbled 

and honored to return to USCIS as 

director. I look forward to leading a 

team of dedicated public servants committed 

to honoring the aspirations of 

people like my parents and millions of 

others who are proud to choose this 

country as their own. USCIS embodies 

America’s welcoming spirit as a 

land of opportunity for all and a place 

where possibilities are realized. 

“Since January, USCIS has taken 

immediate steps to reduce barriers 

to legal immigration, increase accessibility 

for immigration benefits, 

and reinvigorate the size and scope 

The Chaldean-American Association 

for Health Professionals (CAAHP) is 

holding a retreat, “Thank You” Mass 

celebration, and gathering on October 

2, 2021, at Mother of God Chaldean 

Catholic Church. The vision 

behind this day is to celebrate and 

thank God for the vocation to heal. 

This involves a Vocation to Heal 

Leadership retreat for students, Mass 

celebration for healthcare workers, 

and gathering after for all those in the 

healthcare field. 

The retreat is for undergraduate 

college and high school students 

interested in healthcare professions 

and is put on by healthcare professionals. 

Different members of the 

of humanitarian relief. As USCIS director, 

I will work each and every day 

to ensure our nation’s legal immigration 

system is managed in a way 

that honors our heritage as a nation 

of welcome and as a beacon of hope 

to the world, reducing unnecessary 

barriers and supporting our agency’s 

modernization. 

“As we look to the future, I am 

excited for the work ahead and ready 

to roll up my sleeves to implement 

Secretary Mayorkas’ goals and the 

priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration 

to ensure that the work 

of USCIS lives up to our nation’s 

highest values.” 

Thank You Mass for Healthcare Workers 

and Vocation to Heal Retreat 

clergy and religious life will give 

talks to help form the consciences 

of our future healthcare providers. 

There will also be a Q and A and the 

professionals will share their experiences, 

trials, and advice in their own 

paths to their career choices. The retreat 

is followed by a Thanksgiving 

Mass open to all healthcare workers, 

celebrated by Bishop Francis. If you 

are a student interested in health 

professions, you may attend from 

12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on October 

2, 2021, at Mother of God Chaldean 

Church for the Vocation to Heal 

Leadership Retreat by emailing biancamarrogy@gmail.com 

to register; 

the cost is $10. 


chaldean DIGEST 

What others are saying about Chaldeans 

Census Data Shows Macomb County Population Becoming More Diverse 

The 2020 census data shows that 

Macomb County has 5 percent more 

residents than was recorded in the 

last census. Despite expectations that 

Sterling Heights may surpass Warren 

as the largest city in the county, Warren 

held firm and remains Michigan’s 

third largest city. 

Census data shows as a whole, 

Macomb County’s diversity is increasing. 

Macomb County Executive 

Mark Hackel says he is not surprised; 

despite the reputation the county has 

for a lack of diversity. 

“I’ve never been able to pinpoint 

why that is being said,” said Hackel. 

“It is just not backed by any factual situation. 

People don’t move where they 

don’t feel comfortable or welcome. 

Right now, one in eight people living 

in Macomb County are foreign born 

so I think that is a testament to what 

we are hearing locally. People from 

different ethnic backgrounds from 

outside of this country are choosing 

Macomb County as a place to live.” 

Many Chaldean refugees first 

settled in the southeastern part of 

Oakland County and specifically in 

an apartment complex near Oakland 

Mall. 

“At one point I think that entire 

August 3, 2014 is a day burned 

into the memory of every Yazidi. 

On that day, ISIS rolled into 

their home province of Sinjar 

and a nightmare of unimaginable 

proportions began. Men were 

murdered, boys were indoctrinated 

to become “cubs of the caliphate,” 

and women and girls were 

forced into sexual slavery. 

Other groups in Iraq suffered 

genocide at the hands of ISIS 

too. Christians from the Assyrian, 

Chaldean and Syriac communities 

ran for their lives while 

ISIS ransacked their homes and desecrated their churches. 

Captured Shiite Muslims were killed en masse. The 

shocking barbarity of ISIS was in full view. 

Thankfully, the caliphate fell. But the specter of ISIS remains, 

with Iraq’s foreign minister requesting continued U.S. 

military assistance. And ISIS’ battlefield defeat did not result 

in a victory for religious minorities, especially the Yazidis. 

Seven years later, the Yazidi community is still struggling 

to recover. Thousands linger in tent camps; camps 

which are now shutting down. The Iraqi government 

Store signs in many areas of Warren 

and Sterling Heights are multilingual, 

reflecting the diversity of the area and of 

Macomb County. 

complex was Chaldean,” said Susan 

Kattula, who is vice president of the 

Warren Consolidated School Board 

and is the Behavioral Health Manager 

of the Chaldean Community 

Foundation. “As these families started 

to get older, children graduated 

from high school and got jobs, those 

families decided to move out of those 

apartments and slowly we started to 

see them coming to Macomb County. 

They came to Warren and Sterling 

Heights where there was family and 

community and more shops and grocery 

stores that cater to the community.” 

The Chaldean Community Foundation 

is located on 15 Mile Road 

and Ryan Road in Sterling Heights. 

Yazidi Genocide Survivors Still Suffering 7 Years Later 

Iraqi Yazidi women raise placards with pictures of victims 

of the 2014 invasion of their region by the Islamic 

State (IS) group. 

PHOTO BY SUSAN SMILEY 

Kattula worked on the 2010 census 

campaign that, much like the 2020 

campaign, centered on helping people 

understand the importance of 

participating in the census. 

“I think answering their questions 

about why the census is so important 

was even more important than them 

completing the form,” said Kattula. 

“Everything we have is connected to 

our population. If we need another 

fire station or more police officers, 

we are going to need the population 

to reflect all of these new services.” 

Kattula commended the Sterling 

Heights police and fire departments 

for having a number of officers and 

firefighters who are fluent in Arabic 

and also noted that she sees many 

stores with signage in both English 

and Arabic. 

“It is so important because if the 

police show up to a home where there 

is an emergency and your elderly parent 

is there and called 911 and you 

are at work and the police are trying 

to ask them what happened and they 

don’t understand English, it is important 

to have an officer who can 

quickly figure out what happened in 

that situation,” said Kattula. 

– Susan Smiley, Macomb Daily 

SAFIN HAMED/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES 

announced that decision although 

they have no place for 

the displaced to go. The region 

is awash with rival militia, 

and the area is under constant 

threat of Turkish airstrikes. 

The Iraqi government has 

made some strides, perhaps 

influenced by Pope Francis’ 

visit in March. The Council of 

Representatives (Iraq’s Parliament) 

passed the Yazidi Survivors 

Bill while the Pope was in 

town, authorizing assistance to 

survivors of ISIS atrocities. 

The United States, the United Nations and several 

other countries recognized ISIS atrocities targeting Yazidis 

as genocide. Yet the international community often 

overlooks their situation, due to the complexities of Iraq 

and the surrounding region. However, when governments 

recognize the worst abuses known to mankind to have occurred, 

the response from human rights respecting nations 

should be equally robust, states Pari Ibrahim, executive 

director of the Free Yezidi Foundation. 

– Knox Thames, Newsweek 

Patriarchal note 

explains why 

the reference to 

Babylon in the name 

of the Chaldean 

Patriarchate has 

been removed 

Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The 

reference to “Babylon,” so far 

contained in the name of the 

Chaldean Patriarchate, has been 

removed on the initiative of the 

last Chaldean Synod of Bishops 

because it has no historical basis. 

This emerges from a communication 

from the Patriarchate, 

which is intended as an answer to 

questions and disapproving comments 

that were published on the 

Internet after the decision of the 

Synod. 

During the last Assembly of 

the Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean 

Church, which took place 

from August 9 to 14 in Baghdad, 

the participating bishops, together 

with Patriarch Louis Raphael 

Sako, unanimously decided to 

give up the previously used designation 

“Patriarchate of Babylon 

of the Chaldeans” and replace it 

with the simple definition “Chaldean 

Patriarchate.” The synodal 

decision had also led to critical reactions. 

For example, in an online 

appeal, the Chaldean Writers’ 

Association expressed its “regret” 

at a synodal resolution which, 

according to the authors of the 

communiqué, “calls into question 

a legacy of which we are proud.” 

The Patriarch’s reply emphasizes 

that many critical comments 

come from circles of the Chaldean 

diaspora, while in Iraq “no 

one opposed the decision of the 

Synod.” 

“Babylon,” as the Patriarchate 

said, “was the capital of the Babylonian 

Empire. It was never an 

episcopal or patriarchal seat and 

is now an Iraqi-Muslim city.” 

The denomination of “Patriarchate 

of Babylon of the Chaldeans” 

has no historical basis, for 

several reasons., including that 

by the time Christianity came to 

Mesopotamia, Babylon was already 

in ruins. 

– Fides.org 


RELIGION 

Chaldean Catholic bishops gather for a meeting in Baghdad 

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The Chaldean Synod 

His Beatitude Cardinal Louis 

Raphael Sako inaugurated 

the works of the Synod of 

the Chaldean Catholic Church 

in the patriarchal residence in Al- 

Mansour, Baghdad, on the morning 

of Monday, August 9, 2021. 

Cardinal Sako began the session 

by praying to the Holy Spirit, 

followed by remarks in which he 

touched upon the most important 

events and challenges facing the 

Chaldean Church at home and 

abroad. He stressed the importance 

of sound and sustainable formation 

of the clergy, and the selection of 

bishops according to canonical criteria 

so that the right person may 

serve in the right place. He focused 

on the importance of liturgical renewal 

and appropriate religious education 

programs that are suitable for 

people’s culture and their current 

circumstances. 

The Patriarch also took time 

to reflect on Pope Francis’ visit to 

Iraq in March of 2021. The visit 

gave Iraq and its people a boost of 

hope for a better future. Certainly, 

from these pains, hope is born. In 

his speech, the Patriarch remarked: 

“We must study carefully the situation 

of Christians who have been 

subjugated to many pressures, and 

due to the increasing immigration, 

our numbers have declined. 

“The Church should not play 

a partisan political role, but rather 

work, with apostolic courage and responsibility, 

to enlighten consciences 

on issues of peace and social 

justice, good citizenship, and immigration 

due to despair. The mission 

of the Church is also the voice needed 

to sow the seeds of brotherhood, 

love, reconciliation, peace, security, 

solidarity, cooperation, and social 

justice. It is important to strengthen 

the presence of our Church in Iraq, 

because of the land, language, history 

and heritage…” 

At the end of the first session, 

the Synod Fathers sent a letter to 

Pope Francis asking for his prayers 

and blessings for the Synod and 

thanking him for his historic visit 

to Iraq. 

Topics on the agenda included 

the selection of bishops for vacant 

dioceses, liturgical matters such as 

feast days and readings, celebration 

of the Mass, the priests’ stole, women 

servers, manuscripts and culture, 

and the role of the laity in the 

Church. The bishops also discussed 

the establishment of a Chaldean 

Solidarity Fund to help the needy 

parishes, especially in the wake of 

the coronavirus pandemic and the 

decline in the economic situation 

worldwide. 

Bishop Francis Kalabat explained 

the process of the beatification 

of martyrs and stated that there 

should be proclamations within the 

near future. 

The bishops stressed the importance 

of adhering to the decisions 

of the Synod, which represent unity 

and ecclesial communion between 

dioceses. After discussion and deliberation, 

the Fathers unanimously 

agreed to adopt the name “Chaldean 

Patriarchate” instead of the 

Patriarchate of Babylon over the 

Chaldeans, and they enthusiastically 

expressed their pride in their 

Chaldean identity. 


GUEST column 

Meet them where they are: Learning in the time of COVID 

Without a doubt, 

the COVID-19 

pandemic revealed 

and exacerbated the 

inequities in our education 

system, especially in 

areas where resources are 

limited. During the initial 

shutdown last spring, 

some school districts, like 

West Bloomfield Schools, 

were able to immediately 

give out Chromebooks and 

hotspots and food to those 

in need, whereas certain schools in 

Michigan’s upper peninsula had to 

rely on weekly packets because of 

lagging internet connections. 

These opportunity gaps will certainly 

widen in the area of achievement 

for students living in poverty 

as well as students of color, which 

are often intertwined, particularly 

among Indigenous, African American, 

and Hispanic/Latino children. 

An early study by consulting group 

McKinsey and Company estimated 

last December that all students on 

average could be five to nine months 

behind. Though all students were 

exposed to crisis schooling, those 

who entered with the least number 

of resources will likely exit with the 

most amount of learning loss. 

It is important that we try our 

best not to use this phrase “learning 

loss” in front of children. We should 

not start the upcoming school year 

by telling them they are behind, and 

they need to catch up. That ‘deficit’ 

mindset makes children think 

they are inadequate, and we never 

want our kids to think they are not 

enough. Kids still learned a lot, 

CRYSTAL 

KASSAB JABIRO 

SPECIAL TO THE 

CHALDEAN NEWS 

whether it was school-related 

or not. These children of 

the pandemic gained coping 

skills, matured physically 

and intellectually, and 

reaped a special kind of wisdom 

about friends and family, 

mental health, race and 

culture, technology, and a 

plethora of other ideas that 

came their way. We have to 

honor that. 

Still, we must be cognizant 

of what there is left 

to learn and ensure our students are 

getting the support they need. Most 

schools do some sort of test at the 

beginning, middle, and end of the 

year to assess the students’ knowledge. 

For example, Utica Schools 

give the NWEA test and Walled 

Lake Schools give the iReady test 

within the first quarter. Teachers use 

that to inform their instruction. If 

they see a trend that most students 

are doing poorly in vocabulary, for 

example, they will integrate it more 

aggressively in their teaching. Those 

who excel and those who struggle 

may have modifications in order to 

uplift their personal goals. Students 

get tested again to see their progress 

and educators also see their own 

progress in teaching that concept. 

Remember, every family’s situation 

is different. Some parents were 

able to form ‘learning pods’ and hire 

tutors, some parents worked through 

the whole pandemic on the frontlines, 

and some parents even passed 

away. Every child is in his or her 

own unique place, and every district 

should have a plan to address that. 

That being said, teachers should 

meet students where they are, instead 

of where they “should be.” 

This individualized approach will 

help build stronger skill sets at an 

even pace and will keep kids in their 

same social network. On that note, 

parents should also meet their kids 

where they are. If we want our kids to 

reach their fullest potential, we have 

to be emphatically involved. That 

is nothing new, for we are their first 

and most important teachers. 

Here are some steps you could 

take to ensure that your child has a 

great start to the new year: 

• Begin with a positive mindset. 

When your kids hear you complaining 

about masks or saying they are 

behind, the uneasiness sets in, and 

you are doing a great disservice to 

their emotional state. If students 

have to wear masks, tell them to 

pick out a cool one and if they get 

tired of it in class, teach them to ask 

the teacher for a mask break. Tell 

them you are excited about how 

much they will learn this year and 

that you are so happy they will see 

their friends. 

• Set a bedtime and be consistent. 

Children should get between 

8-12 hours of sleep a night depending 

on age. Take away their cell 

phones and other electronics at 

least an hour before bed. The longer 

they are on their devices, the harder 

it is for them to actually fall asleep. 

According to Yale Medical Center’s 

sleep expert Dr. Meir Kreger, sleep 

deprivation contributes to poor academic 

performance and obesity. 

• Practice eating lunch with 

your little children, especially the 

now first-graders who may have 

missed this learning opportunity 

if they were in a virtual kindergarten. 

Make sure they can open their 

drinks and teach them what to 

throw away and how to open/close 

their lunchboxes. Of course, they 

will learn this in school but coming 

from you too will boost their 

confidence. Remind older kids of 

lunchtime etiquette, like waiting 

patiently in line, putting trays away, 

and not wasting food. 

• Ask your children about 

school every single day. We know 

the typical answer to “What did you 

learn today?” is usually, “Nothing!” 

but do not fall for it. Probe into each 

subject - that usually gets them talking. 

“Tell me about the characters 

in that book” or “Show me how you 

did that math problem.” If you do it 

every day, they will expect it and be 

prepared to answer you. Sometimes 

we think we do not have time for 

that, but then again, what do we 

have time for if not our kids? 

• Take advantage of afterschool 

tutoring or your local high 

school’s National Honor Society 

(NHS). These are held free 

of charge by teachers and by high 

schoolers looking to get community 

service hours. If your children are 

hesitant, talk to their teachers to try 

and encourage them and maybe create 

a group of friends. Also, they do 

not have to be doing poorly to go to 

after-school tutoring. They can be 

provided with enrichment activities 

that begin taking them to the next 

level of their learning. 

With these steps and a positive 

attitude, this school year can be 

their best! 

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in MEMORIAM 

RECENTLY DECEASED COMMUNITY MEMBERS 

Bahija Francis 

Kattoush 

Jul 1, 1944 - 

Aug 18, 2021 

Trevor Thomas 

Kyriakoza 

Nov 13, 1990 - 


Martin Fadhil 

Atisha 

Feb 5, 1998 - 


Zarde (Suad) 

Mazi Aoro 

Dec 25, 1929 - 


Abid Elias Barjah 

Jul 1, 1946 - 


Intisar Kassab 

Jaberoo 

Jul 25, 1955 - 


Faris Younan 

Kiryo 

Sep 21, 1961 - 


Korkez Yousif 

Pattah 

Jul 1, 1929 - 


Mariam 

Shammami 

Jul 1, 1932 - 


Nadia Rita 

Haddad 

Jun 25, 1968 - 


Rose Marie 

Seman Hababa 

Jul 29, 1926 - 


Talat Badie Misho 

April 6, 1946 - 


Masoud Aziz 

Jarbo 

May 20, 1956 - 


Hazim “Sam” 

Yousif Sitto 

Nov 8, 1937 - 


Amer Shamoon 

Yousif 

Jul 14, 1961 - 


Layla Atto Jouni 

Jun 18, 1939 - 


Faisal Saeed 

Dawood 

Jan 8, 1941 - 


Nissan Suleiman 

Samona 

Jul 1, 1942 - 


Layla Abro 

Sep 1, 1956 - 


Nazar Shammo 

Dickow 

Aug 1, 1951 - 


Susan Stephan 

Polas 

Nov 11, 1941 - 


Mariya Yousif 

Narsi 

Jul 15, 1922 - 

Jul 29, 2021 

Sahira Khamarko 

Shounia 

Aug 1, 1944 - 


Janfia Gorges 

Hirmoz 

Jul 1, 1923 - 


Narjis Isho 

Jul 1, 1930 - 


Mikhael Gorgees 

Zakariya 

Jul 1, 1937 - 


Adel Yalda 

Savaya 

Aug 1, 1942 - 


Eddie Yousif 

Joora 

Jan 28, 1959 - 


Ilham Marrogi 

Kashat 

Nov 5, 1949 - 


Naami Mansor 

Hamo 

Jul 1, 1942 - 


Margret Marcus 

Bahri 

Jul 1, 1932 - 


Salem Yelda 

Dinha 

Aug 29, 1950 - 


Farouk Jarjis Tato 

Apr 2, 1946 - 


Ekhlas Yosef 

Awro 

Jul 1, 1944 - 


Khoshaba 

Mamesa Mrkhai 

Jul 1, 1934 - 


Hameed 

Tanboorchi 

Jan 19, 1944 - 


Edward Naim 

Cholakh 

Nov 6, 1951 - 


Naima Jammo 

Dec 7, 1923 - 


Sabah Yousif 

Shelimon 

Jul 1, 1952 - 


Samira Dado 

Jul 1, 1943 - 



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Above: Left to right: Fr. Ayad Hanna, Fr. Manuel Boji, and Fr. Matthew Zetouna at the 2020 Presbyteral Ordinations (July 4, 2020). Above right: Fr. Manuel Boji and Bp. Francis Kalabat with 

the Mayor of Sterling Heights, Michael C. Taylor at the official the official ribbon cutting and blessing of the new Chaldean Home of Sterling Heights senior living residence (March 19, 2019). 

More Than Five Decades of Service 

Father Boji retires 

BY SARAH KITTLE AND JONATHAN FRANCIS 

After more than 50 years of 

faithful service to the Chaldean 

Catholic Church, Fr. 

Manuel Boji entered retirement on 

August 1, 2021. His final Mass was 

attended by multitudes who wished 

to see him off with blessings and 

love. For many, he embodies what a 

parish priest should be. 

“Fr. Boji was my parish priest 

for the majority of my life,” said Fr. 

Pierre Konja. “He has always been a 

great example of patience and dedication 

for the diverse generations of 

our community.” 

Good wishes come from all over. 

“Thank you Fr. Boji for everything 

you have offered the diocese,” shared 

Fr. Fawaz Kako of St. George Parish 

in Shelby Township. “Your priesthood 

has been tremendous, helping 

a lot of souls and guiding many people 

to the kingdom of God. Thank 

you for your vocation, your work will 

never be forgotten.” 

Fr. Boji was born in 1946, in 

Telkaif, in the suburbs of Nineveh, 

Iraq. He was 12 when he entered 

the Chaldean Seminary in Mosul 

in 1958. At that time, entering the 

minor seminary after 6th grade was 

“kind of normal” according to Fr. 

Boji. “Kids at that age have a role 

model or somebody to inspire them 

somehow. For me, the priests in the 

village were inspiring persons.” 

He was 22 when ordained a priest 

in Baghdad, Iraq in 1968. His first 

assignment was in Telkaif, his birthplace. 

He served there for 19 years. 

In July 1987, Fr. Boji was assigned 

to the United States. “I was the last 

person in my family to come to the 

United States,” said Fr. Boji. “My 

parents, brothers, and sisters were already 

here. So, it was not really that 

new to me. We heard things, we had 

some pictures and knew people who 

visited the United States.” 

The Chaldean community in 

southeast Michigan was growing at 

an exponential rate and needed leadership 

and guidance. His first assignment 

was to assist at Mar Addai Parish 

in Oak Park. After serving there 

for six months, he was assigned to administrator 

at Sacred Heart Chaldean 

Parish in Detroit. He served two and a 

half years there, from 1988 until 1990. 

“There was a need, but I came 

first to study for three years, and then 

between the bishops, they arranged 

that I stay,” recalled Fr. Boji. While 

in the United States, he took advantage 

of every opportunity to increase 

his learning. He attended classes at 

both University of Detroit Mercy 

and Wayne State University, completing 

his master’s degree while at 

Sacred Heart Chaldean Parish. 

In May of 1990, Fr. Boji was assigned 

to Mother of God Parish, 

also called “Our Lady of Chaldeans 

Cathedral.” This is the seat for the 

Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle. 

Fr. Boji was called to serve as pastor 

and rector of the cathedral. 

In his decades of service here in 

Michigan, Fr. Boji saw the need for 

taking care of the elders of the community, 

many of whom sacrificed 

everything to make a better life for 

their children and grandchildren. In 

1997, he oversaw the construction 

work at the Chaldean Manor, a housing 

complex for the aging Chaldean 

community located near Mother of 

God Church in Southfield. 

“It was a big effort of Bishop Ibrahim,” 

explained Fr. Boji modestly. 

“It was a diocese and parish need, 

and as the rector of the Cathedral, I 

helped.” 

In 2010, he was appointed pastor 

of Holy Martyrs Parish in Sterling 

Heights, Michigan. Recognizing the 

need for senior living spaces in this 

eastside community as well, he immediately 

began plans for a senior living 

residence next to the parish. “The 

need was even bigger,” said Fr. Boji. 

Almost a decade in the making, 

the Chaldean Home of Sterling 

Heights senior living residence was 

completed in March of 2019. “The 

project by itself is very good for these 

people who are living there,” said Fr. 

Boji. “It serves spiritual, social, and 

self-esteem purposes for all.” 

Fr. Boji’s leadership has had a direct 

impact on not only the parish he 

serves and the clergy he serves with 

but has affected the entire Chaldean 

community. 

“Fr. Boji has played a big role 

in my life,” shared Fr. Matthew Zetouna, 

now Associate Pastor of Mart 

Mariam Parish in Illinois. “When my 

mother was sick and had multiple 

sclerosis, he would frequently visit 

my house to bring her communion 

and hear her confession. 

“My first assignment as a deacon 

was with him at Holy Martyrs 

Church, as well as my first assignment 

as a priest continued from there,” recalled 

Fr. Matthew. “I stayed with 

him for the first five years of my ordained 

ministry, and I was privileged 

to receive a wealth of knowledge and 

information about our traditions, 

stories from back home, about fatherhood 

and what it means to be a 

father.” 

“Fr. Boji’s ability to make the 

love of Christ manifest through his 

ministry and humanity really points 

to the man that he is,” said Fr. Andrew 

Seba. “His calm presence and 

wisdom has guided his leadership and 

will continue to have an impact on 

the faithful and the community he 

serves.” 

When asked what he is most 

proud of, Fr. Boji replied, “The interaction 

between the parishioners and 

the priest is very important. Where 

I am now, it is a product of the love, 

support, and respect of these hundreds 

and thousands of parishioners, 

wherever they were—Mother of 

God, Holy Martyrs, Sacred Heart, 

Mar Addai, back home in Tel 

Keppe (Telkaif) for 19 years—so it 

was a combination of this interaction 

between the priest and the people. 

The people make up the priest, they 

create the priest, if he’s open to that.” 

Thank you, Fr. Boji, for always 

being open. 



A Growing Concern 

Shepherd’s Call holds roundtable on the cannabis industry 


On Tuesday, July 14, Bishop 

Kalabat and a small group of 

interested parties took to the 

internet to discuss an extremely hot 

topic in the Chaldean community 

– the cannabis business. Not surprisingly, 

the Church is against it. 

Although Bishop Kalabat conceded 

that marijuana is a drug that 

has its uses, he emphatically believes 

that the current unrestricted recreational 

distribution is unhealthy and 

immoral, creating an epidemic that 

is sweeping through the community. 

“There is nothing intrinsically 

wrong with marijuana,” stated the 

bishop. “But when it is being used for 

non-medicinal purposes, its brainaltering 

properties do more harm 

than good, and it becomes escapism. 

That’s a moral issue that needs to be 

addressed.” 

He made sure to emphasize that 

the thoughts he was expressing were 

his own. “It should never have been 

legalized for recreational use,” said 

Kalabat. The legality is undisputed 

in Michigan, and it might soon be 

legalized at the federal level, but the 

morality of cannabis use and distribution 

is a different story. 

In the bishop’s opinion, there 

are very few instances where its use 

is moral, such as treatment for cancer 

pain and end-of-life situations. 

When asked why the Church was 

commenting on this issue, the bishop 

countered with a question of his 

own: “If the Church does not speak 

about this moral issue, who will?” 

Dr. Omar Francis, who works in 

the ER at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, 

has grave concerns about the 

use of the drug by younger patients. 

Anxiety, depression, and suicidal 

ideation have increased among that 

age group, and he attributes that, at 

least in part, to increased marijuana 

use. 

“It won’t kill you,” Dr. Francis 

states, “But it will kill your potential. 

When we realize that’s ‘bad enough,’ 

these laws will be curtailed.” 

Although the studies are somewhat 

controversial, cannabis use has 

Most Reverend Francis Y. Kalabat, Bishop of the Chaldean Diocese of St. Thomas the 

Apostle, joined Dr. Omar Francis, D.O., Simen Savaya, and Saif Dawood for a special 

edition of Shepherd’s Call live on Facebook— addressing the morality of growing and 

using cannabis (marijuana) in the community. 

also been linked to increased risk for 

psychiatric disorders, including psychosis 

(schizophrenia), depression, 

anxiety, and substance use disorder. 

Other adverse effects include 

cannaboid hyper emesis syndrome, 

a condition that results in repeated 

and severe bouts of vomiting. It typically 

occurs in long-term users. Once 

rare, Dr. Francis sees such cases on 

a daily basis. Marijuana affects the 

brain, stomach and digestive tract, 

binding THC to molecules in those 

areas. “And today’s THC is more potent 

than ever,” he reported. 

“People are growing in basements, 

garages and barns, and you 

don’t know what’s in there,” said 

panelist Saif Dawood, who admitted 

he started smoking marijuana as an 

adolescent. “For me, it was an addictive 

drug.” Once when he shared a 

THC gummy with a friend, he swears 

he saw Jesus. 

Cannabis is big in the Chaldean 

community. Many are making money 

hand over fist in this burgeoning 

business. And what is wrong with 

supporting your family in this way? 

Simen Savaya, a former grower, 

points out that not all stories regarding 

cannabusiness have a happy 

ending. “Many families have been 

destroyed by this industry,” he states. 

Not a cannabis user, his problems 

started several years into his entry 

into the business. “Pandora’s box is 

open,” said Savaya, in regard to the 

legalization of marijuana. “But it’s 

not all money, money, money.” 

Debt, marital problems and threat 

of robbery are prevalent among those 

who are involved in the business. 

The panelists all agree that they 

are not condemning those who use 

or grow marijuana. “We’re not here 

to pass judgement on anybody,” Dawood 

explained. But he does believe 

that those growing in their own 

homes are putting their families in 

danger. 

Dawood, who was incarcerated 

for possession and distribution of 

marijuana when it was still illegal, is 

focused on the consequences of getting 

involved in the marijuana trade. 

He served 3 and a half years in prison 

for selling about a gram of weed to an 

undercover cop, and he thinks that 

people today, especially young people, 

don’t believe that there are consequences 

any longer now that it’s legal. 

Decriminalization 

vs. Legalization 

“There are people who have been 

sitting in prison for decades due to 

marijuana,” says Simen Savaya. 

What about comparing smoking 

marijuana to cigarettes or alcohol? 

“Even smoking cigarettes today is not 

politically correct,” says the bishop. 

But parishioners and their children 

are coming to church and smelling 

like weed. “Where’s your social decorum?” 

asks Dr. Francis. 

Cannabis use disorder is when users 

experience withdrawal symptoms 

upon quitting. Some studies suggest 

that nine percent of people who use 

marijuana will become dependent 

on it, with higher rates in those who 

start using in their teens. Jasleen 

Chhatwal, MD, chief medical officer 

and director of the Mood Recovery 

Program at Sierra Tucson, says, “almost 

30 percent of people who use 

marijuana meet the criteria for cannabis 

use disorder.” 

While the medicinal benefits 

of THC remain controversial, the 

benefits of CBD, or cannabidiol, 

the non-intoxicating component of 

the cannabis plant, have been more 

widely accepted. Marijuana products 

have been found to provide a wide 

variety of benefits, from pain control 

and stress management to the treatment 

of seizures and PTSD. 

“There are pretty clear areas in 

medicine–non-mental health–where 

marijuana has been found to be 

beneficial,” Dr. Chhatwal says. “For 

example, relieving nausea from chemotherapy 

and muscle spasms from 

degenerative diseases, relief from irritable 

bowel syndrome and other 

gastrointestinal discomfort, and improvement 

in appetite, which makes 

it useful in end-of-life care.” 

The problem, she adds, is that research 

on these benefits is small, and 

much more needs to be done over 

a longer time period to fully understand 

the risk versus the reward. 

“As a physician, I try not to be on 

either side. Still, seeing cannabis legalized 

recreationally throughout the 

country is a little scary for me,” Dr. 

Chhatwal concludes. “People want 

an easy answer, and there is no easy 

answer – we have to do a risk-benefit 

analysis and do our due diligence. I 

don’t even prescribe ibuprofen to 

people and say take as much as you 

want! 

“When it comes to marijuana it 

needs to be the same way. We have 

to do long-term research and there 

has to be a safety net,” she continues. 

“People are thinking it’s a panacea 

because it grows out of the ground, 

but the truth is, you can’t eat everything 

that grows out of the ground.” 

(www.psycom.net) 

For Bishop Francis, it comes down 

to one question: “Do you want your 

children to smoke marijuana?” 


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Cashing in on the Michigan Marijuana Business 


Even before the 2020 election 

that featured a national explosion 

of approval for ballot 

proposals legalizing marijuana production, 

processing and sales, the industry 

had taken off, with Michigan 

among the most lucrative states for 

cannabis crop sales. 

However, the lure of marijuana 

money comes with a set of steep 

regulatory hurdles and a prohibitively 

expensive price of entry into the 

business. 

In November 2018, a ballot proposal 

made recreational marijuana 

sales legal in Michigan. Prior to 

that, medical marijuana sales were 

legal through a “caregiver” program 

that evolved into legalized medical 

marijuana dispensaries. But the true 

boom came with the 2018 ballot 

proposal. The first recreational businesses 

opened after a year of regulatory 

ramp-up. 

Through a name change and byzantine 

series of rules, regulations and 

legislation, the Marijuana Regulatory 

Agency emerged as the administrator 

of all things marijuana in Michigan. 

The MRA created a board of five 

members that considered medical 

marijuana applications. 

Mike Bahoura is an attorney who 

specializes in cannabis licensing issues. 

He also operates a marijuana 

dispensary in the city of Lapeer. Bahoura 

opened for business 

in Lapeer in August 2019 

and was approved for recreational 

sales in December 

2019. 

“It wasn’t an easy process. 

They were throwing 

out denials left and right, 

so it wasn’t easy to get approved,” 

said Bahoura. 

The board considered a 

broad range of criteria from 

applicants, including litigation 

history, criminal history, 

bankruptcy history and moral 

character. 

“The most memorable denial that 

was issued was Calvin Johnson of the 

Detroit Lions getting denied because 

of some unpaid parking tickets in 

Georgia like a decade prior,” said Bahoura. 

The MRA dissolved the board 

at the end of 2019, holding its last 

meeting in December of that year. 

Mike Bahoura 

The team at Future Grow Solutions, a consulting company for the cannabis industry. 

With the approval of recreational 

sales, the process has evolved from 

being very restrictive to being more 

like applying for a liquor license. 

“They started granting approvals 

unless you had something on your record,” 

said Bahoura. “They 

were looking for ways to approve 

you rather than ways 

to deny you.” 

Licensing, The Tip 

Of The Iceberg 

With the loosening of the 

state licensing process came 

the rush for real estate. The 

state grants licenses, but 

city governments establish 

the zoning rules governing 

where marijuana growers, 

processors and retail dispensaries can 

operate, and under which conditions 

and caveats. 

Local regulations vary wildly. 

Harrison Township does not allow 

retail sales, but permits growing and 

processing facilities. Ferndale allows 

retail sales, but not growing and processing. 

There are also conditions attached 

to where marijuana operations can do 

business. Restrictions on how close 

the facilities can be to schools and 

neighborhoods are not uncommon. 

And grow and processing operations 

are often restricted to areas of cities 

zoned for industrial activity. 

Properties that meet the requirements 

for growing, processing, and 

dispensing marijuana products have 

come to be known as “green zones.” 

The prices for qualifying industrial 

and retail space have exploded along 

with the industry, leaving would-be 

marijuana merchants with a shortage 

of business locations and an inflated 

cost for their facilities. 

Further squeezing budding entrepreneurs, 

some cities limit the 

number of facilities that can operate 

within their borders. Bahoura said 

Royal Oak okayed two locations. He 

said the city has received close to 50 

applications. 

Even if license applicants receive 

approval and manage to find properties 

on which to ply their trade, they 

face daunting costs, including a $6,000 

application fee and annual state licensing 

fees ranging from $7,000 to 

about $40,000, said Bahoura. 

Future Grow Solutions owner 

Mark Savaya made the move from 

the convenience store industry to 

marijuana a few years ago, when 

“caregiver” operations were permitted 

to grow a limited number of 

plants. Before dispensaries. Before 

recreational sales. 

Savaya saw the potential in the 

industry and moved to North Carolina 

to learn about hydroponic towers 

that feature vertical towers to 

maximize space, water recycling and 

no soil. The grow operations are located 

in repurposed industrial spaces, 

much like standard indoor agricultural 

set-ups, but the towers allow 

for about eight times the number of 

plants in a standard configuration, 

taking advantage of the building’s 

cubic (three-dimensional) space 

rather than just its square footage, or 

floor space. 

Application, licensing and building 

costs are only part of the picture. 

“Everybody underestimates how 

much money you need to get into 

this business. There is no traditional 

financing or bank loans,” said Bahoura. 

Marijuana is still an illegal 

controlled substance under federal 

law, so federally regulated banks and 


credit card companies cannot work 

with those growing, processing or 

selling marijuana. 

That takes bank loans off the table 

and makes marijuana a cash-only 

business. Bahoura said building costs 

of $1 million with build-out costs of 

another $1 million are not unusual 

for grow operations. That is not inclusive 

of added costs for water, light and 

equipment or operating expenses. If 

a crop becomes infested, fails to pass 

inspection, or other difficulties occur, 

an entrepreneur can sink very quickly. 

On the retail side, a busy store requires 

upward of $1 million in inventory 

to remain competitive. Retailers 

are also hampered by IRS Code 280E, 

which classifies marijuana retailers as 

controlled substance sellers and takes 

away the standard expense deductions 

available to other businesses. 

Double Dipping 

Adding to the cost of entry is the 

emerging business necessity of obtaining 

both medical and recreational 

licenses and the fact that everyone 

involved in the product—from 

growers to retailers, including those 

who transport product—must be licensed. 

The license requirements 

are parallel processes, said Bahoura, 

meaning that those who move into 

recreational marijuana must pay 

those substantial fees for recreational 

licenses in addition to their ongoing 

expense on the medical side. 

All of these factors contribute to 

the high price of entry, $3 million 

or more for growing or retail operations—sometimes 

less in rural, outstate 

areas. 

A Sense Of Urgency 

From the time the first recreational 

license approval was granted in 

December 2019, recreational sales 

have far surpassed medical marijuana 

sales, said Bahoura. Both medical 

and recreational marijuana sales are 

subject to Michigan’s 6 percent sales 

tax. Michigan adds a national-low 

10 percent excise tax to recreational 

marijuana products (for comparison, 

California’s excise tax is more than 

30 percent). 

Bahoura said the low Michigan 

excise tax rate has driven recreational 

sales through the roof and 

substantially decreased applications 

for medical marijuana cards. The 

cost of consulting a physician and 

annually renewing a medical marijuana 

card is simply more hassle and 

not enough cost savings to compete 

with recreational sales. For an extra 

10 percent, consumers 21 and older 

can simply walk into a store and buy 

a product. 

“In the industry in Michigan, 

sales have shifted significantly from 

medical to recreational,” said Bahoura. 

The moral of the story is if you 

have medical now that’s great, but 

if you don’t get recreational to go 

along with it, you’re going to have 

trouble sustaining profitability.” 

Out Of The Box 

Despite the prohibitive costs and 

regulation endemic to his industry, 

Savaya has found creative ways to 

meet his business goals. 

His tower growing arrangement 

allows him to grow 12,000 plants in 

a physical space that historically has 

accommodated 1,500 plants, with 

the attendant savings on water—90 

percent of which he said constantly 

recycles—and electricity. 

Savaya also found creative ways 

to administer payroll and deal with 

the cash-only nature of the marijuana 

business. 

While many in the industry have 

turned to credit unions—which are 

not federally regulated—to do their 

banking, Savaya formed an employee 

leasing company and “leases” employees 

to his multiple dispensaries 

and grow operations. 

He manages the huge amount of 

cash his businesses generate by paying 

contractors who build out his 

facilities in cash. 

Savaya, too, is looking for more 

consistency and efficiency in regulation. 

He said many municipalities 

take six months to a year to consider 

applications submitted by state-approved 

licensees. He would like to 

see that timeframe reduced to a few 

weeks to a month. 

Community Concerns 

Pharmacist Rony Foumia serves on 

several state regulatory and pharmacy 

industry boards. He has been 

involved in issues regarding opioid 

issues, Medicaid drug formularies 

and the evolving practice of pharmacists, 

who have an increasingly 

active role in health care delivery. 

He said consistency and transparency 

are lacking in current marijuana 

regulation. 

Since legalization, a number of 

home-based grow operations have 

emerged. In some cases growers 

have rented or bought homes strictly 

to accommodate their operations, 

said Foumia. He said he has been on 

conference calls in which residents 

complain about such activities in 

their neighborhoods. 

He said this is one of the reasons 

consistency and clarity in marijuana 

regulation need improvement. 

Despite the patchwork of sometimes-conflicting 

local laws, cultural 

acceptance seems to have arrived. 

Bahoura pointed out that dispensaries 

were considered essential businesses 

during the most restrictive 

part of the COVID lockdown. They 

remained open during the pandemic 

with curbside service. 

Risky Business 

Bahoura said the number of people 

exiting the business has accelerated 

as new owners discover they underestimated 

start-up costs. Some of 

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them are selling their businesses at 

reduced rates, simply to get out. 

Underscoring his points about 

prohibitive entry costs and high 

risks, Bahoura said he has helped 

about 100 applicants prequalify for 

licenses, but only about a dozen 

have gotten to the point where they 

open an operating facility. 

He said the big question he always 

asks his clients is: “Do you 

have enough money to get over the 

finish line?” 

The information contained in this 

article is provided for informational 

purposes only, and should not be 

construed as legal advice on any subject 

matter. You should not act or refrain 

from acting on the basis of any content 

included in this site without seeking 

legal or other professional advice. 


The meeting at the Chaldean Community Foundation included a large delegation from Iraq, community members and staff from the CCF 

Iraqi Investment Commission 

Visiting the Chaldean Community Foundation 


The President of the Investment 

Commission in Iraq, 

Suha Al-Najjar, visited the 

Chaldean Community Foundation 

on Saturday, July 24, 2021, during 

her visit to the United States with 

the Iraqi delegation. Martin Manna, 

President of the Chaldean Community 

Foundation and the Chaldean 

American Chamber of Commerce, 

and Dr. Adhid Miri, Project Manager 

at the Foundation, greeted Ms. Al- 

Najjar and accompanying officials 

from the Iraqi Embassy in Washington 

D.C. and the Iraqi Consulate in 

Michigan. 

The visit began with a tour of the 

modern building and a brief on the 

programs and services of the institution. 

Following the tour, a roundtable 

meeting was held that included 

a group of Chaldean and Iraqi businessmen. 

The meeting was attended 

by the Commercial Attaché at the 

Iraqi Embassy in Washington, Dr. 

Hussam Yaseen Mohsin, the Iraqi 

Consul General in Michigan, Mr. 

Adnan Al-Majoon, and the Assistant 

Consul General, Mr. Mohammed 

Aldamin, plus members of the 

Iraqi and Yazidi community. 

During an introduction by Ms. 

Al-Najjar she mentioned that the 

purpose of the visit was to meet businessmen, 

focus on cooperation, review 

investment opportunities, grant 

licenses, formulate economic policy, 

and to attract the Iraqi community 

and American companies to Iraq. 

In her presentation, Ms. Najjar 

stated that she works seriously and 

transparently and has contributed 

to bringing some large companies to 

Iraq in the fields of housing, electricity, 

and industry. She talked about the 

importance of inviting the interest of 

investors, workable steps, diversification 

of the economic base, profits of 

projects in the Iraqi markets, efforts 

to eliminate corruption, administrative 

complexities, and banking reforms. 

Ms. Najjar stressed that corruption 

and politics are intertwined 

with each other in Iraq, and we must 

deal with matters wisely and realistically 

and in accordance with the prevailing 

laws. 

“Today, thank God, we have a 

strong and professional investment 

body that has the full support of the 

Prime Minister in the field of economic 

reforms and anti-corruption, 

and is considered a body that is 

largely independent of political influences,” 

stated Ms. Najjar. 

“It saddens me to see the community 

separate from Iraq, and my 

presence today with you is to listen 

to your views and build bridges of 

cooperation, especially since Iraq is 

a large market in all fields and demands 

are large and profitable in all 

consumer development, industrial, 

housing and tourism sectors, and Iraq 

is in need of services, goods, industry 

and economic development.” Ms. 

Najjar added, “We hope to receive 

The delegation moved to Shenandoah Country Club for lunch and a tour of the Chaldean Cultural Center. 

your investments in Iraq at the earliest 

opportunity.” 

The attendees were able to ask 

questions and express opinions 

about the difficulties of working in 

Iraq. They cited the administrative 

routine, the security aspect, the absence 

of insurance on projects, the 

collection of payments due, and the 

obtaining of project licenses in a fair 

and competitive manner, in accordance 

with international controls 

and standards. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, 

the visitors were treated with a visit 

to the Chaldean Cultural Center and 

dinner at Shenandoah Country Club 

in West Bloomfield, Michigan. 


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The Importance of Grandparents 

BY NORA HANNA 

When we hear the words 

“Nana,” “Youma,” “Baba,” 

or “Jiddou,” we feel an 

overwhelming sense of warmth. 

The comfort, compassion, and love 

grandparents give to their families is 

unparalleled. In the Chaldean home, 

grandparents act as keepers of culture 

and tellers of stories. Frequently the 

last of the family who lived in the 

motherland, they pass down sayings 

and recipes to their children and 

grandchildren. 

The role of the grandmother 

(Nana) is one of guidance. Often, 

they watch the children while the 

parents go to work. They provide 

traditional meals and teach the language 

and culture. I’ve watched my 

mother, a grandmother of 5, make 

breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her 

grandchildren. “It gives me purpose,” 

she says. Spending a day making 

takhratha is nothing compared to 

the joy of watching her 4-year-old 

granddaughter scarf it down. Instead 

of Cocomelon playing on the TV, we 

hear folk music or singing of lullabies 

in Sourith or Neo-Aramaic. 

As the grandchildren grow, we 

watch the grandmother-grandchild 

relationship develop as well. The 

child goes from eating the meals to 

assuming the family recipes. Nana’s 

“sour to spice ratio” in the dolma or 

the special spice in the kulacha has 

now become tradition. In the traditional 

Chaldean household, a grandmother 

is held in great honor. The 

way we remember our grandmother’s 

memory is to keep these nuances 

alive. 

Our grandfathers act as advisors. 

They teach young Chaldean men 

and women essential skills, such as 

the value of hard work, respect, and 

even gardening. They are the confidant 

of the family and the keepers 

of our name. I recall my husband’s 

grandfather being the head of the 

family; with 8 children, he moved 

his family from Iraq to the United 

States. He had no education or prior 

exposure to the English language and 

was able to not only raise a family but 

do it successfully. 

To this day, each grandchild recalls 

a special memory with their 

Baba. This older, stern man sang folk 

songs at each grandchild’s wedding. A 

butcher by trade, he would sit down 

the family at Easter and Christmas 

and share stories of his trade; how 

he drove from village to village and 

place to place and shared his encounters 

along the way. Unbeknownst to 

him, this story telling acted as cultural 

preservation. Learning about the family 

name, trade, great-grandparents, 

traditions, and exposure to the culture 

acted as a means to preserve the Chaldean 

heritage. 

Notably, the main exposure Chaldean 

grandchildren have to Sourith 

or Neo-Aramaic nowadays comes 

from the grandparents. As parents, 

we spend our days speaking English 

at work, school, or with one another. 

We have come to rely on our parents, 

or the grandparents, to be the keepers 

of the language. We look to the 

elders at weddings to sing folk music. 

We look to Nana to teach our children 

what a khaboosha (apple) is 

or what maya (water) is. When our 

children pray “Our Father” in the 

same tongue that Jesus spoke, we can 

attribute that to our grandparents. 

A grandchild’s first cross, first 

prayer, and blessings generally come 

from the Chaldean grandparents. 

They attend church on Sunday, funeral 

masses, wedding ceremonies, 

Above: The Hanna (Safar) Family 

Left: The Pauls Family 

and teach us the power of group 

prayer. Our grandparents show us the 

beauty and blessings of being Chaldean 

and having the ability to pray 

like Jesus prayed; to worship our Lord 

in Aramaic. 

So, grandparents act as keepers 

of the faith as well. Above all else, 

our grandparents are the glue of the 

family. Easter, Christmas, weddings, 

and other events center around our 

grandparents. They bring the family 

together; they remind us to pray, to 

slow down and enjoy one another. 

They are a constant reminder that 

life is short. Chaldean grandparents 

keep bonds strong. They share their 

knowledge, wisdom, and support the 

family above all else. Let us live life 

in memory of our grandparents and 

cherish them while we are still able. 

Grandparents Day is September 

12. This year, let’s make sure they 

know how important they are to all 

of us. 

Nora Hanna is a lawyer, wife and 

mother who knows we owe our parents 

and grandparents everything. 


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Chaldean News_September 21.indd 1 

7/12/2021 2:20:31 PM 


Coffee house in Baghdad, Iraq 

Coffee – From Crop to Cup 

The coffee house evolution 


Part II 

From crop to cup, the journey of 

the coffee bean from a humble, 

pestilent North African shrub 

to the world’s second most valuable 

export by developing countries (surpassed 

only by oil) is as rich and dark 

as the liquid it creates. 

A major step in the evolution 

of the modern cup of coffee was the 

roasting of the bean, a technique 

which was credited to the alchemical 

prowess of the Sufis. The change 

from a tasteless pale green seed to 

a rich black bean of overwhelming 

aroma and taste came to represent 

the transformation of the soul 

through the influence of Islam and 

the deep black shade resplendent of 

Ka’ba – the sacred stone of Mecca in 

Saudi Arabia. 

There are a large variety of roasts 

as well as thousands of blends. Coffee 

roasting and brewing combines 

chemistry and creative culinary art. 

Acidity, bean blends, flavor, caffeine 

concentration and more are all part 

of the final taste equation. 

Served hot from an infusion of 

the Coffea plant, an ancient form 

of coffee was served out of steaming 

pots atop open fires in the public 

shops of Arabia. This was merely a 

shadow of the smooth crèma layered 

brew of our modern addiction. 

As with tale of Khaldi (minus the 

goats), it was religion which would 

plant the foundation for the drink 

to flourish. Dedicated to the study 

and worship of the Prophet Muhammad, 

Sufis (a mystical branch of Islam) 

used coffee to stay awake during 

late night worship sessions. Coffee 

would require one final major player 

before it could be introduced to the 

Western world – a port called Mocha. 

The Coffee House 

For centuries, coffeehouses have 

been witnessing cultural and political 

debates. They are the meeting 

places for all people, the stations of 

literature and haven of poets and 

intellectuals; the place where ideas 

and visions are exchanged between 

intellectuals and the public. To this 

day, you will find them in streets and 

alleys - a place to unwind and taste 

different coffees and teas. 

Coffeehouses in Mecca became a 

concern of imams who viewed them 

as places for political gatherings and 

drinking, leading to bans between 

1512 and 1524; however, these bans 

could not be maintained because 

coffee had become ingrained in daily 

ritual and culture across the Islamic 

world. 

Despite these restrictions, this 

humble new drinking establishment 

would be responsible for spreading 

enlightenment, intellectualism and 

culture across multiple empires and 

continents. Coffeehouses became 

known as “schools of wisdom” for the 

type of clientele they attracted, and 

for their free and frank discourse. 

With the effects of the roasted 

bean still to be discovered by the religious 

Sufis of Yemen, this early beverage 

was more likely a direct infusion 

of the dried coffee cherry (bean 

removed) known as Kish’r (bean 

shell), a white coffee drink still consumed 

throughout the Arabian Peninsula 

today. 

The Middle East 

In the Middle East, the coffeehouse 

(Arabic: maqhaa; Persian 

qahveh-khaneh; Turkish: kahve- 

COFFEE continued on page 28 


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The coffee cherry, or fruit that holds the seeds (beans) 

COFFEE continued from page 26 

hane or kırâthane) served as an important 

social gathering place for 

men. 

Coffeehouses became popular 

meeting places where people gathered 

to drink and play board games 

such as dominos, cards, and backgammon. 

Men gathered at coffeehouses 

to listen to music and stories, 

read books, view television, discuss 

news and politics, and enjoy other 

social activities. 

According to Ottoman history, 

the first coffeehouses that appeared 

in the Islamic world were originally 

called “qahveh-khaneh” in Damascus. 

They appeared in Mecca, in 

the Arabian Peninsula, in the 15th 

century, then spread to the Ottoman 

Empire’s capital of Istanbul in the 

16th century. 

Coffeehouses in Egypt are colloquially 

called ‘ahwah , which is 

the dialectal pronunciation of qahwah 

(literally “coffee”). The first ‘ahwah 

opened around the 1850s, 

originally patronized mostly by older 

people, with youth frequenting but 

not always ordering. In the early 

20th century, some of them became 

crucial venues for political and social 

debates. 

In Cairo, the capital of Egypt, 

most cafés have shisha (waterpipe). 

Many Egyptians indulge in the habit 

of smoking shisha while hanging out 

at the café, watching a match, studying, 

or even sometimes finishing 

some work. In Addis Ababa, the capital 

of Ethiopia, independent coffeehouses 

were popular with young professionals 

who do not have time for 

traditional coffee roasting at home. 

The Ottoman Coffee Houses 

In1517, the Ottomans conquered 

Egypt, a country of historic and cultural 

development with strong links 

to Sufism. As such, they also discovered 

a nation dominated by the 

drinking of coffee and the establishment 

of the coffee house. 

With all things that come with the 

capture of a new nation, the coffee 

bean and brew naturally came with it. 

By 1555, the Ottoman Empire would 

see the very first coffee house opened 

on their own home shores of Constantinople 

(later renamed Istanbul) by two 

Syrian merchants named Hakim and 

Shams. Ten years later, around 600 

coffee selling establishments would be 

recorded in that city alone – the coffee 

house culture had been reborn. 

The Ottoman chronicler Ibrahim 

Pecevi reports in his writings (1642– 

49) about the opening of the first coffeehouse 

in Istanbul: 

“Various legends involving the 

introduction of coffee to Istanbul at a 

“Kiva Han” in the late 15th century 

circulate. Until the year 1555, in the 

High, God-Guarded city of Constantinople, 

as well as in Ottoman lands, 

coffee and coffeehouses did not exist. 

About that year, a fellow called 

Hakam from Allepo and a wag called 

Shams from Damascus came to the 

city; they opened a large shop in the 

district called Tahtakale and began 

to purvey coffee.” 

In the early 16th century Turkish 

coffee houses, coffee was brewed 

in large pots or cauldrons atop open 

fires often enhanced with the aroma 

of exotic spices like saffron and cardamom. 

Like the multitude of cafes 

today which cater to all classes, coffee 

could be acquired throughout a range 

of different locations from humble 

souk kiosk to luxurious tree shaded 

gardens with bards, beautiful servant 

women and views over the Bosporus. 

This new world of comfort and 

engagement presented the Ottomans 

with one of the first public locations 

of social enlightenment outside of 

the constraints of religious or alcoholic 

venues. These places of population 

and sobriety became forums for 

intellectual debate, listening posts 

for news and meeting points for commerce 

and trade. In the more elite 

establishments patrons could hire 

their own Kaveghi (coffee maker) to 

cater for all matters of coffee acquisition, 

brewing, and service. 

The induction of coffee into what 

was the world’s longest standing Empire 

of the time was not without its 

hurdles. Since the Sufis of Yemen 

first began using coffee in the mid- 

15th century, coffee had already been 

banned more than twice in belief of 

its blasphemous role as an intoxicating 

beverage in the eyes of Islam. 

By the time the Ottomans tried 

to lay down their own prohibition in 

1580, coffee was already too widely 

spread to be effective and merely 

went underground. Prohibition was 

not to last and when legally back 

in the public domain, continued its 

spread across the Empire and the 

Balkan states. 

With such a network of sober 

meeting houses throughout their Ottoman 

region, it was no surprise that 

many in power were concerned about 

their use as dens of conspiracy. Previously, 

taverns alone were places of 

sedition and uprising, and now coffeehouses 

presented a new threat to 

the power paranoid. While devious 

plans may be hatched during a night 

of alcohol fueled banter, it was coffee’s 

ability to help recall the details of said 

plan the following morning which 

kept the grand Vizier awake at night; 

albeit that, and his own love of coffee. 

Europe 

It would take almost another hundred 

years before the first West- 



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ern traders would encounter what 

they initially called the “Wine of 

Araby,” introduced not by the Arabs 

but the power of the Ottoman 

Empire. 

While the West would not adopt 

coffee until late in the establishment 

of the beverage, their role 

would grow to define its place in the 

world’s future. Despite trading with 

the bean and plant since before the 

17th century, European merchant 

hubs Venice and Genoa saw coffee’s 

role in Europe merely as a product 

of medicinal benefit and not social 

consumption, a view which would 

quickly change when a Lebanese 

Jewish entrepreneur, remembered 

only as Jacob, would open the West’s 

first coffee house in Oxford, England 

called the Angel Inn. 

Remembered in his personal writings, 

Jacob describes the Angel Inn 

as a place where coffee, “was by some 

who delighted in novelty drank.” 

Today another coffee house named, 

“the Grand Café” can be found on 

the site. 

A second coffee house would be 

opened nearby the following year by 

another Jew named Cirques Jobson, 

and by the time a third was opened 

three years after that by Arthur Tillyard, 

coffee had found a new home 

in the West. 

In the 19th and 20th centuries in 

Europe, coffeehouses were very often 

meeting points for writers and artists. 

This style of coffee making has been around for generations 

Penny Universities 

In 17th and 18th century England, 

coffeehouses were also popular places 

for people from all walks of life 

to meet, chat, gossip and have fun, 

whilst enjoying the latest fashion, a 

drink newly arrived in Europe from 

Turkey – coffee. 

London coffeehouses became 

known as ‘Penny Universities,’ as 

that was the price of a cup of coffee. 

Influential patrons included Administrator 

of the Navy Samuel Pepys, 

poet-literary critic John Dryden, poet 

Alexander Pope, and mathematician 

and scientist Isaac Newton. Not all 

coffeehouses hosted such highbrow 

clientele - some were haunts for 

criminals, scoundrels, and pimps. 

Of these new establishments, it 

would be Tillyard’s which would set 

the standard for future coffee houses 

to follow. With a focus on the more 

educated middle-class patrons of Oxford, 

Tillyard charged two pence for a 

cup of coffee and one for entry, costly 

in those days. Entry allowed access 

to various newspapers, pamphlets, 

broadsheets, lectures, and ballads. 

These new establishments would 

pave the way for a new era in English 

society labelled by historians as 

the Age of Enlightenment, a period 

which saw a reform in the way intellectuality 

is pursued and accepted 

socially, with the coffee house at the 

heart of it. 

Through weekly meetings at Tillyards 

to discuss and debate maters of 

mutual scientific interest, The Royal 

Society was established, a syndicate 

which today advises the English government 

on scientific matters. In 

1672, the Royal Society elected a 

lead chairman named Isaac Newton 

and the rest, as they say, is history. 

So popular were the student numbers 

that in 1679 the local mayor attempted 

a ban on all coffee houses 

from opening on Sundays to ensure 

the youth remained either in church 

or in college. It had little effect; however, 

when London opened its first 

coffee house in 1652 at St Michael’s 

Alley in the city, the coffee house 

would begin to influence an entire 

nation. 

London, England 

When Admiral Nelson defeated 

the Spanish and French navies at 

Trafalgar in 1805, the first public 

address of the victory was publicly 

announced to “the shipping interest 

at Lloyds coffee house” in central 

London. 

Originally opening on Tower 

Street in 1689, Lloyds Coffee House 

was very popular with influential 

merchants, sailors, and ship owners 

of the time. In catering for his 

patrons, Edward Lloyd published 

weekly shipping news under the 

name of the Lloyds List, a publication 

which today is one of the 

world’s oldest continuously running 

journals. 

With so many influential ship 

owners and merchants meeting 

regularly at his house, Edward also 

established a company of financial 

backers known as Lloyds of 

London, along with the first official 

Register of Ships which gave 

both underwriters and merchants an 

idea of the condition of the vessels 

they insured and chartered. 

Further influential coffee houses 

include Will’s Coffee House near 

Scotland Yard Gate where a group 

of Naval officers first conceived the 

idea for the Naval uniform, the Jerusalem 

Coffee House in Cowper’s 

Court, Cornhill which became the 

unofficial headquarters for the East 

India Company, and Jonathan’s 

Coffee House in Exchange Alley 

which is credited with evolving into 



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the first modern stock exchange. 

By 1739, the New London Directories 

would list 695 coffee houses 

throughout the London boroughs 

with 551 in the city alone. With so 

many competitors the coffee house 

had evolved into something more 

closely resembling today’s modern 

drinking establishments, with a venue 

to be found for all tastes and with 

coffee a prerequisite in the name 

only and no longer necessary in the 

offering. 

One of the most famous examples 

of these was Tom King’s Coffee House. 

While trading out of London’s Covent 

Garden under the title of a coffee 

house, Tom King’s was more openly a 

den of gambling, drinking and prostitution. 

Open from the time the common 

tavern closes until the sun arises, 

this coffee house was a popular meeting 

place for the ill repute and respected 

alike, with many intellectuals 

such as William Hogarth, Alexander 

Pope, John Gay, and Henry Fielding 

in common attendance. 

With no beds on the establishment 

grounds, Tom and his charismatic 

wife Mol avoided any legal 

prosecution regarding operating as 

a brothel, serving only as a meeting 

point for ladies of the night and their 

would-be suitors. 

The Kings became somewhat of 

an institution in London during their 

time and despite a large opposition 

from religious reformers. Even King 

George II once visited the establishment, 

yet he stayed only briefly after 

being challenged to a fight by an ignorant 

punter. 

By the mid to late 19th century, 

the coffee house revolution along 

with the newly styled “Age of Enlightenment” 

had reached its peak 

and began a steady decline replaced 

by – or rather evolving into – the 

modern hotel bar or gentlemen’s club. 

Despite the change in name, these locations 

were still places of intellectual 

institution in which patrons could 

find good company, coffee, and fine 

liquor in mutual surroundings. 

By the 19th century, the role of 

the coffee house in Western society 

was clearly a significant one, yet it 

would be the affluence of the patrons 

and not their numbers which would 

create the lasting impact. 

France 

The Cafe’ de Flore in Paris was one 

of the oldest coffeehouses in the city. 

It is celebrated for its famous clientele, 

which included high-profile 

writers and philosophers. 

While records show that coffee 

had already been enjoyed in France 

by a few lucky enough to associate 

with merchants of Arabia, the 

brew would not befriend the public 

at large until an Ottoman ambassador 

named Solomon Aga arrived in 

Paris. 

Representing Sultan Mehmed 

IV, Solomon and his retinue set up 

lavish residence in central Paris 

while awaiting an appointment to 

hold an audience with the French 

King Louis XIV. Wasting no time, 

Solomon converted a grand Parisian 

townhouse into a palatial Turkish 

abode befitted with gilt fountains, 

the finest carpets and emerald encrusted 

tiling where guests could 

indulge in Oriental delicacies such 

as shisha tobacco and a rich brew 

called coffee. 

It was here that Solomon is 

credited with introducing the drink 

– and the way it was traditionally 

served – to many of the city’s elite. 

Despite the attention lavished 

upon Solomon and his fine brew, it 

would not be until he had departed 

Paris that coffee would become better 

established thanks to an Armenian 

member of his retinue named 

Pascal. 

Capitalizing on the impact of 

his previous master, Pascal began 

by selling hot coffee (a.k.a. petit 

noir) at a stall in St Germain before 

opening Europe’s first coffee 

house in 1683 – an Orient inspired 

café located on Qui de l’Ecole near 

Pont Neuf, Paris. Unfortunately, 

the public, while fond of coffee, preferred 

libations of a more alcoholic 

nature and as such Pascal packed up 

once more and moved to a place he 

knew coffee was already well established 

– England. 

“Coffee Lady” is a painting on display at the Louvre Museum in France 

It is important to mention at this 

stage that while these were comfortable 

environments infused with the 

smell of brewing coffee atop large 

open fires, the coffee infusion primarily 

comprised of steeping course ground or 

smashed coffee beans into near boiling 

water and serving it black. 

Italy 

In the 17th century, coffee appeared 

for the first time in Europe outside 

the Ottoman Empire. The first 

coffee houses are said to have appeared 

in 1632 in Livorno, Italy, by 

a Jewish merchant and in Venice in 

1640. Trieste was a main Italian port 

for coffee. 

During the 18th century, the 

oldest extant coffeehouses in Italy 

were established: Caffe’ Florian 

in Venice, Antico Caffé Greco in 

Rome, Caffe Pedrocchiin in Padua, 

Caffe dell Ussero in Pisa, and Caffe 

Florio in Turin. 

Caffè Florian is a coffee house situated 

in the Procuratie Nuove of 

Piazza San Marco, Venice. It was 

established in 1720 and is the oldest 

coffee house in continuous operation 

in Italy, and perhaps the oldest in the 

world. 

The Florian opened with two 

simply furnished rooms in December 

of 1720 as “Alla Venezia Trionfante” 

(Venice the Triumphant), but soon 

became known as Caffè Florian after 

its original owner Floriano Francesconi. 

The Caffè was patronized in its 

early days by many notables including 

the playwright Carlo Goldoni, German 

poet Wilhelm Goethe, and the 

Italian adventurer and poet Casanova, 

who was no doubt attracted by the 

fact that Caffè Florian was the only 

coffee house that allowed women. 

Later, Lord Byron, Marcel Proust 

and Charles Dickens were frequent 

visitors. It was one of the few places 

where Gasparo Gozzi’s’s early newspaper 

Gazzetta Veneta could be 

bought in the mid-18th century and 

it became a meeting place for people 

from different social classes. In 1750, 

the Florian expanded to four rooms. 

In 1773, Valentino Francesconi, 

the grandson of Floriano Francesconi, 

took over the business. In 1796, in a 

European atmosphere characterized 

by the French Revolution, the Venetian 

State feared that the revolutionary 

ideas could spread also in Venice. 

The Florian, with its international 

clientele, had become a meeting place 

for many French Jacobins, so the 

State Inquisitors obliged Valentino 

Francesconi to close the café. 

When the French armies entered 

Venice, in May 1797, Valentino 

Francesconi took down the doubleobsolete 

“Venice Triumphant” sign 

outside the café and replaced it with 

one simply bearing the name of his 

uncle “Florian.” In 1814, Valentino 

Francesconi passed the café on to his 

son Antonio. 

In the 19th century, the Florian 

played a role in the Italian Risorgimento 

because the “Senate Hall” 

was the meeting point for a group of 


Venetian patriots. This group had a 

key role in the Venetian Revolution 

of 1848, one that would see Venice 

temporarily independent from Austria. 

During the convulsed hours of 

the Revolution, the Florian hosted 

the wounded patriots, becoming a 

temporary hospital. 

The United States 

When we talk of coffeehouses today 

in the U.S., we think of those chains 

of cafes run by companies such as 

Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Seattle Best 

Coffee, Peet’s, Cafe Nero, Tim Horton, 

Caribou Coffee, The Beanery, 

or Dunkin, serving a wide range of 

coffees, skinny lattes, cappuccinos, 

espressos, mochas, smoothies, teas, 

and snacks - but these are a modern 

phenomenon. 

The first coffeehouse in America 

opened in Boston in 1676, but 

Americans did not start choosing 

coffee over tea until the Boston Tea 

Party and the Revolutionary War. 

After that war, Americans momentarily 

went back to drinking 

tea, at least until after the War of 

1812 when they began importing 

high-quality coffee from Latin America 

and expensive inferior-quality tea 

from American shippers instead of 

Great Britain. 

The importance the coffeehouse 

played in popular society was not 

lost on the authorities, who used 

the most influential venues as public 

forums to read notices of general 

importance. In 1776, the Merchants 

Coffee House of Philadelphia was selected 

as the first location to publicly 

announce the United States Declaration 

of Independence. 

In the 1780s, Merchant’s Coffee 

House, located on Wall Street in 

New York City, was home to the organizations 

of the Bank of New York 

and the New York Chamber of Commerce. 

From the late 1950s onward, 

coffeehouses also served as a venue 

for entertainment, most commonly 

folk performers. Both Greenwich 

Village and North Beach became 

major haunts of the Beats, who were 

highly identified with these coffeehouses. 

From the 1960s through the 

mid-1980s, churches and individuals 

in the United States used the 

coffeehouse concept for outreach. 

The political nature of much of 

1960s folk music made the music a 

natural tie-in with coffeehouses with 

their association with political action. 

Several well-known performers 

like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan began 

their careers performing in coffeehouses. 

Blues singer Lightnin’ Hopkins 

bemoaned his woman’s inattentiveness 

to her domestic situation 

due to her overindulgence in coffeehouse 

socializing in his 1969 song 

“Coffeehouse Blues.” 

In 1966, Alfred Peet began applying 

the dark roast style to high 

quality beans and opened a small 

shop in Berkeley, California to educate 

customers on the virtues of good 

coffee. Starting in 1967 with the 

opening of the historic Last Exit on 

Brooklyn coffeehouse, Seattle became 

known for its thriving countercultural 

coffeehouse scene. 

Modern coffeehouses in the United 

States arose from the espresso and 

pastry-centered Italian coffee houses 

of the Italian American immigrant 

communities in the major U.S. cities, 

notably New York City’s Little 

Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston’s 

North End, and San Francisco’s 

North Beach. 

One of the original uses of the 

café, as a place for information exchange 

and communication, was reintroduced 

in the 1990s with the Internet 

Café or Hotspot. The spread of 

modern-style cafés to urban and rural 

areas went together with the rising 

use of mobile computers. Computers 

and Internet access in a contemporary-styled 

venue help to create a 

youthful, modern place, compared to 

the traditional pubs or old-fashioned 

diners that they replaced. 

The Starbucks chain later standardized 

and mainstreamed this 

espresso bar model. Starbucks is one 

of the world’s largest chains, with 

14,909 stores nationwide. The meaning 

behind the branding of Starbucks 

is truly iconic. Even without seeing 

the company logo, you can probably 

spot its drinks just by the color of the 

beverage straw. Starbucks as a name 

for the coffee house originated from 

another classic — the book Moby 

Dick. The coffee chain was initially 

to be called either Cargo House or 

Pequod after Captain Ahab’s ship 

in Moby Dick, but they settled on 

Starbuck(s) after the first mate on 

the Pequod. 

From crop to cup, undoubtedly 

the stages of the history and legend 

of coffee constitute an interesting informational 

and international journey. 

We hope that you have enjoyed 

reading about it and traveling on its 

magic carpet. 


FOUNDATION 

Young lungs 

at play! 

THIS IS A TOBACCO 

FREE ZONE 

NO SMOKING 

NO VAPING 

Do you support tobacco-free parks in Sterling 

Heights to protect children and families from the 

dangers of secondhand smoke? To learn more 

about this initiative, call Jasmine at the Chaldean 

Community Foundation 586-722-7253 


Oakland Community 

Health Network (OCHN) 

leads a provider service 

network that assists 

approximately 23,000 

Oakland County citizens. 

OCHN’s provider network 

serves those who 

have an intellectual or 

developmental disability, 

mental health challenge, 

or substance use 

disorder. The majority of 

these individuals have 

Medicaid insurance 

coverage. 

OAKLAND COMMUNITY HEALTH NETWORK 

HOPE STARTS HERE 

ACCESS 248-464-6363 

oaklandchn.org 

Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages can 

increase your risk for cavities. Try to limit 

how much pop, juice, fruit drinks, sweetened 

teas, or sports drinks you have. Instead, try 

different types of fruit in your water for 

a smile-friendly drink. 

Delta Dental of Michigan 

From left: Jackie Raxter, Judge Yasmine Poles, Judge Hala Jarbou, Sue Kattula, 

Ashley Attisha and Paul Manni at a CWC Leadership Breakfast at the CCF. 

Manni Finishes Strong in 

Sterling Heights Council 

Primary 


The wide-open race for Sterling 

Heights City Council got 

a little tighter after the August 

3 primary as it set the table for 

the city’s November 2 runoff. 

Fifteen candidates—including 

Chaldean candidates Paul Manni 

and Steven Bahoura—threw their 

hats in the ring. Bahoura received 

the fewest votes of the field (2,736) 

and joined Nicholas Cavalli (2,960) 

and Kelley Skillin (3,139) on the 

sidelines of the fall contest. 

Incumbents Liz Sierawski (8,450), 

Barbara Ziarko (7,734), Maria Schmidt 

(7,674), Deanna Koski (7,471), Henry 

Yanez (7,407) and Michel Radtke 

(6,960) topped the tallies. Sierawski, 

as the top vote getter would continue 

as mayor pro tem if the she garners the 

top spot in the general election. 

All six city council slots are up for 

grabs. Among the newcomers in the 

trimmed panel of six incumbents and 

six first-timers who are competing for 

four-year terms on the council, Manni 

finished behind only Moira Smith, a 

69-year-old retired Michigan Social 

Security Disability Investigator by a 

margin of 27 votes (4,844 to 4, 817). 

“I’ve never run for office previously 

so we were starting out at square one 

in the primary. I’m very pleased that 

we had such a strong showing in the 

primary and have great momentum 

going into the general election,” said 

Manni, a 26-year-old businessman. 

The November election promises 

to be close, with Sierwaski’s 10.7 

percent leading the primary field and 

Bahoura garnering 3.5 percent of the 

total at the other end of the table. 

Less than 3 percentage points separated 

the lowest tallying incumbent 

from the field of challengers. 

Incumbent Councilman Michael 

Radtke logged 8.8 percent of the 

vote, with challengers Smith and 

Manni next at 6.1 percent. The next 

three hopeful contenders, Elizabeth 

Hanna, Eric Briskey and Roy Wilson 

weighed in at 5.1 percent, 4.9 percent 

and 4.8 percent respectively. 

Votes cast for candidates not qualifying 

for the general contest (Skillin, 

Cavalli and Bahoura) totaled 8,835 

and, importantly, did not go to incumbents; 

putting top challengers 

well within range of winning a seat. 

Manni likes his chances in the 

tight field. 

“I fully intend to win the election 

and my next move will be to get to 

work on the people’s priorities,” says 

Manni. 

As a young first-time candidate, 

Manni’s strong showing in the primary 

does not have him looking 

ahead to opportunities beyond a city 

council seat. 

“It is not right to look past the 

task at hand in order to plot a next 

move,” he said. “I’m a firm believer 

in service and if at some point down 

the road those I serve believe that my 

service who be helpful to the community 

in another role I would consider 

it, but my focus will be entirely 

on being the best Sterling Heights 

City Councilman I can be.” 

Manni ran on a platform of 

strengthening public safety and encouraging 

responsible budget management. 

Both he and Bahoura also 

are strongly motivated to strengthen 

the voices of what they feel is an 

overlooked Chaldean community in 

the city of 132,000. 

“I’m very proud of my Chaldean 

heritage and our community is so 

important to the civic fabric here 

in Sterling Heights. I was astounded 

when I found out that no Chaldean 

had ever been elected to serve on the 


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Sterling Heights City Council,” said 

Manni. “As a result, our community 

is underrepresented on boards and 

commissions within the city that 

make important decisions 4.375 that 8 impact 

our businesses, our churches and 

our families.” 

Manni is counting Internal on Sterling 

Heights’ large Chaldean population 

to help him land a seat in the fall. “I 

intend to campaign hard to my fellow 

Chaldeans that now is the time to 

make history, and elect a Chaldean to 

represent our shared values on the city 

council,” he says. “If Chaldeans show 

up and vote in close to the numbers 

that they did in the 2020 election, we 

win, period. Let’s make history!” 

In his primary campaign, Bahoura 

shared Manni’s concerns about underrepresentation 

for the Chaldean 

community in Sterling Heights. In 

an interview before the primary, he 

r City Casino Hotel_MF 

dean News 

b 8/23; Insert 9/1 

wspaper 

told me Chaldean neighborhoods in 

the city get short shrift for services, 

including badly needed road repair. 

Bahoura couldn’t be reached by 

deadline, 90000001 but in May he MC said his mission 

was 206635 strictly one of New community 

service. 08/23/21 He 14:05 said he PM had no aspirations MC 

to seek 1/0 other political posts, 1 of 1and that 

his sole focus was improving life for 

the community in Sterling Heights. 

Manni’s roots in his community 

run deep. “My volunteer work has 

been focused on my church, Holy Martyrs 

Chaldean Catholic Church, where 

I’m honored to be a liturgy server,” he 

said. “I will never back away from my 

service to the church which is such a 

central part of who I am.” 

The question for the passionate 

first-time candidate now is whether 

that commitment can help him 

break through an established roster 

of incumbent candidates. 

S. Lowe M. Calderwood V. Roberts M. Chu 

A TTORNEYS & C O UNSELORS AT LAW 


ECONOMICS & enterprise 

Entrepreneurs 

launch creative 

business during 

pandemic 


Along with other silver linings during the 

COVID-19 pandemic such as lower flu 

rates, more quality time with family and 

spending less money, new business opportunities 

emerged as industrious entrepreneurs found themselves 

with extra time on their hands. 

Attorney Awan Kuza found herself working at 

home with a reduced caseload and started a highquality 

play dough business called Love & Dough. 

High school counselor Hillary Sesi used the extra 

time to go pro with her charcuterie board business, 

Hill’s Boards. 

Both businesses feature the sort of visually striking 

products that made them a natural for promotion 

on Instagram, where photos and reposts introduce 

products and direct messages fill the order box. 

Kuza spent late summer 2020 perfecting her 

blend of flour, cream of tartar, salt, oil and water 

into the perfect consistency for play dough. By October, 

she was posting her products on Instagram. 

By December she was taking her first orders—just 

in time for the holidays. 

Sesi, who is not crazy about cheese, began by 

making boards for her family, including her remotelearning 

niece and nephew. She continued to work 

at her counseling job, but found herself with extra 

time on her hands. With encouragement from her 

family, Sesi started posting photos of her boards on 

Instagram and was up and running on June 29, 2020. 

Business boomed as she found herself creating 

sometimes as many as 10-15 boards a week, many 

for quarantined couples adding a gourmet touch to 

their date night. 

Hill’s Boards has rolled along with the pandemic’s 

shifting conditions. A return to restaurant dining 

took a bite out of Sesi’s business when patrons 

surged back to their favorite restaurants after a long 

hiatus. But things picked up as people began entertaining 

in their homes again and needed bigger 

boards to accommodate party guests. 

Sesi’s operation is a delicate balance between her 

counseling job and her side passion. She has been 

careful not to overcommit, and has never been late 

with a board or missed an order. To keep it that way, 

she limits the volume of work she will take and invested 

in a scheduling app called Acuity. 

She bought the premium version of Acuity 

because it sends confirmation emails and helps 

her avoid no shows and late pickups, as almost 

all orders are pickups. “I don’t like throwing away 

boards, but there are only so many times my family 

wants to eat cheese if someone doesn’t pick up 

their order.” 

Sesi has considered starting a website but wants 

to move slowly as the busy school year approaches. 

As volume increased for Kuza at Love & Dough, 

she decided to open an Etsy online store, where she 

pays 20 cents per item posted and 20 or 30 cents per 

transaction, depending upon the price of the product. 

“I created the shop, but they take care of everything 

else,” she said. In its first 30 days, the shop has generated 

more than 30 orders, said Kuza, and she is now 

considering opening a similar portal on Amazon. 

The popularity and ease of operation for social 

media-based businesses, along with the emergence 

of easy-to-use and inexpensive e-commerce sites 

like Etsy and Amazon create great opportunities for 

those who seek the quality products and personal 

touch small businesses can provide. 

For Sesi, customization makes a big difference. 

She is able to reach farther for unusual cheeses 

such as blueberry goat cheese or lavender flavored 

offerings than her grocery store competitors. The 

fast turnaround time also means her boards are not 

stored for a day or two, expanding presentation and 

design options. 

Kuza said Love & Dough play dough contains 

simple, “clean” ingredients, foregoing the chemicals 

she said the commercial makers use. She said 

the product is also softer than store-bought play 

dough and does not dry out as quickly. 

Clockwise from top left: A custom charcuterie board; Sample ‘grace’ board; 

Love & Dough mini kits; Hillary Sesi of Hill’s Boards; Awan Kuza of Love & 

Dough; Garden-themed play dough kit; Butterfly kit; Selection of mini kits 

While it’s unclear how much they will scale up 

their businesses, Kuza and Sesi are expanding their 

offerings. 

Sesi is capitalizing on a growing trend for “grace 

boards,” more-or-less giant charcuterie boards that 

cover an entire table. She said the boards are great 

for events with more than 25 people. The big 

boards are also more profitable for her than making 

several smaller arrangements. Grace boards 

also will allow her more lead time to plan her work 

around her school counseling job. 

Kuza’s play dough products started as kits that 

contain play dough and themed accessories, such 

as snowmen or Christmas trees. They began as 

holiday themed kits, but she is expanding those 

themes and offering “mini kits.” The larger kits sell 

for $35 and the minis for $15. She also plans to 

create some educational kits, featuring letter of the 

alphabet and other learning themes. 

Kuza intends to sell jars of play dough for $3-$5 

and is looking into aroma therapy play dough kits 

for adults. 

As new COVID variants continue to stir uncertainty, 

the creativity and industriousness that have 

flourished despite pandemic restrictions seem like 

they are here for the long haul as well, providing 

beams of light in an often-dark environment. 



FOUNDATION 

Help 

Wanted? 

As our Nation plans 

to rebuild after this 

unprecedented time, 

please consider 

investing in one of our 

many new Americans. 

HOW WE HELP: 

The Career Services Team 

at the Chaldean Community 

Foundation offers one-on-one 

assistance to help individuals 

identify their goals and 

develop their careers. 

SERVICES INCLUDE: 

• Resume Building and Cover Letter Writing 

• Job Application Completion 

• FAFSA Completion 

• Mock Interviews 

• Employer Referrals 

• Training Opportunities 

• Career Fairs 

• Access to Transportation via the 

Michael J George Chaldean Loan Fund 

To inquire about hiring one of our clients and having your business added to our job bank, 

please call or email Elias at 586-722-7253 or elias.kattoula@chaldeanfoundation.org 

CHALDEAN 

AMERICAN 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 

CHALDEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION 3601 15 MILE ROAD, STERLING HEIGHTS, MI 48310 586-722-7253 CHALDEANFOUNDATION.ORG

DOCTOR is in 

Vaccine mandates on the rise 

DR. RENA DAIZA 

SPECIAL TO THE 

CHALDEAN NEWS 

From Krispy Kreme 

doughnuts to million-dollar 

lottery 

tickets, vaccine incentives 

are happening all over the 

country as states creatively 

entice their residents to 

get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

With widespread 

vaccine availability, minimal 

side effects, and proven 

performance, it would 

be ideal if this is all we 

needed to reach herd immunity in 

the United States, but sadly it has 

not been enough. 

Vaccines are effective and safe. 

By the end of June, research has 

estimated that the vaccine has 

prevented more than 279,000 additional 

deaths due to COVID-19. 

Sadly, today’s vaccination rates are 

becoming stagnant and COVID-19 

deaths are slowly increasing again. 

Currently, 98 percent of those hospitalized 

with the virus are 

unvaccinated and nearly 

all the deaths related to 

COVID-19 are affecting 

the unvaccinated population. 

The longer we take to 

reach herd immunity, the 

more opportunity the virus 

has to mutate into different 

variants. Each new 

variant reflects a change in 

the virus’s properties, causing 

easier spread and/or an even 

more severe disease. We are already 

seeing this in the widespread Delta 

variant which currently accounts 

for the majority of COVID-19 cases 

in a very short amount of time. 

Many in the Chaldean community 

have been hesitant to take the 

vaccine which is contributing to 

Michigan’s rising COVID-19 cases. 

We need to do better. If incentives 

are not enough, vaccine mandates 

will be a necessary next step. 

Some businesses including my 

own workplace, a health system, 

have already put vaccine mandates 

in place. Hospital settings are high 

risk for contact and transmission of 

the virus. It seems unlikely that the 

Mandating a vaccine 

does not mean 

physically forcing 

someone to get 

the shot. 

United States will overcome the 

pandemic without vaccine mandates. 

There will be exemptions 

of course, but most people will not 

fall into that category. Mandating 

a vaccine does not mean physically 

forcing someone to get the shot. 

Rather, we should expect those eligible 

but choosing not to get vaccinated 

may not be able to travel 

to certain areas or participate in activities 

because their unvaccinated 

status poses a risk to the population. 

During my conversations with 

community members, some consider 

a mandate an infringement upon 

their rights. But we would do well 

to remember that we are still in the 

middle of a public health crisis. It is 

our duty and obligation to not only 

protect ourselves but protect the 

most vulnerable around us. Remember, 

some people cannot get vaccinated 

even if they wanted to due to 

their age or because they are medically 

fragile. They are counting on 

the rest of us who are able to get the 

vaccine to provide a form of indirect 

protection for them from the virus. 

DOCTOR continued on page 45 

LEADING 

WITH A 

CLEAN VISION 

DTE’s 

happier future for generations to come. Already, we’re on track to 

Join us at dtecleanenergy.com 

clean vision is about taking 

action now to ensure a healthier, 

double the amount of energy generated from wind and solar in just 

two years. And you, Michigan, can help. Together we can create a 

cleaner environment for our children, grandchildren and beyond. 


JOHN LOUSSIA 

CANCER FOUNDATION 

Educating the community about the importance 

of prostate cancer screening and men’s health. 

THE TIME 

IS NOW... 

TO GET 

SCREENED! 

SEPTEMBER 

IS PROSTATE 

CANCER 

AWARENESS 

MONTH. 

Did you 

know? 

PROSTATE CANCER IS THE 

SECOND LEADING 

CAUSE OF DEATH 

IN MEN 

ON AVERAGE MEN LIVE ABOUT 

5 YEARS LESS 

THAN WOMEN 

MEN HAVE A 

HIGHER 

DEATH RATE 

FOR MOST LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH 

INCLUDING CANCER, HEART DISEASE, 

DIABETES AND SUICIDE 

APPROXIMATELY 

34,000 MEN 

IN THE U.S. DIE EACH YEAR 

FROM PROSTATE CANCER 

MEN MAKE 

HALF 

AS MANY PHYSICIAN VISITS 

FOR PREVENTION AS WOMEN 

1 IN 8 MEN 

WILL BE DIAGNOSED 

WITH PROSTATE CANCER 

MEN ARE 

LESS INSURED 

THAN WOMEN 

PLEASE CALL YOUR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN 

TO SCHEDULE YOUR ANNUAL EXAM 


CULTURE & history 

Mar Georgie’s 

Monastery 

in Mosul 

Christian Genocide in the 21st Century 


Part I 

Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian 

Christians represent 

some of the oldest Christian 

communities in the world. Their 

culture and religious identity are 

rooted in Mesopotamia’s Sumer, 

Babylon, and Assyrian civilizations. 

In recent years, Christians in Iraq 

have been victimized by the Baath 

Party, the Islamic State, and Shiiteled 

governments in Baghdad. 

In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population 

numbered over 1.5 million. 

Today, less than 250,000 Christians 

remain in Iraq. Their reality is grim. 

The remaining Christian families 

suffer persecution and neglect. They 

have limited access to health care, 

education, and employment opportunities. 

The plight of Christians 

in Iraq continues to worsen, as they 

flee persecution and neglect. Those 

who want to go home cannot because 

conditions are not conducive 

to their return. 

In this 21st century of humankind, 

we are witnesses to a historic 

tragedy that is still unfolding — a 

catastrophe beyond logical 

explanations of what has gone 

wrong in a region that once 

was the cradle of civilization. 

In this series of articles, 

we direct the spotlight on the 

plight of indigenous people 

and the Christians in Iraq during 

and after the ISIS invasion, 

the era we consider the 

“Genocide of the 21st Century.” 

It threatens the existence 

and the future for Iraq’s beleaguered 

Christian minority. 

In this first part, we will look 

at the rise of Daesh/Islamic State 

(IS), the plight of Iraq’s beleaguered 

Christian minority, violence against 

ethno-religious groups in Iraq, and 

the silence of the rest of the world 

on the matter. 

Subsequent articles will cover 

the destruction of World Heritage 

sites, demographic changes, the 

Adhid Miri at Qaraqoosh Monastery wall, riddled with ISIS bullets 

Pope’s visit and what that means, as 

well as this author’s recommendations 

and thoughts on moral responsibilities 

of world leaders. 

The Genocide 

Genocide is understood by most to 

be the gravest crime against humanity. 

It is defined as a mass extermination 

of a particular group of people 

and is an internationally 

recognized crime where 

acts are committed with 

the intent to destroy, in 

whole or in part, a national, 

ethnic, racial, or 

religious group. Behind 

this simple definition is a 

complicated tangle of legal 

concepts concerning 

what constitutes genocide 

and when the term 

can be applied. 

Genocide is distinguishable 

from all other 

crimes by the motivation behind 

it. It is a crime on a different scale 

than all other crimes against humanity 

and implies an intention to 


Clockwise from top left: Qaraqoosh – Mar Adi Church; Syriac Catholic Church in Mosul; Church altar in Bartella; Qaraqoosh church roof in the Nineveh Plain; Chaldean Catholic 

Church in Mosul; Qaraqoosh – destroyed church bell; ISIS flag: burned and bombed out church in Mosul; Syriac Orthodox Church in Mosul; Damaged statue of Mother Mary. 

completely exterminate the chosen 

group. 

The word “genocide” did not exist 

prior to 1944. It is a very specific 

term coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer 

named Raphael Lemkin (1900– 

1959) who sought to describe Nazi 

policies of systematic murder during 

the Holocaust, including the 

destruction of European Jews. He 

formed the word “genocide” by combining 

“Geno” from the Greek word 

for “race” or “tribe” with “Cide” 

from the Latin word for “to kill.” 

After witnessing the horrors of 

the Holocaust, in which every member 

of his family except his brothers 

were killed, Dr Lemkin campaigned 

to have genocide recognized as a 

crime under international law. His 

efforts gave way to the adoption of 

the United Nations Genocide Convention 

in December 1948, which 

did not come into effect in January 

of 1951. 

Article Two of the convention 

defines genocide as “any of the following 

acts committed with the intent 

to destroy, in whole or in part, 

a national, ethnic, racial or religious 

group, as such”: killing members of 

the group; causing serious bodily 

or mental harm to members of the 

group; deliberately inflicting on the 

group conditions of life calculated 

to bring about its physical destruction 

in whole or in part; imposing 

measures intended to prevent births 

within the group; and forcibly transferring 

children of the group to another 

group. 

More recently, in March of 2016, 

the US accused the jihadist group 

Islamic State (IS) of carrying out 

genocide against Christian, Yazidi 

and Shia minorities in Iraq and Syria. 

IS was “genocidal by self-proclamation, 

by ideology and by actions, 

in what it says, what it believes, and 

what it does,” then-Secretary of 

State John Kerry said. 

Several new issues have been 

raised by scholars and activists 

which bear on the prediction and 

prevention of genocide including 

the salience of the state as the perpetrator 

of genocide, the distinctiveness 

of genocide and the importance 

of intentionality in genocide. 

The Rise of Daesh/ 

Islamic State (ISIS) 

Iraq’s Christian population has faced 

significant persecution since the US 

invasion in 2003, declining from 

over 1.5 million to under 200,000, 

a process that accelerated following 

the rise of ISIS in 2014. The group 

threatened to end their 2,000-year 

history in the country. 

ISIS was primarily operating in 

Iraq, and then reemerged in fuller 

force and expanded into Syria following 

the Syrian revolution of 

2011. 

Daesh/Islamic State (IS) goes 

by multiple names including Islamic 

State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), 

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 

(ISIS), or by their Arabic acronym, 

Daesh. The evolution of their name 

sheds light on the different stages 

GENOCIDE continued on page 42 


of security and good governance 

that has given rise to armed militias 

that have threatened the country’s 

minority groups. Although the 

country’s security situation has improved, 

the status of Christians remains 

uncertain. 

Although Baghdad declared victory 

over the insurgents in 2017, the 

damage done to Christian enclaves 

in the north has been extensive. Security 

and the rule of law are what 

Christians most need in Iraq, but it 

seems no one wishes to offer this. 

The destruction has left many wondering 

whether they can overcome 

their recent history. 

Violence against Ethno- 

Burned church in Mosul 

GENOCIDE continued from page 41 

of the organization’s development. 

The foundation of the group can 

be traced back to 1999 under the 

name of Jama’at al-Tawhid wa-al- 

Jihad (Organization of Monotheism 

and Jihad), which transformed into 

al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004, under the 

leadership of Jordanian Abu Musab 

al-Zarqawi. 

In June of 2014, the Islamic 

State officially established itself as 

a worldwide caliphate with Raqqa, 

Syria as its capital and declared Abu 

Bakr al-Baghdadi the caliph. A caliph 

is a Muslim political and religious 

leader, regarded as the successor 

of the Prophet Muhammed. 

ISIS’ affiliation with and interpretation 

of Islam has been largely 

contested and denied by political 

figures, intellectuals and Muslim 

leaders and scholars. ISIS was 

able to achieve religious, political, 

and military control by employing 

tactics of insurgency, terrorism, and 

guerrilla warfare. 

The plight of the beleaguered 

Christian minority in Iraq 

Christianity in Iraq dates to the first 

century of the Christian era, when 

the apostles Thomas and Thaddeus 

are believed to have preached the 

Gospel on the fertile flood plains of 

the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. 

When the Islamic State of Iraq 

and Syria (ISIS) stormed northern 

Iraq and took over Mosul in the 

summer of 2014, it ran a parallel 

campaign of genocide against the 

indigenous people of the Nineveh 

Plains. For many of these groups, including 

Christians and Yazidis, this 

was the worst assault among a long 

list of genocides going back over a 

thousand years. 

As nationalism and foreign influences 

spread throughout the Ottoman 

Empire, Christians became 

easy targets of violent discrimination 

since they were viewed as outsiders. 

Turkish and Kurdish forces 

carried out massacres of hundreds 

of thousands of Christians, pushing 

them to scatter from their homelands 

and congregate in safe areas, 

such as the Nineveh Plains. 

Lessons of history on the critical 

dimension of genocide exist, such 

as the mass killing of Armenians 

by Ottoman Turks between 1915 

and 1920. “Sayfo” or “Seyfo,” also 

known as the Assyrian Genocide, 

was the mass slaughter and deportation 

of Christians mostly belonging 

to the Syriac Orthodox Church, 

Church of the East, Assyrians, or 

Chaldean Catholic Church in the 

Ottoman Empire and neighboring 

regions of Persia. These atrocities 

were committed by Ottoman troops 

and some Kurdish tribes during 

World War I. 

The United States recognized 

the Armenian Genocide through 

two congressional resolutions passed 

by both houses of the US Congress, 

and by presidential announcement. 

The House of Representatives 

passed a resolution with broad 

support on October 29, 2019, and 

the Senate did the same by unanimous 

consent on December 12, 

2019. This made the recognition of 

the Armenian Genocide part of the 

policy of the United States. Before 

2019, there were numerous proposed 

resolutions in Congress to recognize 

the Armenian Genocide, all failing 

to receive enough support. 

On April 22, 1981, President 

Ronald Regan first referred to 

the events as a “genocide” in a comparison 

to the Holocaust. On April 

24, 2021, now Armenian Genocide 

Remembrance Day, President Joe 

Biden referred to the events as 

“genocide” in a statement released 

by the White House, in which the 

President formally equated the 

genocide perpetrated against Armenians 

with atrocities on the scale of 

those committed in Nazi-occupied 

Europe. 

In recent years, Iraq has endured 

in a state of chaos, corruption, lack 

Religious Groups in Iraq 

Christians were one of the largest 

minority groups in Iraq, making up 

around 1.5 million in 2003. These 

Christians have a long ethnic history 

and some unique cultural and 

linguistic remnants of the ancient 

Aramaic people of Mesopotamia. 

The Christian, Yazidi, and Mandean 

communities have an extensive history 

of discrimination and violence 

prior to ISIS. 

By August 2014, ISIS took control 

over all the Christian villages 

in the Nineveh plains, resulting 

in abduction, destruction of property, 

mass displacement, killings 

and forced conversions. After ISIS 

captured Mosul, Christians were 

given the option to either convert, 

pay taxes (jizya), leave, or be killed. 

ISIS marked Christian homes with 

the Arabic letter “N” to mean Nasrani, 

or Christian, which quickly 

became a global symbol of solidarity 

with persecuted Christians. 

A few months later, in August of 

2014, ISIS took control of all Assyrian 

towns in the Nineveh Plains, 

resulting in a second wave of mass 

displacement. After capturing Sinjar, 

Tal Afar became a transitory 

place to hold enslaved Yazidi women 

before trafficking them to other 

ISIS territory. 

In addition to Christians, Yazidis, 

Turkmen, and Shabak, other 

ethnoreligious groups in Iraq, 

such as the Sabean-Mandeans and 

Kaka’i, were also targeted by ISIS. 

In fact, a lack of security and mass 

displacement poses a serious threat 

of extinction to the already dwindling 

communities of Sabean-Mandeans 

and Kaka’i. 

The Syrian civil-proxy war, involving 

ISIS and Bashar al Assad, 


has led to the largest modern-day 

refugee crisis, resulting in an estimated 

13 million requiring humanitarian 

assistance, including nearly 

6 million registered refugees from 

Syria alone. 

According to the UN high commission 

for refugees, 2020 has seen 

the highest number recorded in history 

(82 million) mostly due to religious 

and ethnic persecution. 

Today, one of the biggest challenges 

facing Christians in Iraq is 

the question of return. While the 

Nineveh Plain has since been liberated 

from ISIS, many Christians 

are hesitant and fearful of returning, 

citing renewed tension between 

various ethnoreligious groups. 

The Silence of the World 

In the case of ISIS, however, this 

is a rare instance in which a nonstate 

entity with no internationally 

acknowledged boundaries has 

been accused of committing genocide, 

which could possibly present 

new challenges in the application 

of international law. These discussions 

shed light on the implications 

and limitations of a legal genocide 

designation. 

In February 2016, the European 

Parliament unanimously passed a resolution 

declaring that ISIS had committed 

genocide against Christians, 

Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious 

minority groups. This was the first 

time the Parliament labeled a genocide 

while events were unfolding. 

Shortly after, the US House of 

Representatives unanimously passed 

a resolution acknowledging that ISIS 

is perpetrating genocide against Yazidis 

and Christians. In 2018, the US passed 

the Iraq and Syria Genocide and Relief 

and Accountability Act and pledged 

nearly $300 million in aid to ethnic 

and religious minorities in Iraq and 

Syria. The United Nations declared 

that genocide is only being committed 

against the Yazidis. 

United States’ 

Moral Responsibility 

The United States assumed a special 

responsibility to stabilize Iraq and 

protect its people when it invaded 

and occupied the country in 2003. 

Successive US administrations have 

tried to shirk this responsibility and 

disengage from Iraq, leaving its people 

in limbo. Northerners are caught 

between malevolent neighbors and 

an increasingly dysfunctional central 

government in Baghdad. 

The US needs to be more engaged 

if Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syriacs, 

Mandeans, and other minorities 

in Iraq are to survive. The United 

States must urge the Government 

of Iraq to adopt policies that are favorable 

to Iraqi Christians. It must 

also urge the KRG, with whom it 

had good relations, to include protections 

for minorities and religious 

freedom in its constitution and security 

arrangements. 

The US and the international 

community should encourage the 

establishment of democracy, tolerance, 

and equality without merely 

futile appeals. The West has a moral 

obligation to force the government 

to respect human rights, as they are 

respected in other places, and they 

must stop arms trafficking that destroy 

the lives of innocent people. 

Western countries must realize 

that there is no regional benefit to 

the manufacturing and sale of weapons 

as support aside from the benefit 

to Western manufacturing. The Iraqi 

parliament, the Arab League, the 

International Arab Islamic Conference, 

and the religious authorities 

should submit legislation and official 

documentation in recognition of 

Christians and their rights as equal 

citizens with others, to separate religion 

from politics. The US government 

is urged to recognize the 

responsible course of action centered 

on the Nineveh Plain Province Solution 

and related policies. 

Sources include Wikipedia and the 

writings of Yousif Kalian, Michael 

Youash, Frank Chalk, Zaid Salim, 

Saad Salloum, Joseph Slewa, Marla 

Ruzicka, and David Phillips. Special 

editing by Jaqueline Raxter. 


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DOCTOR continued on page 38 

We should recall that vaccine 

mandates are embedded in the history 

of the United States. Most infectious 

diseases in the country like 

measles, mumps, and rubella, are 

mandated by school systems. Our 

children are not able to start college 

without their meningococcal 

vaccines. This is not new. Due to 

the mandates, the vast majority of 

people in this country are vaccinated 

and we are able to prevent outbreaks. 

Similarly, in the early era when the 

United States was fighting smallpox 

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and polio, it took vaccine mandates 

to reach herd immunity, and we have 

Instagram: @ChaldeanAmericanChamber 

successfully eradicated those diseases 

from our country. It is because of mass 

vaccination orders that we no longer 

see cases of polio and smallpox in the 

United States, diseases that devastated 

the country for hundreds of years. 

Other vaccines that have not been 

mandated outside health systems 

like influenza will continue to spread 

through our communities year after 

year. We can’t let that happen with 

COVID-19 since we have already 

seen the destruction it can cause. 

COVID-19 continues to be an 

emergency. Each time COVID-19 

produces a new variant, the fight to 

reach herd immunity becomes more 

difficult. We are desperately trying 

to buy time until enough people get 

protected. In the United States we 

are lucky to have access to three remarkably 

effective vaccines against 

COVID-19. Not every country has 

the same availability, and we should 

take full advantage of this opportunity. 

One way or another we will 

reach herd immunity as antibodies 

can come from the vaccine with 

minimal side effects or through the 

hard way of catching the virus. We 

have seen and lived through what 

a year without an available vaccine 

can do to our community. 

Recently, the Food and Drug 

Administration gave full approval 

for use of the Pfizer-BioNTech 

COVID-19 Vaccine. We can expect 

approval on other vaccines to 

follow. Because of this, there will 

likely be more vaccine mandates 

put in place. It is important to look 

at mandates as a positive, a way to 

save lives and move beyond this 

pandemic. When we look back at 

this time, let’s be on the right side 

of history. 


event 

Clockwise 

from top left; 

Group photo 

with judges 

CWC Chair Haley 

Jonna moderated the 

discussion with Judge 

Hala Jarbou and 

Judge Yasmine Poles 

Hon. Yasmine Poles, 

Sharon Hannawa, 

Hon. Hala Jarbou, 

and Carolin Hormis 

Chaldean Women’s Committee leadership breakfast 

Friday, August 13 the Chaldean Women’s Committee hosted another event in their ‘Notable Women’ series, this one with 

two Honorable guests—Judge Hala Jarbou and Judge Yasmine Poles. Attendees were treated to a continental breakfast 

along with a question-and-answer session with the federal judge for the Western District of Michigan (Jarbou) and an Oakland 

County Circuit judge (Poles). Both women credited the community with helping them achieve their lofty positions. 

2nd annual CACC golf outing 

From left: 

Winner of the hole-in-one 

contest, Eddie Fortuna 

Hollywood Casino Toledo 

foursome 

Carol Loussia won the putting 

contest; Sharkey Haddad ran 

the putting contest 

Henry Ford Health System 

foursome 

Dinner was served in the 

banquet room 

Thursday, August 19 saw many Chamber members enjoying a day in the sun at Wabeek Country Club. 144 golfers - every 

one of them sponsors – teed off for a noon scramble. Although this is only the second year for the Chamber outing, the 

Chamber has been golfing in support of the CCF for 18 years. This is the first year that any player has won a hole-in-one. 

Eddie Fortuna hit his first hole-in-one and will soon be driving his new Lincoln Aviator! 


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SEPTEMBER 2021

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