When our group first learned that we would have to do a group project for the class we were somewhat apprehensive. But after we found out what the project entailed we were really looking forward to it. We were especially excited when we found out that the woman we were interviewing was from Egypt and also that she was Muslim. She was raised in Kuwait and at fifteen came to the United States. Three years later, she was living completely on her own. We all knew that her story would be unique to say the least.
Our group decided that we should meet Doha Seif before the actual interview so that we could discuss the interview questions with her. On Thursday afternoon Doha walked up to our table smiling from cheek to cheek. Right off the bat we could tell that she was friendly. Our biggest concern was that our interview questions would be offensive and stereotypical since most of what we wanted to know involved her growing up Muslim and her experience as a girl in an Islamic society. "Yes I am offended." She laughed, "It takes more than that to offend me." Our initial meeting with Doha was short, and right after she had left, we agreed that we liked her. We were more excited than ever for the interview.
The following day we were preparing for our interview and panicked a little because we discovered that our voice recorder was not working. But we quickly got things together and just on time, Doha walked through the door cracking jokes and once again inviting us in with her warm spirit. We listened attentively as Doha told us stories of growing up in Kuwait, what it was like to be a girl in an Islamic society and living alone in the United States. Her stories sometimes made us laugh and other times sad to know that she felt alone when her parents went back to Kuwait. An hour later, we wrapped up the interview, and the girl who only a couple of days ago was a complete stranger to most of us, was now someone whose life we knew.
Our whole group agreed that this project was the most meaningful group project we have ever done. Although we had our technical difficulties with voice recorders, the video tape, and then downloading the video, we worked our way through and at the end of it all, it was worth it. We got the wonderful opportunity to know the struggles and joys of someone else and in a small way we kind of lived it with her.
