Family and Support
Abdulrahman Zeitoun age 47, an immigrant from Syria in 2005 had lived and worked in the United States for seventeen years, the last eleven in New Orleans. Through hard work and an inner drive to become successful, Zeitoun built a business “Zeitoun A. Painting Contractor LLC”. Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun age 34,and their three daughters, Nademah age 10, Safiyah age 7, and Aisha age 5, plus Kathy’s son Zachary age 15, from a previous marriage, lived together in their two story house on Dart Street. Additionally, they owned a combined office warehouse space, as well as six rental properties to supplement his income and provide housing to eighteen tenants.
Zeitoun has a primary support group of his family, Kathy his wife, Zachary, Nademah, Safiyah, and Aisha their children. Family support comes from his Brother Ahmad, kousay, and sisters Fahzia, Lucy, and Asha who are Zeitoun’s siblings. From
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Kathy’s side of the family support comes from her sisters Ann, Patty, and Maryann along with her brother Andy. The Zeitoun family also has support from friends in the community Rob, Walt, Jennifer Callender, Tom and Celeste Bitchatch, and Nabil Abukhader the principal at their children’s school. While incarcerated; Zeitoun had friends with him Nasser, Todd, and Ronnie. Throughout this crisis, the Zeitoun family relied upon a strong conviction of their Islamic faith to guide them daily. Regardless of the situations they faced they accepted God’s will for them and accepted his purpose. Family both distant and close gave them some sense of comfort and direction in life. The family throughout the sequence from a normal day in life from August 26, 2005 till Thursday September 29, 2005 was supported by family from afar to support from members and friends in the community. In fall 2008 the families support network continued but they were changed forever due to the trauma from hurricane Katrina and the trauma encountered from the bias, stereotyping, and racism which had placed Zeitoun in jail. Family Assessment Abdulrahman Zeitoun, is a forty-seven year-old immigrant who was born in Jableh, Syria. Zeitoun grew up in a loving home, under a division of society based upon differences of wealth, rank, or occupation. Under this caste management system it reduces and almost eliminates social mobility of the individual in society. Zeitoun’s father Mahmoud was the head of the family and the thirteen children were raise in the Muslim faith which carried over into adulthood. Zeitoun work on ships for many years as a crewmember but, eventually made it to Louisiana where he started a contractor business and married Kathy Delphine. His wife Kathy grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana along with eight siblings. Her religious upbringing was from Southern Baptist followings, but later converted to the Islamic faith. Kathy had been married previously and has a son Zachary age fifteen currently. Kathy experienced many dysfunctional family patterns with her first husband and family while growing up. Converting to Islam Kathy experienced problems with her family and the surrounding community. Together the Zeitoun family consists; of one son Zachary age fifteen, Nademah age ten, Safiya age seven, and Aisha age five. Zeitoun and his wife Kathy stress education, a strong work ethic, and love for their neighbor which exemplifies their strengths. Together they managed their family business, a Painting contractor company in New Orleans along with rental properties in the community. Cultural characteristics from Zeitoun’s generational pattern are exemplified in the family’s engagement with society daily in their faith, religion, work ethic, education achievement, and roles in the family. Communication patterns are well established in the family as well as roles and boundaries from outside influences. History Mahmoud, Abdulraham Zetouns father, was born close to Jableh, on Arwad Island, the only island off the coast of Syria. In childhood, Zeitouns father worked on shipping routes for cargo ships as a captain. His father was a legendary sailor, but experienced an accident at sea that almost took his life. After the accident, Mahmoud instructed his children not to pursue a career in the sea transportation arena. Mahmoud opened a hardware store where he taught his children this trade and encouraged them all to pursue education to build a successful life. Zeitoun learned in childhood the skills of a fisherman from his oldest brother Ahmad and his father. Ahmad knew at an early age he would become a sailor, but tried to do so with his father’s blessing. Zeitoun always would reflect back later in life and retell the times Ahmad and him spent fishing and swimming at the home in Syria. At the age of thirteen he was allowed to explore the sea and help provide income for the family. Mohammed was his older brother who became a worldwide recognized swimmer, but later died in a car wreck at age twenty-four. Mahmoud after this event never recovered from the tragedy and later dies from heart disease. After his death, Zeitoun worked and helped to provide for the family financially while his mother dealt with a terminal illness. At age thirty-four Zeitoun was on a tanker ship working and decided when he arrived in Houston, Texas to start a new life in America. Within a year, Zeitoun meet Kathy through a friend Ahmaad, and entered into marriage. Kathy grew in the suburbs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana from childhood along with eight other siblings.
Southern Baptist religious teaching was what Kathy was disciplined in early in life. Kathy had a hard childhood and as a teenager became close with a friend Yuko and her mother Kameko. Kathy married and born a son Zackary but soon experienced divorce. After the divorce Kathy was introduced to the Islamic religion and become a strong follower in daily practice of her faith. Kathy at age twenty-one meet Zeitoun age thirty-four and after a time were married.
Economic Status
During childhood Zeitoun worked on cargo ships to help supplement the finances after his father Mahmoud died and his mother was struggling with a terminal illness. His family in Syria experienced a caste management system that limited a person in choosing a career based upon differences of wealth, rank, or occupation. A caste system reduces and almost eliminates social mobility for the individual unlike in America the system is based on democracy and capitalism.
Cultural
Characteristics Zeitouns family was a close knit one who shared communications daily between both parents and their children. It was common from a cultural stand point for Zeitoun to speak to his brother overseas almost daily. Zeitoun was stubborn when he had his mind set on doing something however, he could be charming when explaining to his wife Kathy that he felt it was his calling to stay in New Orleans during the hurricane to assist the residents of the town. Kathy and Zeitoun shared a very strong work ethic with their company, devout Muslims in their religion and committed to raise and educate their children. The culture Zeitoun experienced in childhood he brought with him to America and is displayed through his acculturation to his new environment. The traditions aspects by both spouses appeared to meshed together smoothly into forming their interrelationship. The children were fun loving and humorous before the hurricane and their fathers imprisonment, but later causing different effects of isolation and sadness. Religious Practices Muslim religions are carried out in daily practice in following the Qur’an stories, and prayers being recited for spiritual uplifting. Allah is the Arabic word used in the Qur’an translated to refer to God. Kathy and Zeitoun believed strongly in their Muslim faith and used prayer, salat, to representing the five ritual prayers a Muslim is to perform on a daily basis. Wearing of the hijab by Kathy outside the home was respect for her Husband Zeitoun but was often perceived by American in the community through stereotyping. Significant to Zeitoun’s strong belief was his practice of prayer even in times of imprisonment regardless of the consequences of his profession of faith in the Qur’an. Structures and Roles All children grow up and follow development of change or cycles. Kathy and Zeitoun had various role shifts in their life. Zeitoun was the eight, of thirteen children and had a normal childhood until his late teens when he started working to provide financial support to care for his mother who became terminally ill. Kathy the oldest sibling of nine took on a parental role early in life as caretaker for her sisters. In marriage they functioned as a couple, Zeitoun the worker outside the home in contractor while Kathy attended to the children daily to school and at home secretary and bookkeeper. When hurricane Katrina landed in New Orleans and the couple was separated Kathy had to take over both roles in decision making to seek shelter and help her husband find the resources to obtain his release from prison. Characteristics and Family Reactions in the Community New Orleans is a city made up of a diverse population. The Zeitoun family was well respected from the religious community and members of all social classes. Zeitoun hired painters for his contractor company who were often transient laborers from many different countries. On several encounters Zeitoun’s employee’s faced bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and racism. Throughout the city Zeitoun established friendships from all walks of life. Rob and Walt a gay couple, Tom and Celeste Bitchatch neighbors, and Nabil Abukhader a school principal all came to his defense to help Zeitoun obtain release from prison. Zeitoun continued daily in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina to exhibit a dedication to his community by helping others find shelter and basic survival needs. Family Trauma The family experienced trauma that significantly changed their life in less than two months. Hurricane Katrina had a long term effects on the Zeitoun family through bias, racism, stereotyping, and prejudice attitudes toward them. The hurricane impacted their livelihood with the damage to their home and business. He could only save the most valuable possessions they had by storing them on the second floor. The failure to keep flood insurance on the home created another stressor within the family. The inability to stay in contact with each other caused both members to experience anxiety and distress. Once Zeitoun was imprisoned, Kathy’s faith was tested, should she start planning to move on without him or not. Family conflicts also were faced by Kathy when she went to stay with her sister and her mother made statements toward her wearing of the Hijab. The aftermath of the imprisonment and Zeitoun’s release brought about additional stresses of rebuilding versus moving and starting over. Based on their combined cultural values and beliefs they rebuilt their lives in New Orleans, filled lawsuits to try to get compensation for their injustice, and were scared for life.
Young Mary headed into the Residential School full of faith and ambition to devote herself to God’s true beliefs. She taught the Native children religion and music in class, which they all seemed to greatly enjoy. Although, it did not make up for all
Dave Eggers’ novel Zeitoun is labeled as a work of non-fiction. It tells the story of a Syrian-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun, also known as Zeitoun, who chose to stay in New Orleans to ride out one of the worst natural disasters in American history, Hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun, a family man and devoted to his business, stayed in the city as the hurricane approached to protect not only his home and business, but also his neighbors’ and friends’ properties. After the storm, he traveled the flooded city in a secondhand canoe, rescuing neighbors, caring for abandoned pets and distributing fresh water. Soon after the storm, Zeitoun and three others were arrested without reason or explanation at one of his rental houses by a mixed group of U.S. Army National Guard soldiers and local police officers.
A brave hero often risks his/her life to save someone else. In Zeitoun, Dave Eggers tells us the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, the hard working Syrian American owner of a contracting company in New Orleans. Zeitoun and his wife Kathy run the company. They have three children named Nademah, Safiyah, and Aisha. Kathy has a child from her first marriage.
Abdulrahnam Zeitoun and his family’s experience with Hurricane Katrina is summarized and documented in the novel Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers. Throughout the events of the novel, the reader learns its purpose is to inform the audience of the shocking tragedy and burden the storm placed on the Zeitoun family. Rhetorical appeals, the Muslim religion, media, the government’s involvement in the city, and the audience the book was trying to reach all play important roles in the story of the storm that devastated all of New Orleans. Egger’s novel not only informs, it also entertains, explains, and exposes, as well as documenting the events of the storm and the Zeitoun family’s story.
“When I saw my house three weeks after the storm, I was glad it stood but I knew it was time for change. Now five years later, I have learned that for me to enjoy the beauty of this place, there is a cost to bear. I love this place and am here to stay, but I have to invest more than I had imagined. The hurricane has greatly affected our lives but not only in a bad way.”
When conducting this interview the interviewee was Karina. The theme that was explored throughout this interview was the theme of education. This interview was conducted on Friday, November 25th, 2016 at my house. The total length of this interview was 65 minutes. Karina is the only girl in her family of five including her parents and three brothers. When Karina first decided to immigrate to the United States, both of her parents were against it since they were preoccupied with the journey being extremely harsh for her. Karina is a first generation immigrant who immigrated to the United States at the age of 22 in 1989. She finished college in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico and graduated with a nursing degree. Karina would have never been able to complete
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina completely changed the lives of the many affected New Orleans citizens. It had a death toll of 1,833 and its overall destruction path caused the demolition of more than 800,000 buildings. The media coverage for the hurricane was very suspicious and made the situation seem worse. This led to many false beliefs about what had happened during this tragic event. Dave Eggers an acclaimed author took the lack of knowledge about the hurricane as a chance to write a book to educate people. He ended up writing the book “Zeitoun” which was a powerful narrative nonfiction account about the Zeitoun family. The Zeitoun’s were a lovable family and the book makes readers develop a special connection to the family.
Development of The Evidence Based Geriatric Nursing Protocols for Best Practice Guideline originated with the goal of providing strategies that would allow nursing to monitor and support family caregivers (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d.). Evidence selection and collection occurred utilizing the PICO question methodology to hand search primary and secondary relevant published literature, in addition to electronic database searches. The data was then analyzed via a meta-analysis of the published materials garnered from the search in addition to a systematic review of the evidence. From the preceding analysis of the evidence, major recommendations arose for
Social support was defined by Berger (1992) as the resources that are provided by other persons. This broad concept of social support was organized or operationalized into three categories by Barrera (1986): (a) social embeddedness (the connection to significant others); (b) perceived social support (access to social support resources and appraisal of that support); and (c) enacted support (actions that others perform when they render assistance to a focal person). In the gay community, many of these supports have been either in the categories of social embeddedness or perceived social support. Barrera (1986) also found a positive relationship between social support and stress: When gay men are isolated socially and emotionally from the mainstream of society they often develop, enhance, or utilize social support resources
This research paper will explore primarily the impact of African American single-parent households on the children that live in these environments. This is a very important issue and more awareness is needed. Research has provided evidence that single-parent households are one of many risk factors that can negatively affect a child’s educational outcome, emotional health and social behavior. Although not all single-parent family households have disadvantages, the focus of his study is to shed more light on the issues and offer solutions. For example, more policies are needed to reinforce fathers to pay child support. This alone will provide mothers with more money to help them better raise their children.
A family assessment is a process for gathering and organizing information in ways that can help a family prevent and or solve problems. The goal is to obtain a full understanding and unbiased view of the strengths and problems. A good assessment is about relationship building, engaging families in an exploration of their strengths, values and goals to build mutual trust and respect. Then when problems do arise, this relationship can be the foundation of open communication allowing the doors to open for identification of additional supports needed to reduce or eliminate the factors causing harm.
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