My name is Randa Nasir Ajlouny. I was born in 1974 and have lived in Ann Arbor since 1998. My husband, Paul, and I have two girls: Nadia who graduated from Michigan State in 2024 and Zeina who is attending Washtenaw Community College. Both of my girls went through the Ann Arbor Public schools – Bryant/Pattengill, Tappan Junior High, and then Pioneer high school. They spent one year in Ramallah, Palestine where they attended the Friends school.
I am a teacher’s assistant for special education students at Haisley school in Ann Arbor and my husband manages several business in Ypsilanti and the general area.
My personal journey began in Jerusalem where I was born in 1974, the youngest of 4 children of my parents Hana Nasir and Tania Tamari Nasir
Although I don’t remember the event, it has been seered into my memory through countless stories, interviews, and personal recollections, when my father was deported by the Israelis to Lebanon when I was 1 year old.
At the time, my father was president of Bir Zeit university. In the fall of that year, students were protesting against the Israeli occupation, and he was informed by the Israeli authorities that these demonstrations should stop. My father didn’t intervene, and this led to his deportation by the Israeli occupation to Lebanon and Jordan. Until 1993 after the Oslo accords he was allowed to go back in and we as a family we were able to move back to Palestine.
