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From
Darfur to Lawrence
The Abdelbanat-Abduljabbar Family's Journey
Karim Abdelbanat and Magda Abduljabbar applied for a Habitat for
Humanity home in September 2006, after learning about the program from
one of our homeowners. They also had friends in the Kansas City area
who were able to purchase a Habitat home there.
Since being approved for a home in November 2006, Karim and Magda have
waited very patiently for us to be able to build their home in a quiet
neighborhood away from the noise of trains and traffic, which are very
disruptive to their son Hamzah. We now have the perfect location for
their future home on Ward Street, but construction can- not begin until
we have adequate funding to purchase the materials.
Originally from the Darfur region of Sudan, Karim and Magda have made
Lawrence their home since 1990.
Karim, age 52, was born in Um- baru, in the North Darfur region of
Sudan. He has one sister who is 4 years older than he is. She now lives
in the Northern Darfur city of Al-Fashir. The area of Northwest Darfur,
where Karim is from, became a war zone from the day the Dar- fur
tragedy started. Almost everyone was either killed or displaced, so the
majority of the people either went to the larger cities or went to
refugee camps. Karim was 9 months old when his father died, and 15
months old when his mother died. He lived with his fa- ther’s
mother for 5 years, and then lived with his mother’s parents and
close to an uncle who owned a store. Karim worked there while growing
up.
For his high school education, Karim traveled about 500 miles from home
to attend Khor-Taggat High School, one of the three most famous high
schools in Sudan (established in1950).
Karim next went to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. There he enrolled in
the University of Khartoum, where he earned a bachelor’s degree
in math and physics.
Following graduation, Karim worked for the Ministry of Sports and Youth
teaching high school math and physics. He then got a contract job with
Saudi Ara- bia’s Ministry of Education for 1-1/2 years,
1986-1987, teaching high school math and physics. From there he went to
Bahrain,
where he got a job as physics laboratory technician in a medical school
(Gulf University). The medical school is now part of The University of
Bahrain- Kingdom of Bahrain.
In 1988, Karim “took a vacation and got married” to They
met through a relative who was a close friend of Magda’s father.
Magda, who is also from Sudan, is the second oldest in her family. She
has one older brother, six younger brothers, and three younger sisters.
Her family lives in Al-Fashir. Following their custom, Magda retained
her own family’s name after she and Karim were married.
Another significant event in 1988 was Karim’s acquaint- ance with
Professor Zikri from Kansas University. From 1986-1988, Prof. Zikri was
a professor at Gulf University, serving as chairperson of the Economics
Department. He worked for the United Nations and had ties with KU.
On the advice of Professor Zikri, Karim decided to go abroad to attend
graduate school. After considering sev- eral possibilities in different
countries, he chose the United States, and in February 1990 went first
to Fresno State University for a semester to study English. There he
met Al-Harithi, who recommended that he apply to KU “because they
have great basketball there.”
Karim came to Lawrence later that year just to check out the school,
and ran into Prof. Zikri on campus here, who insisted he enroll
immediately, which he did. During that process, Karim’s
“official” name was inad- vertently changed because of a
paperwork error. His full name is actually Abdelkarim Khatir Andelbanat.
Karim and Magda’s oldest son, Hammam, was born 12/03/1989, just
as Karim was preparing to leave to catch the spring semester at Fresno
State University. Magda and Hammam stayed with her family in Darfur
until Karim had moved to Lawrence, and they joined him here on
11/14/1990.
Karim was both a full-time student and working full-time for a while,
but eventually this affected his health, and he had to attend school
part-time while working to support his family. He said “it took a
long time,” but he earned a master’s degree in mathematics
at Kansas University. He has a substitute teaching license but
doesn’t have a teaching certificate.
As their family grew, Karim and Magda both worked for various
employers, always seeking to move to better- paying jobs. In 2001,
after discussing it with their sons, they began working for Community
Living Opportunities (CLO) as house parents, caring for adults with
disabilities who lived in an adjoining apartment. By this time they had
four children, so Magda was cooking and cleaning for her own family of
six plus the three CLO residents. A few years later, both Karim and
Magda became teachers at CLO after another married couple was found to
take over the residential care giving role. Karim has also been
employed in recent years at K-Mart Distribution Center and at Amarr
Garage Door while continuing to work at CLO.
Working full-time and taking care of her family doesn’t leave
much free time, but Magda loves to cook. Visitors are likely to be
treated to delicious tea and delicacies such as pastries stuffed with
perfectly seasoned meat or spinach. When the boys were younger, Magda
baked breads and other goods to sell at the Lawrence Farmers Market.
The family was able to have a garden at one of their pre- vious homes
in Lawrence, and Magda’s face lights up with excitement at the
prospect of having a garden again at their Habitat home. An avid
gardener, she can hardly wait to have abundant fresh produce to enhance
the meals she prepares. Thinking ahead to owning their own home later
this year, Magda says, “I never want to live any- wFhere but
Lawrence.”
Family is the most important priority to Karim and Magda. Their four
sons are growing and learning, and the older ones are beginning to
think about their fu- ture careers.
Hammam Khatir, age 20, is a student at Johnson County Community College
where he is majoring in biology. He is considering a career in pharmacy
or medicine, and also has a special interest in geography.
Harith Khatir, age 18, is a senior at Lawrence High School. He will be
attending Kansas University in the fall and is considering a major in
accounting.
Husam Khatir, age 13, is an 8th grader at South Junior High School and
greatly enjoys playing basketball.
Hamzah Khatir, age 10, attends Prairie Park Elementary School. He loves
being outdoors and would spend all his time there if he could. Hamzah
has an autism spectrum disorder which creates special challenges for
him and his family.
The family is eager to begin construction of their Habitat for Humanity
home later this year.
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