The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1921-10-06
Syrian Girl, IS,
Crosses Ocean
To Find Brother

Meeting for the first ,Imn in their
lives. a brother and sister knew each
other at glance, when lrt," Tahla
Hanna. II years old who came from
Damascus. Syria. travelling alone from
France. was welcomed at th" Louis
vile and Nashville Station Thursday
night by Dahir Hanna. 3& years old.
1927 Pacific avenue
The child. whose knowledge of Eu--
/ ush is limited to tn alphabet and
| half a dozen words. sohbot with To-
/ lief al the ending OF the strain of the
! long journey and tn narrowing re
/ suits of international red tap, which
. included separation i'm France from
her sister, II years old. and in Amer
lea forty days on Ellis Island. The
brother cOmtorted her before h.
asked. with the pent Up ea@erurss OF
sixteen years of absence. about folk,
and things in Syria.
II was a sad story the little girl haC
to tell, as they convcrsrd in their ma
tive language. obliyious of their sur
roundings. Their mother died whel
she was a baby and their father dun
ing the war. Afterwards Talka an,
her sister. Heina, who was only
month old when the brother left Sy
, ria. went to live with two old aunts
] who had the responsibility of fiy
other children and a very sleuae
purse.
4 For his part. Dahi~ had become
.. marine a few years after his emigr;
q ton to America. where h" marie
y and established a coy home. II
# kept up respoudence with his reli
D. tiyes until the war, when he sent L.
& ter after letter without receiving an
II answer. 1t was not mtil the summt
~ of 1920 that he learned from imm
10 grant friends from Jerusalem of h
"a fathers death and his sisters +
@. moyal.
to Through the Red Gloss. the Ne
ne East Relief and the American cons
~ at Damascus, the brother found o
Mt the whereabouts of his sisters, a
he immediately sent $500 for their p;
ne sage to America They were on tn,
in way when the elder sister. becau
she could not read or write Eugli
was sent back under the imierati
laws The child came on alone.
IN With no garments other than tho
she wore except a few in a small flo
of bag. Talka landed at Ellis Islal
to The BROTHER sent SO to pay her fa
iy- 10 New Orleans, and forwarded a
RS davits saying he would support a
as educate her. BY mistake these do
as. ments were handed 10 the child. a
he somebody Takla believed to be
immigrant worker took them. Inn
OF grafton officials. not knowing the
est pers had come. kept her in the det'
nix tion rooms for forty days. Failing
Ne hear from her brother. they fina
I'd photographed him, and he forward
lr new affidavits.
I'm The Travellers Aid Society boug
M Takla's ticket and tagged her
lat American children too young to t.
are tagged. with name and adore
pc On the train she was lucky in havi
or travelling companion, an old Syri
It'll woman en- route To Brazil.
Talka is pretty child, rosy
on cheek and sweet and shy of mann
an Her life just now is alternate lau
ley ter and tears-laughter when 5
ion plays with her adOred nephew Dial
I'M Jr., , years old. and when her k
cir sister-in-law and her mother show
ne about the English language, tie
'ell when she thinks of her sister.
age is very much at home in the Hai
800 household, and is looking forw
on with keen pleasure to a shopping t
rye lessons and school as soon as
knows enough English.