Al-Chacar Family
Title
Al-Chacar Family
Subject
Orphans--Lebanese
Description
These materials were provided by Bearta Al-Chacar Powell.
Shortly after, one of Bearta’s uncles took the children to the Children’s Village S.O.S. orphanage in Bikfaya, Lebanon, where she lived, together with her siblings, from 1971 until 1985. Though most of her extended family perished in the Lebanese Civil War, Bearta and her siblings had relatively happy childhoods in the interfaith orphanage, though the awareness of the ongoing civil war impacted their daily lives.
When Bearta turned 18, an older brother—who had married a missionary and immigrated to the United States—helped her and their youngest sister, Nina, come to Henderson, North Carolina.Bearta attended Vance Granville Community College and then, with the support of an American family, went to North Carolina State University, where she studied business management.
Bearta married in 1990, after her graduation, and supported her husband until 1996 while he completed his doctorate. In 1996, the two began a family, and Bearta left work to raise her children. She has since become an author, and has produced two books: a memoir about her childhood, The Orphans of War, and Authentic Lebanese Cuisine: From Our Homes to Yours.
Biography
Bearta Al-Chacar Powell was born in Ma’asser El Chouf, to Ramiz Al-Shakar and Isabelle Maalouf. When Bearta was five years old, her mother died; her father died of a heart attack about six months later. Bearta was the fourth of five children: her oldest sibling was ten-years-old and her youngest was about two.Shortly after, one of Bearta’s uncles took the children to the Children’s Village S.O.S. orphanage in Bikfaya, Lebanon, where she lived, together with her siblings, from 1971 until 1985. Though most of her extended family perished in the Lebanese Civil War, Bearta and her siblings had relatively happy childhoods in the interfaith orphanage, though the awareness of the ongoing civil war impacted their daily lives.
When Bearta turned 18, an older brother—who had married a missionary and immigrated to the United States—helped her and their youngest sister, Nina, come to Henderson, North Carolina.Bearta attended Vance Granville Community College and then, with the support of an American family, went to North Carolina State University, where she studied business management.
Bearta married in 1990, after her graduation, and supported her husband until 1996 while he completed his doctorate. In 1996, the two began a family, and Bearta left work to raise her children. She has since become an author, and has produced two books: a memoir about her childhood, The Orphans of War, and Authentic Lebanese Cuisine: From Our Homes to Yours.
Scope and Content
This collection contains the transcript of an oral history taken from Bearta Al-Chacar Powell by Dr. Akram Khater and photographs of her childhood.
Creator
Unknown
Source
Bearta Al-Chacar Powell
Publisher
Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Date
circa 1950
1970-1980s
Contributor
Bearta Al-Chacar Powell
Collection description written by Claire A. Kempa
Rights
Donor retains full ownership of any and all copyright currently controlled in agreement with Khayrallah Center. Nonexclusive right to authorize all uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA).
Collection Tree
- Family Collections
- Al-Chacar Family
