Central Valley High School: For Farah Rabia Alayouf, the transition from Syria to Spokane was accompanied by rap music

For Farah Rabia Alayouf, music was key in helping her learn English – particularly rap music, since it was spoken rather than sung.

She recalls listening to a particular song every day when she was in the sixth or seventh grade. While Rabia Alayouf can’t really remember what exactly she listened to the most, she does know that some of the songs – like that one – had some swear words that she had used in class, not understanding what they were.

“My teacher showed me pictures so I could understand,” said Rabia Alayouf, 19. “I didn’t even understand what they were saying (in the music), but then, when I went back, I was like, ‘Oh, crap. That was bad.’ ”

Such was life for Rabia Alayouf, who at that point had just moved to the United States from war-torn Syria where she was born.

In Syria, Rabia Alayouf and her family had at one point lived on a farm where she and her family picked and pickled olives, she said. They then moved from Syria to Lebanon for a few years before moving to Turkey.

One of seven children, Rabia Alayouf said her father had to hide her older brothers at times to keep them from getting taken for the war effort. Except for one of her older brothers, who is married and lives in Turkey, her family made the trip to the U.S. roughly seven years ago, she said.

Landing in Los Angeles, Rabia Alayouf and her family came to Spokane where they lived with another family for a few days. Those were confusing times, she said, as they tried to quickly pick up the culture and places in Spokane.

Rabia Alayouf started school in the U.S. in sixth grade, having been held back a year to help with the transition. Beyond speaking the language, Rabia Alayouf said English literacy was also a challenge as she had to master writing left to right and not mixing letters together.

Nevertheless, fitting in with the other kids was easy enough for Rabia Alayouf, a self-admitted chatterbox.

“I keep talking,” she said. “My friends in sixth grade – we’re still friends now, but they hated me in middle school because I was loud and asked questions. I made a lot of friends in not even a week.”

Rabia Alayouf will graduate in June from Central Valley High School. She plans to attend Spokane Community College to study radiology, inspired after seeing MRI technology in use firsthand in Lebanon where her mother was treated for cancer, Rabia Alayouf said.

At Central Valley, Rabia Alayouf has been Heidi Averett’s “go-to” helpers over the last few years with school tours for new students.

Averett, who has known Rabia Alayouf for the past four years, including two as her school counselor, said Rabia Alayouf has shown incredible empathy in helping others from similar situations adapt to the culture.

“She’s so unique and she brings such a different perspective to our school and to all of the classes that she is in. People just kind of gravitate toward her and really want to know her,” Averett said. “She really values education. She has big goals for herself. I think everyone around her has felt really lucky to be part of her story.”