Didn't your graduate student become queen.....

.....no, but her husband was Prime Minister.

Nigeria, Venezuela, USA, Egypt, Somalia, Korea, United Arab Emirates, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina - over the years I have had 16 graduate students - roughly half of them internationals; half each men and women.

Our kids were vaguely aware of them. My first graduate student was from Nigeria, and when we took her to church one Sunday, our only child at the time just stared at her in the back seat of our Volkswagen Rabbit - Dupe said, "you have never seen a black face before, have you?"

Jump ahead eight years, and our youngest of four was just a few months old when there was a reception for the graduate students in the College that had finished their degrees. Mariam was my next-to-last finishing graduate student in California. I knew she came from a professional family in Somalia that had high expectations for how she did with her studies. At the reception she walked up and introduced me to her finance, Ali. She had spoken of him before, so I knew that he was a professor at Syracuse University, and that he had been involved in giving testimony of some kind to different international organizations in Europe. They soon were married, she moved to Syracuse and completed another graduate degree in statistics, and began having children; my wife and I moved to Oregon the next Autumn with our four kids in tow; she and her family eventually to Minnesota; we occasionally exchanged emails, but with time lost touch.

Jump ahead another 12 years. I was in Minneapolis at a conference, when just after giving a presentation up walks Mariam and an escort - she had noticed in the news that the professional societies I belong to were having their annual meetings in the city, so found the program on-line and saw I was making a presentation, and so looked me up to say hello. We asked about how each other was doing, children and parents as well - most of her family had fled Somalia to Kenya and then emigrated to either Canada or the United States. When I asked, "How is Ali?" She said in a matter-of-fact way, "Oh, he is fine, he is Prime Minister." It was time for her to go, so just as she walked up down the aisle, so she disappeared the way she came.

Jump ahead another 10 years. Our youngest is now 22 and finishing his Political Science - International Relations degree in 58 days - he is counting down the days (see his memories count-down blog). Three weeks ago we were talking about something to do with world affairs, and he asked, "Didn't your graduate student become a queen?" I replied, "No, but her husband became the Prime Minister of Somalia." I don't know how often dads and sons questions and answers line up like that in a lifetime, but it seems to me that it wouldn't be all that often - at least my way of looking at things.

Our discussion caused me to see if I could find anything about Mariam and Ali. I found they no longer living in Minnesota, or at least he as a professor at the University of Minnesota - perhaps back to Persian Gulf to run the business he owned. Somalia is still in the news, still a dangerous place to be. I wonder if Mariam will ever be able to return, or perhaps her children will some day - in more peaceful times.
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Updated: May 21, 2012, from Africa Review, Apr 25th, 2012, click here.