Arab-American populations are among the fastest-growing in the U.S., and Ohio has more than its Arab-American population between 2000 and 2022. However, mainstream anti-Arab sentiment can be for many young Arab-Americans.
In part to combat negative stereotypes and isolation, media producer Rafa Saab and engineer Rania Khalaf co-founded , a subscription service that delivers children's books in Arabic to U.S. families. The company started in Boston, but Saab now runs the operation out of her home in the Cleveland suburb of Moreland Hills.
Saab answered questions about the company鈥檚 goals and mission.
How did you first get the idea for ArabiKids?
As an Arab-American parent, I felt like there was something missing. As much as we loved all the kids' books in English, where are the good Arabic books for kids?
The good news was that there's actually good kids books in Arabic, but they don't make it to the market in the United States. So parents really have a very difficult (time) accessing these. Our service, ArabiKids, it's a subscription service where you sign up and every month you receive a box with one curated beautiful book, usually themed 鈥� like, Halloween, we send something about monsters and ghouls. And then we add little activities related to the book, like a reading guide, a small Arabic-to-English translation quiz, and bookmarks.
We're sitting in your home office right now, and I'm seeing you got a couple of boxes here. What's the cost to subscribe if someone was interested?
The cost of the box is $20 for the subscription, and then $5 for shipping.
Ohio has one of the fastest-growing Arab populations in the country. What was it about Ohio that made you want to move here?
We came here because my husband, who's a researcher, got a job at the (Cleveland) Clinic. But we like it. We've met some amazing people, and like you said, there's a lot of community of Arab-Americans which helps, and then we鈥檝e got Detroit, we鈥檝e got Chicago, which also have a big population.
There's been a fair amount of anti-Arab sentiment in U.S. mainstream culture for a number of years. Do you think that Arabic children's literature can change some of that sentiment?
It's unfortunate there's a lot of misinformation and fear going on. But I think besides that, it hurts more to see Arab-Americans themselves giving up on the language and kind of falling victims to this narrative instead of us championing it. One thing we're not so good at is actually promoting our language and our culture, and I think we need to do more and more of this.
I think it's very important for Arab-Americans to not only embrace their Arabic language and culture, but to feel proud that they have both. And not shy away from it, because that's what makes them strong, that's what makes them special, and it's part of their identity.
The idea for this story came from 精东影业鈥檚 commitment to engaged journalism, telling stories with people and communities across Northeast Ohio. If you have an idea, call or text us at 216-916-6090.
