As part of the PBS American Portrait Series, WNED PBSis taking some of the stories from our Making Buffalo Home project and both preparing them for a national audience while featuring them on WBFO. You can hear the segments every Monday morning for the next several weeks.Hassan Al-Mufti was born in Iraq. As a young boy, he dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. He went to music school and university, but the war forced him out of his country. As a refugee in Jordan, he continued to pursue his dream while waiting for a country to accept him. Just after 9/11, Hassan was accepted by the USA. He began a new life and imagined a future that included piano, peace, and love.
Share your American Portrait moment atwww.pbs.org/american-portrait . Production support has been provided by a grant from PBS and by viewers like you.
Making Buffalo Home: Buffalo’s history is marked by waves of immigrants from places, such as Germany, Ireland, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Ukraine and more recently from Burma, Somalia, Bhutan and Iraq. Many come as immigrants seeking opportunities. Others come as refugees escaping persecution and violence.
This in-depth digital engagement initiative is raising awareness of all our region's ethnic heritage, to help the region develop a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges we face together as long-time residents, new immigrants and refugees.
Explore the Making Buffalo Home series atwww.wned.org/makingbuffalohome
Making Buffalo Home is funded by Rich Products Corporation and Rich Family Foundation.