Los Banos Rotary Club History
Local Engineer Tells Of His Native Iraq

Nassir Ali, hydraulic engineer who is employed here with Stoddard & Karrer, Tuesday noon gave members of the Rotary Club an interesting insight into the customs and culture of his native Iraq.

Born at Basra, near Baghdad, 23 years ago, Ali said that on conclusion of high school he earned, by competitive examination, a college scholarship to either England, Turkey or the United States. He chose this country and enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles and later transferred to Berkeley to major in hydraulic engineering.

Ali said he was working here more or less temporarily as he is obligated to return to his own land to follow his profession. The scholarship stipulated that his father must pay $12,000 to the Iraqi government in event he remained in this country. Such an obligation, Ali explained, would work a hardship on his family, as his father, a skilled cook for a very wealthy family, earns about $30 a month.

Asked why he chose to come the United States for his education, Ali smilingly admitted it must have been the influence of too many U.S. movies, which are very popular in his country.

Ali said his country, in south-eastern Asia and formerly known as Mesopotamia, is generally flat, though there are some mountains in the northern part, with a climater very similar to that of Los Angeles. Population is about five million. Iraq is recognized as an origin of cultivation and culture, dating back almost 2,000 years before the birth of Christ to the rule of Hammurabi. The major religion is Moslem, founded by the Prophet Mohammed on a foundation of love and peace, and with a respect for and belief in all religious and all prophets. The conventional Moslem, Ali said, offers prayers to Allah time times a day, each time making certain that he is physically clean. A fasting month is observed each year, with complete abstinence from food, drink, and tobacco during an 18-hour period of each day.

Christianity, he said, has the second largest following in the country. The major language is an Iraq dialect of Arabic.

There is free education, with elementary and high schools throughout the country. Higher education, however, is concentrated in the city of Baghdad.
As to standard of living, Ali explained it is completely different from that in this country, with no ice boxes, modern ranges, radios, TV, and multitude of fancy convenience gadgets that are accepted almost as necessities by the average American family. The main food is rice. However, Ali said, in his observance of the average American family during his five years in this country, we fall far short of Iraqi standards of family unity and importance.

As to the threat of communism, Ali is quite unconcerned. "Basically," he said, "we are a religious people. Communism is completely devoid of religion, and as our people learn that one fact they reject the Communist doctrine very quickly. It is as simple as that."

Ali was introduced at the luncheon by Edmund Enos, local Rotarian and proprietor of Cerini's store.

March 30, 1956

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