Work Wednesday: Medina Aboui
Josh Chang | Staff Photographer
Medina Aboui, a Flint Hall housekeeper, has been working at SU for 12 years. She likes to connect with the freshmen by joking around and encouraging them during exams.
Medina Aboui considers herself to be a mother of the first-year student body at Syracuse University.
While Aboui is kept busy with her daily operations as a housekeeper in Flint Hall, she finds pleasure in interacting with new students as much as possible, especially when it’s close to exam time.
“I know these kids one by one,” Aboui said. “When exam time comes, I tell them, ‘It’s going to be okay, you’ll get through it.’”
Aboui connected quickly with the first-year students this year when she attended the annual “Citrus in the City” — an event where the new students enjoy music, entertainment and food from local vendors in downtown Syracuse.
“I thought,‘They, my kids, they playin’,’” Aboui said, as she recalled the event with a smile.
The opportunity to be with the students as they explored the city was a long-needed break from the hectic events that came along with the initial move-in this year.
“It’s the hardest part of the job,” Aboui said, “and every year it’s the same.”
From breaking down mountain piles of trash to cleaning up the aftermath of the first week at SU, Aboui was kept busier than ever. Yet, she said she considers herself lucky to have ended up here at SU after a long and difficult transition from one side of the world to the other.
Originally from South Sudan, Aboui moved to Egypt 14 years ago before arriving in Syracuse two years later as a refugee. Unable to speak English for the first few years of her working career, Aboui became accustomed to using her body language to convey messages.
“If I need it, I have to point it,” she said.
But now, after having taken classes at a refugee school in English, Aboui is able to enjoy long and meaningful conversations with the many students she looks after in Flint.
As the year goes on, Aboui will be busy with raising her two toddlers at home, but will be especially excited to continue connecting with the students up on the Mount.
Said Aboui: “Every floor, I have my kids. I see them now, I joke with them and then I see them grow — it’s the best part of my job.”
Published on August 27, 2014 at 12:01 am
Contact Jesse: jlnich02@syr.edu
