STORY ANNETTE BASSETT
LITERACY FOR
EVERYONE Literacy Pittsburgh helps adults
navigate stumbling blocks
I n a quiet room at Mt. Lebanon Library, Richard
Dufner and Waleed Danyan work together,
reviewing the many facts, dates and figures
contained in a study guide for the United States
citizenship exam.

“They [will] ask about the first president, I’m
sure,” says Danyan, 32, who emigrated with his
family from Iraq in 2012.

“When I had my first student, I was amazed at
how many questions I didn’t know the answers
to,” says Dufner.

Danyan’s path to citizenship has been rocky.

After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, his family
businesses, fuel supply and construction, began
working with the Americans. After eight years,
Danyan says his family ended up on an ISIS “kill
list,” which resulted in the death of his sister in a
car explosion and also the loss of his house in a
bombing. His work with the U.S. Army earned Danyan a
U.S. visa in 2012, and he left Iraq with his wife,
Athar, who was pregnant with their first child,
a daughter they would name Bisan. Their first
stop in the United States was Philadelphia,
which Danyan immediately disliked. They were
welcomed to town with a holdup attempt on a
pregnant Athar. Danyan has a cousin who lives
in Pittsburgh, and he made the city sound more
welcoming. “Everything is happier here,” he says. “I live in
a nice neighborhood (Bethel Park), everyone is
nice, nice place for a family.”
Danyan’s family now also includes two sons,
Ayham and Ahmed. Both he and Athar passed
their citizenship exams last November.

Dufner is a volunteer tutor with Literacy
Pittsburgh, formerly known as the Greater
Pittsburgh Literacy tutor Richard Dufner worked with student Danyan, who
came here from Iraq in 2012 and wanted to take the citizenship exam. Good
news! Waleed passed the test.

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