As the Chaldean Community Council launches into running the new El Cajon Small Business Incubator, a new executive director is stepping up to lead the nonprofit into its new era. Jolyana Jirjees was recently promoted to lead the nonprofit, which supports the Chaldean and Middle Eastern community through a variety of programs, including job training and placement, English and Arabic language lessons, and citizenship classes.
'They used to tell him 'If you come back here, we're going to kill you. You're not supposed to work with us because you're a Christian,' ' Jirjees said. After about three days of traveling on a bus with occasional stops, Jirjees and her husband arrived in Istanbul, where they lived for a year and welcomed their first son, Gabriel.