The river of words that poured forth from Omar Offendum, a Syrian-American rapper, were delightfully upbeat and then hauntingly sad as he gave our students a poetic view of his mission to spread cultural understanding, justice and peace.

“It’s a responsibility for me to be here,” he said, “not just because I am Syrian, Arab, Muslim, American and from L.A., but because I’m a human being who believes in equality and justice for all. Full stop.

“That’s what drives me, promoting peace and a deeper cultural understanding.”

Omar’s visit to AFS this past Thursday, where he performed assemblies first for the Upper School and then for the Middle School, was arranged through Intercultural Journeys, a Philadelphia non-profit that fosters peace and cultural understanding via the performing arts. Carly Rapaport-Stein, the group’s managing director, accompanied Omar during his visit.

He opened the Upper School program by reciting Langston Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” first in English and then in Arabic. He followed up with comments about the history of the ancient language and its ways of profoundly expressing human emotion.

“In a time when most Americans are exposed to this language in the form of an angry person yelling on T.V., it’s an opportunity for me to remind people this is a language that has deeply poetic roots,” he said.

Omar recited several of his own works in words that rapidly formed images and just as quickly disappeared into the next line. He wove music into his performance, too, and frequently asked the students to fill in a word that repeated at the end of a line.

He spoke of the pain and suffering in Syria, where a civil war has raged for almost seven years. He told students of the half million lives that have been lost and the 11 million people — half the population — who have been displaced.

And in his poetry, he touched on the current immigration rules in America that would have prevented him from entering this country.

“If we had tried to immigrate, they wouldn’t let us in,” he said.

It’s unsettling. It’s settling… ” his words drifting off as his performance came to a close.

Omar will return to Philadelphia for a performance on April 8, 2018, at International House. You can read more about him here.

In between the two performances, Omar (first row, right) joined a group of Upper School students for lunch.