Syrian refugee opens Middle Eastern market.
Though Reno feels like home now, that wasn’t always the case for Zakaria Mustafa, who became the first Syrian refugee to be relocated to Northern Nevada in 2016.
“Everything was new for me — a new life, new people, new language,” Mustafa recalls.
After fleeing Syria amid the violence of war, Mustafa, his wife, and their young son lived as refugees in Turkey for three years before finally getting approval to come to America. Soon after his arrival in Reno, thanks to the resettlement program run by Northern Nevada International Center, Mustafa landed a job at Patagonia in Reno, where he still works today.
As the family sought community in a foreign country, Mustafa missed the flavors of Syria and found it difficult to source the ingredients in Reno that they needed to cook those beloved dishes at home. After learning about Middle Eastern stores in Sacramento, Mustafa began driving to the California capital regularly to pick up large grocery hauls for his family and the other refugees who resettled in Reno. He never charged more than the cost of the goods.
“Shawarma and falafel, we cook in the home. There aren’t good places to get it here,” Mustafa says. “Last year, I visited Lebanon, and I went into restaurants there to eat shawarma and falafel because I missed them.”
Last June, after six years of shuttling food from Sacramento and a year after receiving his American citizenship, Mustafa opened a store on South Virginia Street in Reno. In tribute to his war-torn country, he named the market after his hometown in Northern Syria, Afrin.
Labor of Love
Afrin Middle Eastern Market is chock-full of imported spices, olives, tinned fish, fresh cheeses such as shanklish and labneh, date cookies, dips such as baba ganoush, rice, ka’ak (bread), tea, and numerous canned goods from all corners of the Middle East. It’s a place where Muslims can find halal ingredients, meaning food that conforms to Islamic dietary laws.
“Having people like Zakaria (and others) open small businesses was my dream for this community when we started the refugee resettlement program in 2016. Zakaria has worked so hard to make his grocery store a reality,” says Carina Black, NNIC executive director. “As the first refugee from Syria to come to Reno, he has felt an obligation to support other families who followed, and all of us at NNIC are proud of his accomplishments and those of others who have opened restaurants, grocery stores, and tailor shops.”
Mustafa admits that running the store has been difficult. While his son is at school, his wife works at the store and watches their 3-year-old daughter so he can continue his full-time job. He works late into the evenings and on weekends at the market. It’s not just about building a future for his family, he says. It’s also because he cares about his community.
“This is [about] helping,” Mustafa says.
Afrin Middle Eastern Market
3652 S. Virginia St., Ste. C, Reno • 775-453-1302
