'It’s the dream we all worked for’: Family’s journey to citizenship culminates at Lincoln naturalization ceremony

Raya Al Zuhair sat in a full auditorium at the Sheldon Museum of Art as her husband and three children became U.S. citizens Friday.

Al Zuhair said her family’s journey started six years ago when they moved to Nebraska from Iraq.

“It's the dream that we all, I mean, worked for since we moved or left our homeland and arrived to Lincoln in 2020. So, I mean, this is why we were here, and we can now feel sort of security, safe, belonging," Al Zuhair said. "We can now officially call Lincoln our home.”

Al Zuhair took her oath in August 2025. But for her husband, Maan Alfaddagh, and three sons, Yasir, Omar and Ali, there was a seven-month gap between their citizenship interviews and the day they took the oath.

Al Zuhair said the period of waiting caused a bit of anxiety before they were notified of the Friday ceremony.

The Alfaddaghs were among 39 new citizens who were sworn in Friday by Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Deluca. The ceremony was one of six in Lincoln throughout the year. There are three more ceremonies planned in Lincoln for 2026. This was the first time the ceremony has been held at the Sheldon.

Susan Longhenry, the Sheldon’s director, said the museum’s role in the ceremony ties into a current exhibition “Hyphen American: Intersections of Identity.” As attendees walked through the museum before and after the ceremony, she said people will see the culmination of different American experiences.

“When you go up there and you see the main wall, the first one that you greet, there's portraits of Americans, and they're all very different, and that's what we want you to think about, is that we all bring distinct backgrounds, ethnicities, aspects of our identity to this, but we are all Americans, and we are here to celebrate that,” Longhenry said.

To help celebrate, Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird spoke to the group, congratulating them on this moment in their journey as Americans.

“We are better, safer, stronger, and richer in every sense of the word, because of new Americans like you who join our community and who belong here, which is why I want to thank all of you for choosing Lincoln and for choosing the United States,” Gaylor Baird said.