SEED IRAN (JUNE 2013)

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Index

Introduction and objectives………………………………………………….Page 2

Project in action……………………………………………………………………Page 4

Host Families………………………………………………………………………..Page 5

Cultural visits………………………………………………………………………..Page 8

First road trip……………………………………………………………………….Page 9

Second road trip…………………………………………………………………..Page 14

Visits…………………………………………………………………………………….Page 23

Meetings………………………………………………………………………………Page 30

Social service………………………………………………………………………..Page 36

Special events………………………………………………………………………Page 37

Appendix……………………………………………………………………………..Page 43

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SEED Iran

“SEED” stands for “Student Engagement in Education and Development”. Students of United

World College of the Adriatic independently organize these projects annually in different parts of

the world. Depending on what the main focus of the projects are on, different number of

students might attend each project. During this summer, in June 2013, a SEED project took place

in Iran which was organized by Peyman Namdarimoghaddam and focused mainly on road trips

and language classes. The students who attended this project were David Nyanga Sakala

(Zambia), Katjusa Koler (Slovenia), and Peichong Zhang (China) all of whom are from the

graduating generation of 2013.

The objectives aimed for in this project were:

Familiarity with Iranian household

Familiarity with Iranian family

Familiarity with Iranian dishes

Familiarity with Iranian traditions

Familiarity with different ideologies existing in Iranian society

Familiarity with different type of people in Iran

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Familiarity with different classes of life in Iran

Familiarity with current Iranian economy

Familiarity with current Iranian political situation

Familiarity with Iranian history

Familiarity with touristic sites of Iran

Familiarity with values of the Islamic Revolution

Listening to memories of the imposed war (Iran-Iraq war)

Familiarity with Iranian democracy

Making friends in Iran

Familiarity with entertainments of Iranian youth

Familiarity with intersexual relationships in Iran

Familiarity with Islam

Familiarity with practice of Islam in Iran

Reflection on Iranian Islam

Familiarity with Iranian schools

UWC promotion

Preparing the stage for annual SEED in Iran

Helping Iranian national committee

Evaluation of choice of Iranian national committee from UWC students’ point of view

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The Project in Action

The project started on 31st of May 2013 when the participants flew from Italy and Slovenia to

Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran and it officially ended on 29th of June 2013 when

David and Katjusa left Iran.

During the project it was tried to the best to get host family instead of being resided in hotels so

that the students could live an Iranian life to its most for the period of the project. This also

helped the participants to get familiar with Iranian household, Iranian family, Iranian dishes, and

Iranian traditions. Furthermore by being hosted by different host families from different parts of

the country and different classes more objectives such as “Familiarity with different ideologies

existing in Iranian society”, “Familiarity with different type of people in Iran”, and “Familiarity

with different classes of life in Iran” were met.

Many host families contributed to this project and made it financially possible. For example, the

group was hosted for accommodation all the time except the six days that were spent in Esfahan,

Shiraz, and Anzali York. The main host family was Peyman’s family who hosted the group for all

the needed petrol, a vehicle, a week of accommodation, and a week of food.

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Host families

A special thanks to all the people whose pictures can be seen below. We appreciate your kind

contributions!

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Cultural Visits

One of the main focuses of the project was cultural visits which caused roughly 20 days of the

project to be dedicated to it. The cultural visits took the form of two separate road trips with a

few days in between to rest. The group was provided with a driver and a “Pride”. You can see

picture of a Pride below:

Cultural visits took place in Tehran, Qom, Esfahan, Shiraz, Qazvin, Takestan, Avaj, and Anzali York.

It was tried to show the participants as many different regions of the country as possible which

is quite sensible in the map below.

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First Road Trip

The first road trip started on 3rd June 2013 by taking the first trip to Qazvin and spending the

evening with the host family in a Park.

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There were almost twenty people in Qazvin that night and there were two houses available for

use. So women picked a house and men the other for sleeping at. It was a long night, at least for

boys, competing each other in FIFA 13!

The following day started by cultural visits in Qazvin. In the morning the group was accompanied

by ten residents of Qazvin and they took the group to visit “Tehran Gate”, “Chehelsotoon”,

“Chahar Anbia”, Qazvin’s main mosque, and Hussein’s holy shrine.

Chehelsotoon

Hussein Holy Shrine

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The lunch was served as a picnic and then the group said goodbye to the host family at Qazvin

and continued the road trip towards Takestan where the group was hosted for one night. In the

following morning, 5th of June, the journey was continued towards Avaj, a countryside of Qazvin.

Abgarm Hot-Water Spring (On the way to Avaj)

In Avaj Mr.Hadi, our host and leader led the group to a local waterfall and a remote village close

to Avaj for some adventurous hiking.

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After spending a day in and around Avaj, the evening brought the call of northern seaside for us.

We saw our way towards Anzali York through Rasht highway and arrived to a vacation camp at 2

a.m. in the following morning. As there was an unexpected change of plans, we had to arrive to

the camp ten hours earlier than we had planned to. This caused a shortage of accommodation

for five people who spent the night in the seaside and the car! But of course by 12 O’clock

everything was sorted out and we were settled.

The main purpose of this stay in Anzali was for the participants to relax and prepare for three

weeks of activities. Our stay lasted for two nights and three days.

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On 7th of June in the evening the group drove back to “Hashtgerd New Town” and that is when

the first road trip ended.

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Second Road Trip

On the 9th of June in the morning another road trip started using the same car but this time the

driver being Mr. Sadeq Namdarimoghaddam. When the journey started there were only the SEED

participants and Mr.Sadeq, but later on more and more people joined so that we made a warm

circle of friends throughout the trip.

The route that was chosen to be taken was through cities such as “Qom” and “Kashan” so that

the group could have a glance at these cities as well.

The group arrived to Esfahan in the evening and after settling down in the hotel, left for

sightseeing the beautiful and historical city of Esfahan.

Si-O-Se-Pol

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Vank Church

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Naghshe Jahan Square

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Sightseeing Esfahan ended in the afternoon and the group left the city to Shiraz.

In Shiraz Masood Alidust and Maede Namdarimoghaddam who have been married just for six

months offered to host us for accommodation and food in Shiraz but because Masood works for

army’s air force, foreigners were not allowed in their house. However they put a lot of effort in

hosting us for food and took us for picnics every lunch and dinner we had in Shiraz.

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Quran Gate

One of the picnics

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Sightseeing Shiraz

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Persepolis

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Pasargad

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On Thursday, 13th June, the group left Shiraz in the early morning and it took the group until

midnight before they could visit “Persepolis”, “Pasargad”, and arrive to Tehran. In Tehran SEED

group’s trip-partners left the participants and the group arrived to Peyman’s house by 2:00 a.m.

The following day was a Friday which was a weekend in Iran and the group had the chance to get

some rest.

And that was the end of the second road trip for SEED IRAN…

Visits

“Diba Pardazan” Disc Shop

By not being committed to Copyright in Iran, everybody had the chance to buy movies, video

games, and programs for 50 cent per disc! Peichong did a lot of good shopping in that shop

“Kourosh” Clinical Laboratory

“Kourosh” is a private clinical laboratory in Mehrshahr, Karaj which is one of the collection of

“Alborz” private laboratories. Alborz laboratories are owned by Dr.Afshin Safaei and there are

branches of this collection all around Alborz province.

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This visit included introduction to the staff, machines, and facilities. The group also got the chance

to observe ELISA test being done.

Right after the visit Dr.Afshin Safaei, despite his busy schedule came to welcome the group to

Iran and had a friendly chat with us.

“Chitgar” Artificial Lake & Park

Chitgar artificial lake has been established in the past year in Chitgar region in Tehran and has

made a well-known entertainment place for Tehran residents.

The group was taken there along with ten other relatives of Peyman from Tehran.

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Niavaran Palace

Niavaran palace used to be the house to Iran’s last Shah before he was overthrown by the great

revolution of Iran in 1979.

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Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini’s Holy Shrine

Ayatollah Khomeini was the leader of Iranian great revolution that got to an end in 1979. He was

a clergy man and was receiving higher education in holy city of Qom when he gave his first speech

against the Shah in ~1940. Consequently he was exiled to Kuwait, Lebanon, and France

consecutively. Even though he was out of country he did not give up his movement and sent

messages to his people through his links and his words were propagated among the people in a

few hours. Eventually after many demonstrations and a lot of people getting killed people’s

revolution was harvested in 1979 when Shah left the country with his family with the excuse of

visiting a doctor and Ayatollah Khomeini flew back to Iran.

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Bibi Khatoon Shrine in Shahr-e-Rey

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Milad Tower

Milad Tower is the 6th tallest tower in the world that is located in Tehran.

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Meetings

Participants of SEED IRAN offered their knowledge and unique points of view to the Iranian

community through many meetings that were officially or unofficially held in different locations

and situations. They also used these meetings as an opportunity to enhance their knowledge of

Iran and Iranians.

Special School of Gifted Students: Shahid Soltani 4

On Sunday 2nd of June, SEED group visited Peyman’s ex-school where they met educative deputy

heads of the school. In this meeting a few interesting psychological tests were carried out that

would help the participants understand themselves better.

The meeting continued by telling the participants some about position of the school in Iranian

society, Iranian touristic sites, and the Iranian revolution. Also students’ opinions about Iran and

Islam were asked.

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In the second part of the meeting Peyman proposed a collaboration between UWC: Iranian

National Committee and Shahid Soltani 4. This proposal suggested that the school would choose

three of their top students each year and introduce them to UWC. This collaboration would serve

in the good of students, reputation of the school, promotion of UWC, and also enhancement of

quality of the applicants.

This meeting was held in the school itself in Hesarak region, Karaj, Alborz province.

Hashtgerd New Town’s Mayor

On Friday 7th of June SEED group met Mr. Kamran Azimzadeh, Mayor of Hashtgerd New Town.

Hashtgerd New Town is an extension to Hashtgerd town that was established 22 years ago. This

town is 73 km far from Tehran and it is where Peyman’s family lives.

The meeting with Mayor started by introduction of participants and it was continued by Peyman’s

introduction on UWC, SEED IRAN, and its objectives. The mayor showed a strong interest in the

project and how it promotes our culture. He believed that what was being done was something

extremely valuable and he promised collaboration in the future projects.

Further on Mr.Azimzadeh asked participants’ opinions about Iran and Hashtgerd New Town.

Then he let the group ask him questions if they had. So the meeting ended after a short question

and answer session.

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Amir Kabir University of Karaj

On Saturday, 15th of June a meeting was held in “Amir Kabir University” of Karaj with the

university council and their professor of English language. In this meeting SEED participants were

welcomed to Iran and they were asked about Iran, Islam, their countries, and their vision of their

future. At the end of the meeting, SEED participants were given a Quran each from the university

council as a souvenir. That morning ended by visiting classes, library and laboratories of the

university.

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UWC Shortlisted Applicants

On Tuesday 18th June in “Time Museum” in Tehran, SEED IRAN met the group of shortlisted UWC

applicants that were invited for an interview and group activities. There were fourteen shortlisted

students, only twelve of whom managed to attend this meeting. The meeting started at 10:30

and it included having breakfast together, having open discussions and getting to know each

other.

One of the aims of this meeting was to evaluate the work of Iranian National Committee from

students’ point of view. So a descriptive report of the meeting shall be submitted to Iranian

National Committee.

It should be noted that in the meeting there were two students of 2013 entry: Hamed Khalili and

Sana Shajari and one student of 2012 entry: Amir Hossein Matoufi

The meeting ended at 13:00.

Mr. Sepehr Mohammadi

On Tuesday 18th June, at 13:30 a meeting with Mr. Sepehr Mohammadi was held in “Café Darvak”

in Tehran. Mr.Mohammadi is a successful IT manager and more importantly for the group, he is

a “Religion Researcher”. He is also the initiator of a young community of Iranian youth called,

“Modernist Muslims”.

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In this meeting the concepts below were discussed:

What is God?

Existence of God

Similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity

Conflicts between “Sonnies” and “Shias”

Influence of power on religion

How Muslims should look at things today

Modernist view of Islam

This meeting ended at 16:00.

Professor Mohammad Hassan Khademi

On 22nd of June, Saturday evening when the group was invited to Khademi family’s apartment

for dinner a discussion came up on:

Why pork and alcoholic drinks are banned in Islam

In this meeting Prof.Khademi first discussed the damages that could be caused by alcohol to a

person physically and psychologically and a society in different levels. Then he talked about the

evolution of alcohol getting banned in the history of Islam with direct reference to statements

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from Quran. Afterwards, the meeting took the form of a discussion and everybody talked about

the place of alcohol in their culture and some cultural pressures.

At the end of the meeting Prof.Khademi also briefly pointed out one of the logics behind having

consumption of pork banned: Effect of what you eat on how you behave

This meeting lasted until a few minutes past midnight.

Javad-ol-aemmeh Religious Meeting (Heyat)

On Thursday 20th June from sunset until 23:00 a religious meeting was held in Tehran, Malek-

Ashtar Street. These religious meetings take place every Thursday and Peyman used to work in

these meetings voluntarily for six years. When SEED IRAN attended this meeting for a short

volunteer work and getting to see how the meeting works, the members arranged a special

schedule for that meeting in which there was a question and answer slot between the members

of “Heyat” and SEED group. The number of people who attended this meeting was much higher

than expected and it was used as a great opportunity to get the members familiar with other

religions than Islam or even non-religious points of view.

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Mahak

See the detailed report of meeting Mr.Mehdi Khajenouri, Deputy Managing Director of Mahak in

Appendix.

Social Service

SEED IRAN did community service in Hashtgerd town by offering free language classes. Fifteen

hours of classes were held in KLC (Khalafi Language Center) in which basics of Chinese, basics of

Italian, and ‘English for kids’ were taught. Including in the fifteen hours, English open discussions

were also held to improve the listening and speaking skills of advanced students.

Student bodies of these classes were made up from a different generation in each class in order

to make SEED participants able to communicate with people of different ages and generations

so that they could achieve a comprehensive view of Iranian community.

In the open discussions it was tried to discuss topics that were seen differently by Iranians in

compare to the rest of the world so that both Iranian students could widen their points of view

on these topics and SEED participants would see the uniqueness of Iranian ideology. These topics

were: Hijab, Nazism & Holocaust, atheism, general info on home countries of SEED participants.

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These classes were also used to promote UWC. At the end of every class it was announced that

the classes were offered to the students for free as a collaboration between KLC and UWC of the

Adriatic. Then UWC’s website and Peyman’s contact was announced for those interested in

applying to UWC.

Special events

There were a few special events that SEED IRAN got to see or take part in. They are as listed

below:

11th Iranian Presidential Election

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On 14th of June 2013 Iranian presidential elections took place for the 11th time after the

revolution. In these elections there were eight candidates in total two of whom withdrew their

candidacy before the day of elections. Eventually, on 15th of June Dr. Hassan Rouhani was

officially announced as the elected president of Islamic Republic of Iran. This announcement was

followed by some street celebrations.

Iranian National Football Team’s Qualification for the World Cup 2014, Brazil

On Tuesday 4th of June Iranian national team played against Qatar in Doha and managed to win

against them by one goal.

In the following match against Lebanon in Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran on 11th of June, Iranian

national team achieve victory by the result 4-0.

Furthermore, in the most important match of the group, Iran VS South Korea that was held in

Ulsan, South Korea the Iranian national team managed to gain victory by one goal and qualify for

World Cup 2014, Brazil. As football is the most important sport for Iranians, this victory was

celebrated nationally.

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An Iranian Wedding Ceremony

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Iranian National Volleyball Team’s Victory Against Italy

Iranian National Volleyball Team’s Victory Against Serbia

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Appendix

Meeting: MAHAK

An introduction to MAHAK1

MAHAK was established twenty-two years ago and continues since as an independent non-

governmental organization exclusively funded by benevolent citizens concerned with the welfare

of children with cancer and their families. By the end of 2011, MAHAK functions with over 400

paid staff and an army of volunteers scattered across Iran, providing full treatment, research,

and psycho-social support to every Iranian and non-Iranian family whose child has cancer and is

in need of financial and medical support.

MAHAK’s mission statement

MAHAK is an organization established with the superior motive to serve humankind on pediatric

cancer nationally and internationally with particular functionality in areas of charity, medical

care, and research. Offering comprehensive service to children with cancer and their families as

charitable endeavor, providing most advanced and effective treatment services while observing

international Charter of Patient’s Rights, and undertaking scientific research to contribute to

identifying the causes of childhood cancer, and preferred methods of diagnosis, prevention, and

treatment comprise the mission of this organization.

MAHAK’s vision statement

MAHAK steadfastly supports parents with cancer-stricken children. Under this shield the parents

can focus on the treatment of their children in relative tranquility and the children can remain

their happy selves in the process of treatment and their hopes to revolve around the quality and

depth of life and not the length of it. MAHAK ensures that no child with cancer is ever refused

treatment due to insufficient financial means. With proper information sharing and education,

an ever increasing number of cases are diagnosed in early stages of disease.

With the aim to provide the highest standards in accountability, transparency, and appreciation,

MAHAK will be the most trusted for individual and institutional benefactors and will therefore

serve as a model for implementation and evaluation of programs for national and international

humanitarian organizations. In terms of multi-functionality and quality of departmental service,

MAHAK will be among the top five institutions of its kind globally.

1 For more info on the organization see: www.mahak-charity.org

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“MAHAK” meeting report

Date: Sunday, 23rd June 2013

Place: MAHAK St. , Mazhdi blvd. , Artesh Freeway, MAHAK Pediatric Cancer Hospital and

Research Center, Tehran-Iran

This meeting started by meeting a lady who had been voluntarily working for MAHAK for more

than twenty years. She had a good knowledge about history of MAHAK and indeed she was one

of the close relatives of the founder of MAHAK who initiated MAHAK after the survival of her

child from Cancer.

Afterwards a tour of MAHAK hospital was given to “SEED Iran” group2 where the participants got

the chance to visit different sections of this well-equipped hospital including their fundraising

section.

It was roughly by 11 a.m. when the visit was over and the group met with “Mehdi Khajenouri”,

Deputy Managing Director of MAHAK. Initially, Peyman introduces UWC, UWCAd, SEED Iran, and

International Link Project. Then Mr. Khajenouri welcomed the group to MAHAK and told the

group more about the organization. When Peyman proposed a collaboration between UWCAd

and MAHAK by showing the similarities between the two organizations, Mr.Kajenouri showed

interest and told the group about the way MAHAK could be helped the most at the moment. He

said that MAHAK has its own trustworthy colleagues for buying medicine and transporting them

to Iran with no problem but there is one major problem that does not let such thing happen and

it is transferring money from their account to the destination account. It is because the account

is in the name of MAHAK and the address of MAHAK, as registered, is in Iran. Consequently due

to sanctions from European Union against Iran this money transfer gets blocked and of course

they cannot get the needed medicine for children without paying for it. As Mr.Khajenouri knew

Amb.Gianfacco Bonetti from the time Amb.Bonetti worked in Italian embassy in Iran, he was

hoping that the college could make an exception for this money transfer through the political

power they hold. Peyman promised that this request of his would be conducted to Mr.

Ambassador.

Furthermore Peyman proposed internship collaborations with MAHAK through which UWCAd

students could be sent to MAHAK for certain periods during summer breaks and they would help

MAHAK staff and volunteers in departments such as fundraising and psycho-social. These

internships could benefit both the college and MAHAK in ways of exchanging fundraising

techniques and it would also be very much along with UWC values which will make students able

to get an understanding of Iranian culture, give social service and gain a life-lasting experience.

These internships would be even more valuable for the students who intend to study Psychology

2 Members of the group: Peyman Namdarimoghaddam, Katjusa Koler, David Nyanga Sakala, Peichong Zhang

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in university or if the college offered Psychology as an IB subject. Mr. Khajenouri also showed an

interest in this proposal.

At the end of the meeting Mr.Khajenouri wished an enjoyable time for the SEED participants and

shared his contact info with the group so that the result of their request and detailed proposal of

the internship program could be conducted with him.

By the time the meeting ended it was 12:10.

This report was written by Peyman Namdarimoghaddam on 30th June 2013.