Mount Helen

Monument to an American's services in Iran


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Mount Helen
by Davar Iran Ardalan
11-Jun-2008
 

[NPR audio]

Imagine finding out that a nomadic tribe has named a mountain after your grandmother.

My mother and I learned just that when a relative phoned to say the storied Bakhtiari tribe had so honored my grandmother, Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar, to commemorate her public health work there in the 1950s. It's quite a legacy for a woman born in Weiser, Idaho, at the beginning of the 20th century.

Located in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran, near the ancient city of Isfahan, the area around Kohe Helen or Helen's Mountain, is home to a wide variety of species, including brown bears, leopards, wildcats and eagles. Iranian environmentalists have marked the mountain and the surrounding forests as a protected area. [official brochure]

In the 1950s, Helen was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. She traveled to Iran to serve as a public health nurse as part of President Truman's Point Four Program. The rural improvement project sent American experts in agriculture, health and education to work in villages in less-developed countries.

Traveling by jeep to remote villages, the daughter of conservative Baptists from Boise lobbied tribal elders on the need to educate women about health care. In one instance, Helen single-handedly convinced a reluctant village cleric to allow local women to attend her prenatal class.

She also spent time in a village called Koshkerood, or "dry river." In a 1958 interview, Helen recalled, "When we finally left the village, the people said to me, 'You have given us hope.' And when our engineers put a shallow well in this village so the people would have proper drinking water, they said, 'And with water, you have given us life.'" [Sound bites from a 1958 interview Helen did on University of Virginia Radio. The interview was hosted by Mrs. Brown.]

My grandmother worked primarily with the people of the Bakhtiari tribe in the mountains of southwestern Iran between the cities of Ahwaz and Isfahan. The Bakhtiari are made up of two main, loosely organized nomadic clans: the Chahar Lang and Haft Lang.

One of her life's highlights was accompanying the Bakhtiari on their biannual migration across snow-capped mountains and the icy waters of the Karun River to find pastures for their flocks of sheep and goats.

The Bakhtiaris first entered Helen's life when, at age 22, she defied convention and married an Iranian doctor 30 years her senior in New York City. He was born in a village in the Bakhtiari region, and when she fell in love with him she fell in love with the tribe. Four years later, in 1931, they moved to Iran and Helen helped open one of the country's first private hospitals. She worked as an anesthesiologist, and in time she became the mother of seven children.

In 1939, when the world was on the verge of war, Helen returned stateside with three of her children because it had become too dangerous for Americans in Iran. After World War II, she went back to Iran to reunite with her family but realized that she and her husband had grown apart. The couple decided that she should settle in the United States so that their children could receive an American education.

They divorced several years later. But Helen never lost her love for Iran, and by 1950, she had become involved with Point Four.

My grandmother died in 1973. She is buried in the Iranian city of Tus, near the tomb of the legendary Persian poet Ferdowsi. She didn't live to witness the Iranian Revolution or the embassy hostage-taking ordeal, but her story illustrates how one woman broke down barriers and encouraged love, understanding and mutual respect.

I've never seen the mountain that's been named after her, but now I know that somewhere in the Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari region of Iran, Mount Helen stands as a monument to my grandmother's selfless spirit. [official brochure]

Aired on NPR's weekend edition, June 7, 2008. Listen to audio. Davar Iran Ardalan is the Senior Supervisory Producer at Weekend Edition Sunday.


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LanceRaheem

Thank you

by LanceRaheem on

so much for telling us about your wonderful grandmother.  As a person of half-Iranian and half-American ancestry, it is so gratifying to see someone write something positive about an American in relation to Iran.  On this website, one reads so many ugly, hateful articles and comments about Americans and while some may be deserved, many others are over-generalizations.  When people like Kalvoks, Tara, Dariush and many others write hateful things about Americans...all Americans...it hurts young people like me.  We want to be proud of both of our heritages, but many in the Iranian community, we love so dearly, want us to feel bad about who and what we are.  Thank you, khanoom....and God bless you.  Your wonderful grandmother proved that it is possible for an American to love Iran and Iranians....but those of us who are of mixed ancestry already knew this since all of us have one American parent who had the wisdom and ability to love our other parent...our Iranian parent...and to love us and the beautiful Persian/Iranian heritage that is so dear to our heart.

Khoda Nagah-dar,

Lance


Darius Kadivar

FYI/Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (youtube)

by Darius Kadivar on

 

watch video

The film is also available on DVD at amazon.com


Darius Kadivar

Living Dangerously ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on

Congradulations,

Its amazing that the Bakhtiary tribes have fascinated Americans so often. One of the most famous being the director Merian C.Cooper who later created the King Kong movie.

He directed a movie called Grass a Nation's Battle for Life.

I recommend you to read Mark Cotta Vaz's biography about Cooper. Its fascinating. Cooper would deserve a milestone statue in the Zardeh Kuh too.

watch the movie


Nazy Kaviani

The American who loved Iran

by Nazy Kaviani on

Thank you for sharing this amazing story with us. It's a fitting tribute to a very special woman, indeed. You must be so proud.


default

Thanks to this Wonderful Woman

by Saalek (not verified) on

And I am grateful to you for sharing this with us.


gol-dust

God bless her & all those who love Iran & all the good people!

by gol-dust on

I bet she was more Iranian than some iranians, but definetly she did more than many to help Iran. Thank you Iran for sharing part of your family story. I always wanted to visit Chaharmahal Bakhtiari since my dad's ancestors came from there. According to history, the tribal chiefs were forced to relocate from there to other states including near hemedan and Takestan by Shah Abbas, in 16th century, who was trying to weaken their power and strengthen his power and get hold of Iran which was very much tribal at the time. I always yearned to visit this place and I will, before I die. May be next year! When I do, I would make sure to visit Mount Saint Helen as well. She was a saint after all. Wasn't she?

Iran Lover,


samsam1111

Bless those who give blessings

by samsam1111 on

God bless America & damns "shayatins"

thank you Hellen!


default

Wings & halo

by sz (not verified) on

Not long ago was watching the “A walk to Beautiful” on PBS and the story of Doctors Reginald and Catherine Hamlin and their Fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, it immediately reminded me of this Bakhtaiari couple. Contrary to popular belief not all angels have feathery wings and halo.


Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez

What an amazing woman

by Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez on

 

Solh va Doosti

Nadia