Recalling the Peace Corps

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Jahanshah Javid
by Jahanshah Javid
22-Jun-2008
 

Someone should know how many Americans served in the Peace Corps in Iran before 1979. My guess is their number is around 200-300? I'm pretty sure the time they spent in the rural areas and their whole experience in Iran was a positive and memorable one. They have photos and slides of people and places that belong to a very different era. It was not a very long time ago, it was just a very different time.

A few have contributed stories and photos of their time in Iran. There's a need and great interest in more. Stories and photos from that era are often beautiful and nostalgic, with an emphasis on people -- not necessarily the political system.

Foreigners visiting Iran have often developed special bonds with people, no matter when/what era they visited the country. There's something something about Iranian hospitality and incredible cultural, historical and geographical diversity that captures the heart and imagination of these visitors and travelers.

What's interesting and important about American Peace Corps volunteers is that these people were highly educated, stayed in Iran for longer periods than average tourists and worked/lived in remote corners of the country.

Their experience in Iran is now invaluable. If we want relations between Iran and the U.S. to improve, if we want to rebuild our strong cultural ties, we need to start talking to each other. I'm not talking about governments and politicians, of course. They're a hopeless bunch of losers -- in both countries.

No, we have to take matters into our hands. We must share stories and communicate to rebuild bridges. The love, the bond between Iranians and Americans is real. We should rediscover and explore our shared experiences.

So if you are a former Peace Corps volunteer in Iran or know anyone who was one, please give it a thought and consider the tremendously positive impact these stories can have.

All those memories, all those pictures sitting in albums on your shelves, the hundreds of slides in the box no one has opened in decades... Share them and you'll see how much joy and goodwill they'll create.

Of course this invitation is also extended to all Americans who have lived in Iran or traveled there. But I'm banking on the sense of adventure and civic responsibility of the Peace Corps workers and I think their stories will be more special.

Spread the word.

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AbuChris

My Iranian Peace Corps Experience

by AbuChris on

Dear Jahanshah,

Thank you for helping me to reconnect to those wonderful experiences earlier in my life when my bride and I taught middle school English to Iranian children in the Peace Corps from 1969-1970. I do have some cherished memories and experiences to share with you and your readers in the collective spirit of mutual understanding, friendship, and peace that you have established in your blog.

Before I begin, I wish to extend my undying sympathy and support to all Iranians during this difficult time. One thing that I learned since I sustained a traumatic brain injury two years ago is to always “look up”—to be optimistic and keep hope alive about the future in Iran…and life. Here are some of the memories that the trauma of my injury will never erase:

Like many Iranians in the late 60s, I found myself isolated in the middle of a societal triangle with these three sides: religious fundamentalists, Communists, and monarchists. I felt no connection—and in fact a true disconnect—with all three sides. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, my wife and I were solid Kennedy Democrats and working class youth. Like many of my baradaran and khoharan, I saw the Shah as an unsympathetic and misguided leader who made no effort to help the under classes, from which my students and even neighbors came. 

I believe that one incident clearly reflects why I felt that way. About 4-5 months after arriving in our Peace Corps town, I thought that I should send a letter to my mother about how we were doing , what it was like living in a foreign country, our health, and all that. I decided instead of writing a letter, I would dictate an oral letter to our tiny Sony cassette player and send her a tape. So I talked for about an hour about how interesting out town, students, and life was; how we heated our house (a kerosene space heater) ; what we ate (a combination of western and Iranian food;  how we got around town (walking or taxi), what we did in the evenings (read, went for walks), and some cultural features of our lives (like the concepts of a hayat and  a hoz, the  chador, the teria downstairs where we bought sweets, and the process of making kabob, for example.)

Three days after we mailed the tape in a sealed package at the post office, there was a knock on the door. “The Chief of Police wants to see you right away,” a stern man dressed in a suit and tie said. After trying to understand chera for some time, we followed the gofer to the chief’s office, where a man in high boots (no whip) sat behind a huge desk and held my mother’s cassette tape in his hands, looking at it as if it were contraband drugs.

“Our two countries are friends, you know. Why did you send bad information about our country? “he said, staring at us. “We have to help each other and not do things like this.” The Chief went on for more than a half hour lecturing us about our behavior.  As it turns out, the Chief of the Post Office, upon my posting the cassette, immediately notified the Chief of Police what I had done, causing him to call for the suspect’s tape and one of my colleagues at school, actually the (Iranian) head of the English department, to translate every word on paper so that the authorities knew what kind of information I was passing on, and to whom?

We were devastated, confused, and a bit upset. We wondered what kind of country we were living in-- was this typical treatment that Iranians got from the government agencies? We had said nothing at all that we considered negative about Iran, the people, or the government.

When the Ayatollah Khomeini succeeded in his revolution about a decade after we left, I felt neither sympathy for the Shah nor support for the new powers--not only because of the US Embassy hostage event, but even more so because of the same reasons I held the Shah’s group in low esteem—frequent horrific secret police actions like torture and neglect of the ideals that I learned under the Kennedys like freedom, democracy, equal rights for women, and compassion for the poor and minorities. I carry these views into the present and will into the future as well, but I will keep hope alive. Zenebad Iran!

 


default

All the Jahan-SHAH's men!

by Free Thinker (not verified) on

Wow! I see the battle lines are drawn already and all the JJ's men are zooming their telescopic rifles on me. Why you Califoranians (Californian + Iranian) are so sensitive to be even mildly criticized? I am a free thinker because I refuse to succumb to your self-censored, self-congratulatory, and self-denying ways of thinking. Sorry that I may upset you from time to time (if I can pass through JJ's current paranoia with keeping his site "clean") but if, for instance, I suggest that there is/was a potential for espionage under the banner of Peace Corps, and show you documented evidence, then why suddnely all the fuses are blown?

It is not so difficult to pass through all the filters set up by the IRI. But it is impossible to pass through the last filter: JJ's censorship.


ahvazi

Hameh Jasoos Nistan...

by ahvazi on

 

For some people it is not believable that some out there give up the comfort of their home to go and help others and experience the beauty of interacting with people of other cultures. They think that the Americans who join the Peace Corps are being paid to go and live for two years in areas without electricty and running water to spy on the population of the country! Even in Iran those who were part of the Sepah Danesh and so on were accused of being SAVAKI.

Even though the American govt. might have had its ulterior motives in setting up the Peace Corps be assured the Americans that sign up are interested in helping the people of the world and showing the human face of America which is often lost in the midst of bombs, guns and shows like "Wife Swap" and "Jerry Springer"!

 


News Goffer

My Experience

by News Goffer on

I have heard the "Peace Corps are CIA agents" tale, too.  I met an American woman who had served in Kandehar for three years in the early '70's.  She had returned to US to become an English teacher with a very modest lifestyle.  I remember looking at her collection of pictures and memorabilia of Afghanistan which she shared with such joy and nostalgia, remembering every young Afghani girl's name in those pictures and sharing stories about them.  She also spoke fluent Farsi with a beautiful Afghani accent.  She was not a spy for anyone.  She was a decent human being who loved humanity, taking on the hardest volunteer job anyone could assume.

I have a side observation about this newly-emerged Free Thinker:  When he first showed up with this unregistered name several days ago, in his comments on some other posts he said he was living inside Iran, reporting on what Iranians really think and want these days, telling the rest of us living in the US to "shut up" about what is needed for Iran.  Certainly, "free thinking" should also enable people to tolerate different and opposing points of view.  Since Free Thinker has to go through so much hassle to access the filtered Iranian.com from Iran, I suggest he use the opportunity to start his free thinking process by generalizing, labeling, and accusing others less and respecting others on the site more.  A decent dialogue can only ensue after that. 


Jahanshah Javid

Free Thinker?

by Jahanshah Javid on

Some "Free Thinker" you are... :o)

Any American doing anything in the world is a potential spy, in your eyes. The CIA has put so much fear into your head that you see a CIA hand in every scenario. Keep thinking, freely!

There have been CIA spies in the Peace Corps. There have been CIA spies among American journalists, businessmen, and of course diplomats. These facts do not make me believe that the Peace Corps is an arm of the CIA, it does not make me suspect that every American journalist is a spy, etc.

The Peace Corps is a spent idea. It does not have the importance it once did. It's a shame. Today America speaks through it's military. And that's worked beautifully :o)

These young men and women of the Peace Corps went to rural areas, built essential facilities, and generally brought goodwill and showed American generosity and true care.

I want to hear their stories.


default

Hmmm.. sounds familiar

by Free Thinker (not verified) on

I remember many years ago I read an article in a reformist weblog in Farsi arguing in favor of the same idea. Among the comments made under that article were a few from pro regime visitors to the blog who suggested that the Peace Corps was effectively an arm of the CIA. Now I am not suggesting that JJ has "adopted" the idea from the reformists but where there's smoke there's fire!

The CIA connection:

//www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2000/0011/0...

And if you still have doubt, guess who was the American ambassador in Chile at the time of the coup that brought General Pinochet to power: Nathaniel Davis - the former director of Peace Corps in Chile (see "Peace Corps: The Urban Front" here:
//www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=United_...)

What are you up to JJ?


Anonymouse

How about Sepahees?

by Anonymouse on

JJ, looking for peace corps American folks, photos and articles is a good idea but how about our own Sepahees?  Sepah-e Danesh, Sepah-e Behdasht and Sepah-e Tarveej va Abadanee.

I think there must be a lot of people with stories and pictures of their years in service. A little while ago, there was a story about this sarbaz guy in a remote village of Iran sharing his story with people on the web and people chipped in and got his school a computer and he and his students were able to blog and talk to the people around the world.

So if you add present days sarbaz, or sarbaz from the past 30 years since revolution, the pool gets even bigger.  The stories these people have are very good.  I think Majid was a sepahee, I remember him commenting on one of these photo albums that the pictures brought him tears from where he was a sepahee in that village. I tried looking for his comment but no luck. 

Maybe you can have an Invitation to write an essay or something to contributors to share any special memories they have from their Khedmat years with iranian.com


Rosie T.

Ahvazi, Donna Shalala!!! was the President of Hunter College

by Rosie T. on

for many years.  It is the same one. Not sure if she was there when our Fearless Leader was, but ask him if he remembers her.  She may have been foolish enough to confer a degree upon him. In which case,

definitely not to be trusted.

LOL

Rosie


ahvazi

Peace Corps.

by ahvazi on

 

Peace Corps is one of the greatest people to people diplomatic creation. I have met Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Iran who still speak Persian with the accent of the area they served in all over Iran.

Donna Shalala served in a comunity near Ahvaz. There is also John Limbert, who i believe served in the province of Kurdistan, and was one of the US hostages. 

Here are some links to Peace Corps/Iran related sites....

Donna Shalala

//peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/...

Jim Limbert

//peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/...

Jennifer B-C Seaver (Iran 1966-68)

//peacecorpswriters.blogs.com/blog/iran/index...

Ahvazi

 

 


Rosie T.

Actually jj, there's ANOTHER Peace Corps. PS Kadivar

by Rosie T. on

It is right here.

t is true.  Bridges must be built.  This website cannot be an echo chamber anymore. It should BE a peace corp.  THE global English-language Iranian Internet peace corps. 

We have almost a half a million hits per MONTH from individual computers and extraordinarily high google rankings for most topics on modern Iran.  Often first or second and usually posting to google within minutes of posting here. 

People come here not just from the U.S but  from all over the world using English as the lingua franca to find out about Iran at this crucial juncture.  The days of the echo chamber are gone, good-bye.  It is time to build bridges.  Bridges spanning the entire planet.  (of course...hamisheh omidvaram, always the optimist...)

Do you remember the slogan a few of us came up with last October when everyting was going TOTALLY crazy here? I BET you don't.  It was:

Zendeh baad Iraanrikaa.  Margh bar margh.

So let's build some bridges, jj.  Sounds about right to me.

Peace.

Robin 

PS Kadivar, you OWE me.  Some campy quote from some vintage movie.   And NOT the Love Guru AGAIN.     ;op       R.


Party Girl

Here's a lead...

by Party Girl on

What a great idea! 

I went to Peace Corps Online (//peacecorpsonline.org/) and searched under Iran.  I found a number of former Peace Corps members who served in Iran.  Each of them have posted their names and addresses, asking other volunteers to contact them.  I suppose it would not be a hard thing to establish contact with one or a few of them who may lead us to some more if they have maintained their friendships over the years.  Here, for example is the profile of one of the volunteers, Douglas Rife, who served between 1974 and 1976:

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Douglas Rife can be contacted at DRifeaDougRifedcom

Country of Service: Iran

Training Group: Vocational Education

Cities you served in: Shamsabad, Tehran

Arrival Year: 1974

Departure Year: 1976

Work Description:

Diesel & auto mechanics, drafting at Amuzeshgah Herfei, Shamsabad (year 1); Workshops Supervisor, Queen's Project School, Evin, Tehran (year 2)

Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:

Married Assyrian Iranian while in Iran post-Peace Corps. Evacuated February 1979 after fall of Shah and return of Khomeni.

Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:

Peace Corps was one of most significant events in my life.

Anyone you are looking for or would like to hear from?:

John Pugh, the Barrets, the Spurlocks, the Winters, and others from our 1974 group.

Originally posted: January 10, 2007

 

And here's someone, Richard Levine, who served between 1964 and 1967 both in Siahkal and Shiraz:

 Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Richard J Levine can be contacted at RL44Wanihdgov

Country of Service: Iran

Training Group: Iran 4

Cities you served in: Siahkal, Shiraz

Arrival Year: 1964

Departure Year: 1967

Work Description:

Community development, laboratory instructor in biology and microbiology at the Pahlavi Medical School in Shiraz, instructor in English as a foreign language at the Iran-America Society in Shiraz and at the Nemazee Hospital School of Nursing

Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:

Earned an M.D. and M.P.H. Joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC, serving in Alabama and Bangladesh. Career in medical research, epidemiology. Currently a senior investigator in the Epidemiology Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with major focus on preeclampsia.

Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:

The most important and formative experience of my life.

Anyone you are looking for or would like to hear from?:

Anyone who would like to chat.

Originally posted: February 19, 2005

 


Darius Kadivar

EXCELLENT SUGGESTION JJ !

by Darius Kadivar on

Absolutely that is a great suggestion. I think there are so many photos and films that are hidden in the attic that are like Ali Baba caves to be.

Look forward to exploring our social history and common bonds. I would also say that with an Iranian diaspora community worldwide it would be good to see such photos and testimonies from France, Germany, England and so many other countries. 

OPEN SESAME !