Iranian of the Day

Homeless

I was driving down Wilshire Blvd one night thru Macarthur Park. I was stopped at a red light at Alvarado and Wilshire, this was around 10:00pm, and an Iranian guy approaches my car selling those cheesy, metal things that you can fold. Anyway, I told him he needs to get out of this neighborhood, gave him a few bucks, and hit the road.

Bebakhsheed vali en video kheyli bad ast.........

Come on Guys....You guys are definitely are making fun of the plight of the homeless. My question is what will you do once you find this homeless person. Are you guys going to help him or find him a job? No all you care about is creating videos that will interest people to watch.

Please leave the homeless alone, unless you are going to do something to help them.

Take care

The very few times I've been

The very few times I've been to L.A I saw these iranian homelesses on Westwood, right on the 7/11 parking lot. I don't know how you guys couldn't find them seriously...

Iranian homeless in Toronto

Back in 2003, I ran into an Iranian homeless guy in downtown Toronto. I recognized him as an Iranian because of a traditional Persian tune he was singing out load to himself. He was scruffy, but not terribly unclean. He had a mat, and most of his personal belongings were not in bad shape - but you could tell he was homeless looking at his clothes, plastic bags full of stuff, and the fact that he was sitting by the edge of the wall in the street. He really grabbed my attention. I watched him for a while during which he sang, screamed at some imaginary enemy or a foe (some sort of hallucination - but don't think it was narcotics induced). He didn't look stoned or drunk. I asked one of the shop keepers close to where our guy was sitting if he knew anything about him. The shopkeeper told me that our guy sits there sometimes, and that he has some sort of mental illness, but overall harmless. What shocked me was what he told me afterwards; The shopkeeper (small convenience store) told me that this guy actually has money to buy things, and that his family visit and give him money on a pretty regular basis. I found that very strange. If he has money and relatives, what is he doing in the street? Then I tried to talk to our homeless guy but couldn't get anywhere with him. He completely ignored me despite the fact that I introduced myself and talked to him in Farsi. He didn't seem lucid, his ears were listening to me but his gaze was somewhere else. He responded to me in Persian with the small talk but he was staring somewhere as if his casing a target - although here was nothing there. I tried to pat him on the back as Iranians do when they talk to see maybe the power of touch can bring him out. No go. I bought him a sub-sandwich (probably to ease my own guilt) and left it on his lap and left. I couldn't get over what I had just seen. Not that Iranians should not be or JUST CAN'T be homeless. It was just too close to home, to my heart, and very very sad, and maybe scary to me that this can happen to any one of us. I tried to walk the same route day after day to pass by him and observe him a bit. Sometimes he was there, and sometimes he wasn't, till finally one day I saw a Government of Canada social worker talking to him. After she was finished, I approached the girl and asked her about him, and told her that I am curious. She mentioned that as part of her responsibility she visits some of the homeless folks including our guy and checks up on them. She confirmed the shopkeepers story that he suffers from severe schizophrenia and refuses to stay home, or anywhere else. He is harmless and only has outbursts of anger or confrontation with some imaginary beings or memories (as I had saw before). She also told me that his relatives come and visit him and leave him money when they can find him, but he refuses to go home with them (or that's the story she was told - I don't know). So now I knew. Part of me was relieved to know that our guy has at least a source of income for food and other necessities. Part of me was very sad to see him in that condition - but I guess that could happen to anyone, Iranian or not. I have not seen the guy since then.

Iranian Homless ?

Iranian Homless ? In California ? hmmm,I don't believe it !

invisible nevertheless significant life...

There was atleast one homeless man named "reza" that I had often talked to at the coffeebean on Westwood Blvd. Sadly,a few months ago, I read in local Santa Monica paper that a homeless man named"reza" had been killed by a black teenager at a Santa Monica park. I tried contacting the SMPD to inquire about this tragic event and whether any one had claimed his body for a proper burial. Unfortunately I was not able to get anywhere and was later tied up with other commitments. I still feel terrible about my inability to do something for this person and I am ashamed of us the Iranian community in general for having failed him and people like him. In this cruel town where people pride themselves in their gucci bags and shades(often fake) and leased mercedez and BMWS, this was a really sad commentary as to state of our solidarity as an immigrant group. On a side note, when I discussed my emotions regarding the matter with this guy I was dating at the time, he ridiculed me and stated that people like "reza" deserve what they get. Needless to say, the idiot is history but my memories of my conversations with "reza" are not. May he rest in peace at last....

Homeless

Hi.

Great subject.  There are definityly homeless Iranians everywhere. Not only in La, but also Northern Cal(SF and Berkeley) In fact I work in a clinic and have seen a number of them.  Keep in mind that the government alocates some fund for the homeless for Medical/dental/shelter and food.  Homelessness is a serious matter.  There are usually some underlying factor such as mental illness,Health problem, or drug addiction.  I don't think anybody intends to be homeless.  So they have a status and some may abuse the system(like any other government system Like Medi-Cal!!(it is just one level higher.  So the point of this movie should not be trying to find a name. Who cares. That is not important. I think it is a great subject and you are doing a great job by making the Iranian community that is deep in to pretense aware of this matter.  But I think you should not ask every shop owner in Westwood what the guy's name is.  (remeber even if they knew they are not going to say it in front of the camera)Let's have some respect for the people.

Kimia-Berkeley

To Irannostalgia.com

Hi buddy....

Thank you for your comment and bringing up this point... but rest assured that the program we are producing is not raising a question of whether there are homeless Iranians in Los Angeles. In fact, we know for a fact that many of them exist and we are out to find them to talk to them to raise more awareness.

I would ask that you watch the clip again... in the begining the program sets out to see if there are any Iranians that are homeless in Westwood, which again prior to going out there through our reasearch we were pretty certain that there were.

The interesting part of this clip is to show the lack of community support for such individuals, but to also find out from such individuals why and how they ended up where they are.

Thanks again for watching and a special thanks to Iranian.com for showcasing this piece for their audience.

www.bebin.tv

Persian Online Reality & Entertainment Television

Homeless Iranian by the McDonnalds in Northridge California.

I find the report somewhat annoying. The way the presenter acts is as if he is putting in doubt that there are homeless iranians in the US.

In 2003, I was living in Northridge California not very far from Westwood. By the way I was unemployed and scared and with rare exception the iranian community was very unhelpful. The job ads on the radio went unanswered and the job postings in the iranian news papers in LA are all either slave driving jobs or people offering themselves to work as nannies.

Anyway, since I was unemployed I would go and eat at McDonalds. I must say that, the experience has made me appreciate McDonalds quite a bit. I would go there mainly for the vanilla ice cream they have which they used to sell for less than a dollar. It would help with the ulcer I was getting from depression.

Anyway one morning at the McDonalds we all heard some homeless guy  screaming. It was wild screaming. It was really wild and crazy. You couldnt tell what he was saying and it was scarry.   Since I knew how it felt to be ignored when needing help, I decided to try to help. I went outside to see who it was. So far I hadn't seen his face. Man, I got out there and I saw Saskuwash!!! You know, the furry guy from Star Wars!!  The guys hair and beared had gotten so long that he looked like a ball of hair. He was sitting on the sidewalk of the driveway. I went to sit next to him, but he smelled so bad and was so extrely dirty that I had to sit far away.  I started talking with him, but because of the extreme level of his mental problems he would scream half way through and it was hard to figure out anything except one thing: He was iranian.  When I heard his iranian name shivers went down my body.   Basically I saw myself in him. I was like: If I dont find a job soon I could end up exactly like him.

So, if you are wondering, there is definitly homeless iranians, though Westwood, the rich part of town, is not the best place to look for them.   Homelessnes is a serious problem and the reporter should not be laughing around about it.

Nobody helps them, and this sort of report saying that they go to las vegas or they are drug addicts doesnt help.

The guy I saw in Northridge had no money to eat and I bought him food while being unemployed. He was in such bad state that nobody dared to even go close to him. I was the only person probably through simpathy.

By the way, back then I did eventually find a short term job in LA that saved me! But it wasn't the iranian community that hired me, it was an office of the Spanish government in LA that hired me.

by  irannostalgia.com

It's true....

I've seen a bunch of them since 1983 - at least 2. One of them is called "Mohandes". I really feel sorry for these people. Their plight is a combination of mental illness and drugs which one can lead to the other.

To Babak of Bebin.tv - good job man. This is a great subject - can't wait to see the second half of this clip.

they are PHD Iranian homeless

Iranian artist

those Iranian in los angeles most of them are rich but so cheap they never help each others in 2003 I move from canada and was sleeping 2 month in van and draw cartoons and only two guys was helping nazemi dance studio and javanan magazine....I get to 24 radio sedai Iran they din't support me, I get in touch in Channel one they didn't help me to have job or where I should go man .... or came in canada we more and more homeless as you saw there, Iranian in los angeles are don't help each others same as they talk

Excellent. Great job.

Excellent. Great job.