Helping Our Community -- Hamyari Dar Ghorbat

From Foroozan Fri, 23 Aug 1996 11:50:45

Sallam,

Mr. Odabaee talked about his efforts in assisting new immigrants and refugees since he left Iran. He made many good points on how each one of us can build more awareness around the community in which we live. He worked with Cuban, African, Bosnian,Iraqi and Iranian refugees. A good lesson to be learned of this is a sense of 'ham-yari' amongst humans. What I gain from his experience is that despite some stereotypes about Iranians, here's an excellent example of a noble Iranian who has devoted good chunk of his life to humanity- from picking up the refugees from the airport to helpin them in job placement. Of course, that's his full-time job, but perhaps we can all pitch in and do what we can.

The new welfare law will affect a lot of people including non-citizen Iranians who depend heavily on the benefits. I have hand outs on this and will distribute to anyone interested. (Or if someone has it on-line please email)

We left last doreh with at least 5 action items.

• Mina & Siamak H. volunteered to shop 'back to school' stuff for the Bosnian kids (she already sent an email on this).mina@hplmina.hpl.hp.com
• Kourosh Amiri brought about 10 letters from the children in Iran who had lost a parent and lived in poverty. These children lived primarily in Isfahan area. Just reading the letters gives a good picture of the intensity of the situation. These children were all between 6-16 years of age; some were so poor that had to drop out of school. Kourosh kindly offered to investigate more as all of us last night were touched and wanted to help. He will send a follow up on this. Please, help if you can. Your $10 goes long ways for a father-less family of 7. Kourosh@iit.com
• Siamak Hassanzadeh will be in touch with Mr. Odabaee to find out about the needs of Bosnian community- specifically in the area of tutoring the school kids whos parents are unable to help. siamak.hassanzadeh@Corp.sun.com
• Siamak Nazari took the names of the 'book club' fans and will send a follow up. siamak.nazari@Eng.sun.com
• Mr. Odabaee will have a list of things that we can do to help the refugees in need. He encouraged volunteers to offer their time even a couple of hours a week to take a Bosnian family out. Some are still in need of kitchen supplies. If you have any pots/pans/ dishes/appliances which you don't use, contact Mr. Odabaee at 408-944-0362 x170

Lastly, thanks for all of you who came to doreh last night. Many thanks to Nima for the preparation/great food.. and to those who brough goodies :-)

merci,

Foroozan

From Nima 8/12/96 11:46 PM

Salam Doostan,

Now that is all quiet on the Western front, I would like to seize the opportunity to announce our next Doreh gathering.

When: Aug 22, 1996

Time: 7:30 pm

Where: Evelyn Garden Apts in Sunnyvale (Foroozan's castle)

Topic: "Helping Our Community -- Hamyari Dar Ghorbat" Immigrating to a new country with a different cultural background creates many new challenges. The success of our community is depended on our cooperative effort to help each other in the right direction. Effectively using the new opportunites given to us by the host country and being able to give back to the community is an important factor in our lives.
How are we supposed to play these roles and what should be our duty in respect to each other will be the topic of this gathering.

Speaker:Mr. Reza Odabaee

RSVP: Please RSVP to ==>> nima@mipos3.intel.com <<== if you are planning to show up. One of the many benefits of having a headcount before the actual event is being able to prepare enough food for you :-) (hint hint)

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