(Photo: Flickr / 23rdstudios.com via CODEPINK)

We have a new blogger in town, and her name is Rebekah Olstad. She recently joined Global Exchange as our Cuba Custom Reality Tours Director.

For her first post, Rebekah briefly revisits the impact of a recent delegation trip to Pakistan.

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Global Exchange Co-Founder Medea Benjamin and delegates from CODEPINK recently completed sections of a peace march to tribal areas of Pakistan that have been limited to foreigners in the past decade. Their mission was to protest and draw awareness to US drone strikes in the area.

One Pakistani woman wrote to the delegation:

“Your coming to Pakistan has touched so many hearts that you cannot even imagine! You were able to do what hundreds of millions of dollars spent by USAID in TV ads to win hearts and minds in Pakistan has failed to achieve!“

By showing on the ground solidarity, the women on this delegation made powerful people to people contacts with Pakistanis, which is especially needed at a time where polls have shown that three out of four Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy.

At Reality Tours we want to applaud the efforts of these women and their allies for spreading a mission of support, solidarity, and concern for the Pakistani people.

TAKE ACTION!

To view current Reality Tours to countries such as Burma, Egypt, and Nicaragua, where you too can make a person-to-person difference, click here.

Reality Tours participant in Esphahan.

As the political and diplomatic crisis surrounding the Iranian nuclear agenda continues, Global Exchange invites you to travel and visit Iran on a Citizen Diplomacy Reality Tour.

We believe U.S. travelers to Iran can build people-to-people ties and foster dialogue and peace between the countries.  As past participant Alexa Stevens wrote of her 2011 trip:

“My journey does not boast military might nor invasive power; rather, I travel simply with the hope of bringing back knowledge”.

The exquisite ruins of Persepolis.

Citizen diplomats to Iran experience both the complex and engaging fabric of contemporary Iranian civil society while exploring also the tremendous historical and cultural sites in Iran. Travelers will visit the ancient ruins of Persepolis, the tomb of renowned Sufi poet Hafez, and the towers of silence in Yazd.

Interested in traveling to Iran?

Apply now! The application deadline for our September trip is this Friday, June 22nd, so please act quickly to join this life-changing excursion.

Jane in Iraq, Embedded with the Marines in Anbar

Our guest blogger today is Jane Stillwater, a woman whom the folks here at Reality Tours have known for over a decade. We might tease her as being a “serial tripper”, and tell her not to worry about sending in  her registration as she is in the database, but in all seriousness we honor Jane for her adventurous, compassionate spirit and for being a true citizen diplomat!

It’s wonderful to read on Jane’s blog about how each journey has impacted her. Her blog begins with: “Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved.” Jane is preparing to take her 6th Reality Tour this summer.

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In the last ten years, I’ve participated in five different Global Exchange Reality Tours  and each one of them has been both awesome and jaw-dropping. GX has taken me to Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and Belfast! And I’ve gotten to see places and meet people there that nobody, not even the locals, hardly ever get to see or know.

Jane Stillwater, Reality Tours Alumni

And I’ve also been able to come back home and write about what I have seen and to help tell other Americans that Iran, Cuba, Afghanistan. etc. are not filled with evil terrorists and boogeymen but rather with just ordinary people like you and me, trying to make a life for their families just like we do.

So when Global Exchange recently announced that it was sponsoring a new trip to Uganda on July 2, I was SO there! Signed up immediately. The trip will focus on efforts in Uganda to stop human trafficking and eliminate the use of child soldiers — what’s not to like about that?!

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Jane, you are a welcomed addition to any Reality Tours trip!

TAKE ACTION!

• You can read more about Jane’s hopes for our upcoming Uganda Reality Tours trip on her blog.
• Learn more about our powerful advocacy delegations that examine human trafficking, child soldiers and human rights.
• Interested in going on a Reality Tours trip but low on funds? Here are 3 free resources to help you fundraise:

1. Financial Scholarship Application  
2. Fundraising Tips
   
3. Fundraising Pack

A4T Science Fair in Kabul Afghanistan. These students (4.5 to 7 yrs. old) sang the Afghan National Anthem to the audience before the Fair's presentations.

Today’s special blog  is the last commemorating a decade of Reality Tours in Afghanistan and features the insights of Marsha MacColl, on behalf of our partner Afghans4Tomorrow (A4T). On behalf of Global Exchange we thank all the tremendous energy and efforts of A4T and look forward to a dynamic future of continued collaboration.

Congratulations to Global Exchange Reality Tours on the 10^th Anniversary of your tours to Afghanistan and on your partnership with Afghans4Tomorrow (A4T). Each delegation has stayed in the A4T Guesthouse since 2004, enjoying the warm hospitality of the staff.  The house, located in a quiet secure area of West Kabul, has 5 guest bedrooms upstairs and a lovely garden in the back. Depending on the size of the group, the rooms sleep between 2 and 4 people.  The guides who helped plan the tours and activities of these Global Exchange Reality Tours are Najibullah Sedeqe and Wahid Omar, who also have volunteered with Afghans4Tomorrow for 10 years and serve on its board. Their tours have included, among other things, interesting in-depth meetings with Afghan women from all sectors of Afghan society, visits to primary schools, hospitals, universities, watching a buzkashi games and attending the International Women’s Day celebration in Kabul.

Najib has also been a wonderful guide for these delegations. The many delegates I’ve talked with over the years highly recommend these tours. They said Najib put them at ease with his warm welcome, his concern for their safety, his quick wit, compelling stories and the Afghan history he shares on the tours. Many have kept in touch with him over the years.  Some delegates in fact have been inspired to get involved in helping one of the many Afghan-related NGOs (or start one of their own) after they return from the tour.

Here are some of the 35 third graders reading in their home school class. If you would like to help us raise funds for chairs and school supplies for these students, please make a donation at: http://www.afghans4tomorrow.org/donate

There have been several GXRT alumni who have helped Afghanistan through A4T since their tours. They are:  Kim O’Connor (GXRT ’04), who joined A4T when she returned in 2004 and recently served as President for the past 2 and a half years;  Adrienne Amundsen (GXRT ’10), who joined A4T in January ’12 after volunteering since ’10; and Asma Eschen (GXRT ’03), an honorary A4T Board member, who co-found the Bare Root Trees Project and has led a group to plant trees in Afghanistan six times since 2005. The Bare Roots group has planted/distributed a total of over 130,000 trees in rural and urban Afghanistan. See Asma’s post on this GXRT Blog in this series.

As an A4T member since 2004, I’ve enjoyed the stories and photos that many GXRT alumni have shared with me over the years. It has been a life-changing experience for many! Our board members have helped the GX program directors over the years with information they’ve needed for their delegates, guesthouse arrangements and helping delegates to meet some of our members and staff. I volunteered to teach English in our A4T school in Kabul for 10 days in 2007 and greatly appreciated Najib’s help with all the arrangements of my work and also a visit during the Nowruz holiday to Istalif village near the Shomali Valley. This reality tours program is great for travelers wanting to learn more about ordinary Afghans, their culture, history and how they’re overcoming many difficult challenges.

The NGO which inspired me to volunteer to help rebuild Afghanistan is Afghans4Tomorrow.  A4T is a non-profit, non-political, humanitarian organization founded in 1998 and dedicated to the development of sustainable, community driven projects focused on education, agriculture and healthcare.  A4T has an all-volunteer board residing in both the US and in Kabul. We are able perform our work thanks to the generosity of our donors and volunteers from around the world.  We hire local Afghans to be the managers of our programs and teachers in our schools. We have established relationships with multiple sponsors, foundations, and non-profit organizations. 

In our Shekh Yassin School, Wardak Province, 162 girls are in three Home Schools, from 1st to 6th grade. Here are the 25 first graders reading their books in Pashto.

Afghans4Tomorrow currently operates a school in Kabul and one in Wardak Province. Our school, located in the Chelsetoon area of Kabul, opened in 2004 and has nearly 300 students, 170 girls in kindergarten through 9^th grade and 110 boys in 1st through 7^th grade. This school is one of the best private schools in Kabul. We plan to add 10^th grade this year.  The school started in 2005 as a “catch-up” school for older girls who had been deprived of an education during the wars. Now most all those students have caught up and are the normal age for their grade level. Several A4T alumni have graduated from high school and are in a community college or a university.

Our School in Shekh Yassin, which opened in 2005, serves students from three villages in the Chak district of Wardak Province. It has a boys’ school of 568 students, in 1^st to 9^th grades in two shifts per day, and more than 175 girls in three Home Schools, from 1st to 6th grade. We plan to add 7^th grade this year. We are unable to add 10^th grade to the boys’ school until we can build 3 new classrooms. 

A4T held its second Science Fair program on Oct. 15, 2011 in which 17 students participated in 9 teams. They did research on their experiments for one month, assisted by their science teacher.

The students presented their research results to 4 qualified judges at the fair. After their evaluation the judges gave prizes to the top 3 winning teams. The project that won 1^st place showed the filtration of dirty water using four kinds of sand and one kind of charcoal. Government officials, private school principals and the media were invited to attend the Science Fair celebration.  A4T hopes to see this same program in all government and private schools throughout Afghanistan in the future.

Afghans4Tomorrow’s goal for both schools is to help improve Afghanistan’s very low literacy rate, to provide a superior education and to have a substantial number of our graduates continue to college.

Teacher demonstrates an experiment in copper and iron ions in solution to a 7th grade Chemistry Class at A4T Boys School in Shekh Yassin, Wardak.

Since 2007 A4T has operated the A4T’s Abdullah Omar Health Post in Sheikh Yassin village which provides a doctor, pharmacist and staff offering basic health care, medicines and immunizations. Last year A4T added a midwife to better serve the women coming for pre-natal checkups, deliveries and post-natal and baby checkups and to help reduce the high maternal and infant mortality rates in Afghanistan. Our health post has improved the lives of thousands of people each year.

A4T’s Agriculture Stream is pleased to report the successful training of 120 rural farmers the last two years by helping them to raise poultry and supplying them with equipment for their chicken coops, and healthy birds. The women poultry farmers sell the eggs to help support their family.

Volunteers are needed to help A4T continue there great work. Please visit their website to learn about their projects, affiliates, members, photos, videos, and how you can make a difference.

Join Us on an Upcoming Reality Tour to Afghanistan! Learn more. Visit our website for all you need to know about upcoming transformative journeys.

A young Palestinian boy in the West Bank by Ken Yale

When Global Exchange founded Reality Tours back in 1988, it did so with the belief that travel can be a tool for promoting peace and cross-cultural understanding. Since then, we have committed ourselves to organizing enriching, thought provoking and philosophically complex Citizen Diplomacy delegations around the world, even when those nations are often demonized as enemy states or part of the “Axis of Evil”.

Citizen diplomacy is based on the concept that individuals have the right to help influence and shape foreign policies for their country by informally meeting with global citizens and learning about their reality.  As you will read  below, Ken Yale’s reflection and learning is exactly the kind of transformative experience that keeps us here at Reality Tours ever motivated to continue our work to have you “Meet the People, Learn the Facts, and Make a Difference”!

“PLEASE DON’T JUST TAKE IT FROM ME…”

By Ken Yale, Reality Tours Palestine & Israel 2010 Past Participant

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” 
– Aldous Huxley

“Begin challenging your own assumptions.  Your assumptions are your windows on the world.  Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in. “  - -Alan Alda

We are often unconscious of the potential and significance of the moment in which we live.  This was certainly true for me in July, 2010, as I prepared to embark on a Global Exchange Reality Tour of the West Bank in a period when progressive movements in the region did not appear to be very strong.  Less than six months later, the Arab Spring began in Egypt and Tunisia.  Now it is hard for anyone with open eyes to miss the power of this unique historic moment as growing waves of mass uprisings for human rights, democracy, and social justice continue to spread outward from the Middle East and North Africa to nations on every continent.

It’s not easy for most of us in the US to understand the conditions and dynamics that are fueling such rapid change in the region and offering inspiration and hope for global social justice.  We struggle to either discover or unlearn decades of history that have been largely ignored, obfuscated, or distorted by a corporate controlled media and an educational system that discourages critical thought and examination.  For many of us who grew up in Jewish families, we are further challenged to find the courage to confront a lifetime of cultural and religious narratives that demand allegiance to a settler colonial Israeli state as a foundation of our identity.

As a young child growing up in a Jewish Chicago neighborhood, every Sunday morning my parents would send me off to temple with a donation for Israel.  For every dime, we would get a stamp with an image of a leaf to paste onto a drawing of a tree.  When you filled all the branches, you had funded another tree that would be planted in the newly formed nation of Israel, then only about ten years old.  We should feel proud, we were told, to support our people from all over the world, who were returning to the land God gave just to us and making the barren desert bloom despite being surrounded by hostile Arabs who were trying to push us into the sea.  This narrative, repeated in many forms throughout my childhood, was never questioned or challenged in my family or community.

Landing in Tel Aviv airport about fifty years later, I made my way to the baggage claim past a long hallway displaying Zionist art from the 1950′s.  Dozens of posters from the United Israel Appeal, with titles like “Conquering The Wasteland” and “One Million In Israel, On To The Second Million” encouraged the Jewish Diaspora to come settle in Israel with slogans and imagery eerily familiar from my childhood.   An Israeli cab driver picked me up and soon we came upon a group of 25 orthodox Jews blocking an intersection and screaming that we should not be driving on the Sabbath.  As we made a U-turn, 3 teenagers ran toward the taxi and flung eggplants the size of bricks against the cab.  “Welcome to the real Israel,” I thought!

Once I finally connected with Mohamed, the Global Exchange trip leader from the Siraj Center, I immediately felt more relaxed and secure.  He was warm, caring, articulate and insightful, with an amazingly deep knowledge of the history, politics, and culture of the region.   As we drove towards our orientation meeting, Mohamed noticed me staring at a very long, straight row of trees paralleling the highway for miles.  I was fantasizing about how the trees we helped fund as kids could have been planted in a place just like this, when Mohamed said,  “Beautiful, isn’t it?  You’d never know those trees were placed there so that people driving this popular highway won’t see the wall just behind it.”

Mohamed was referring to the 450 mile long separation barrier that Israel has constructed around much of the West Bank and Jerusalem, the most visible symbol of the apartheid state built through military conquest, occupation and the systematic dispossession of Palestinian land and human rights.  It is around 25 feet high in many areas, topped with concertina wire and electrified fence, monitored by surveillance cameras, snipers, dog patrols and soldiers.  It often divides Palestinian communities from their own land.  The wall is the backbone of the infrastructure and policies of occupation that include extensive military checkpoints, mandatory ID cards, restricted access to roads and water, demolitions of Palestinian homes, mass arrests, repressive legal, administrative, economic and military regulations, and the construction of Jewish settlements which confiscate Palestinian lands in violation of international law.  The wall is often covered with the graffiti of resistance, and is a frequent target of Palestinian, Israeli, and international protest.

Mohamed and I are about the same age, so we grew up at the same time, but in obviously two very different worlds.  Mohamed’s family has lived in Palestine for many generations, but they were displaced from their homes and can no longer travel freely.  Just before Palestine was partitioned in 1947, there was a total population of 1.75 million, one third of whom were Jewish, owning 6% of the land.  After the war of 1947-48, the new state of Israel was formed with 78% of the land, leaving just 22% for Palestinians, primarily in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.  Today, Gaza is under a military and economic blockade and 200,000 Israeli Jews have established settlements in East Jerusalem.  A report released during our tour by the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, said Jewish settlements now control more than 42 percent of the West Bank through their jurisdiction and regional councils.

On a daily basis, occupied Palestinian territories are increasingly being carved up into small, disconnected and impoverished enclaves, much like the Bantustans of South African apartheid.  Yet I, who had never set foot on this land before, had so many more rights than Mohamed and his family, including the ability to get full Israeli citizenship, based on nothing more than my being born a Jew thousands of miles away.  What a painful irony that this is rationalized in the name of liberating Jews from centuries of anti-Semitism.  “Never Again” we were often told in my community, with reference to the Holocaust.   But is “Never Again” only for Jews, or for everyone?  Justice or Just Us?  Can there be a humane and fulfilling life for any people, no matter how oppressed, that is built on a foundation of ethnic cleansing, denial of human rights for others, and alliance with international corporate and imperial powers?

Graffiti Wall by Ken Yale

One of the many things I appreciated about Mohamed was that despite his incredible knowledge, he would always say, “Please don’t just take it from me.  Engage people from every perspective, see with your own eyes, make your own meaning, discover your own truths.”  Our Global Exchange tour provided the opportunity to meet with two or three organizations and countless individuals every day, both Palestinian and Israeli, some activists and others not.  We heard stories, stories, and more stories, all very moving, from human rights groups, a prisoner’s group, military refuseniks, a woman’s art cooperative, a youth theater, a Jewish settler organization, the nonviolent direct action movement, residents of refugee camps and kibbutzim, politicians, university students and faculty, international solidarity activists, and so many more, including a wonderful home stay with an open and generous Palestinian family.

Perhaps the day that was most memorable was our trip to Hebron.  Despite its location on Palestinian land in the West Bank, a one square kilometer section of the Old City has been occupied by 400 Israeli settlers with the support of 1500 Israeli soldiers.  In Hebron as a whole, over 10,000 Jewish settlers live in 20 settlements.  The military has closed down a large section of the main street in the Old City, shuttering hundreds of Palestinian shops, evicting their owners, and banning Palestinians from even walking on the street.  I will never forget the striking image of dozens of stray dogs that roamed the once teeming market area, with more freedom of access than the rightful Palestinian residents of Hebron.

If you are considering visiting the Middle East at this incredible time in its history, I’d strongly encourage you to go with a Global Exchange Reality Tour and/or the Siraj Center.  They made it possible for me to make personal and organizational connections and experience the region in ways I couldn’t possibly have arranged on my own.  Every time I read the news these days, I access lenses and insights from the trip that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

But please, don’t just take it from me…

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Stone-Cold Truths

Sometimes I wonder if all travel isn’t some variation of escape. An escape from somewhere or to something I’m not sure, but a deliberate action of leaving what is known to surround one’s self in the unknown. We had our conference call last week, where the seven of us met each other, over the phone, for the first time. Allow me to explain–our trip is organized by an NGO based out of San Francisco, Global Exchange, and I am one of seven delegates of this tour to Iran.

Everyone spoke of their preparation–Patty, a fund-raiser from Columbia, Maryland, joked about the difficulty of finding a loose-fitting top that would be conservative enough for Iran yet tolerant enough for the heat (highs of 102ºF, lows of 80ºF next week); Rebecca, a freelance writer from Washington DC, talked about the voracious reading she had undertaken, ranging from ancient Persian history to the poetry of the greats–Hafez, Rumi, Ferdowsi–while Tom, a retired attorney from Houston, spoke not of the intellectual preparation he had done, but rather how he was waiting to take it all in once we got there. I spoke of my studies, my scant knowledge of Farsi, and my excitement.

We were all urged to catalogue our preconceptions; write down a few questions we were hoping this trip would answer, or a few hypotheses we would confirm or disprove through the empirical evidence we were sure to gather on this fact-finding mission. This trip, though veiled in the same cloth as a true tourist venture–complete with bilingual native tour guide, bright orange tour bus (or so I hear), and of course us, the American tourists equipped with our guide books, cameras and useless currency–was also supposed to serve as a first-hand educational field guide, footnote to our intellectual conclusions and perceptions.

I get the feeling that in two weeks, upon our return to the US, we are expected to bring back not just souvenirs but true gems of knowledge, which will illuminate our world views, focus our political inclinations and refine our identities.

But I don’t know what my preconceptions are, what I’m hoping this trip will answer, and I’m not quite sure that I’m going to Iran entirely to discover the Iranians and their country. You see, I’m truly hoping to discover more of myself through them. I want to know these people, see this country, connect our worlds, of course–but I’ve invested so much of myself in the study of Iran, what if all my columns of curiosity come crashing down? Truth be told, I’m a little terrified of disappointment; not in Iran, but in myself.

The most common question I get leading up to my departure is the incredulous “Why?” Why would you go to Iran?” And I can’t ever seem to give a coherent answer. I suppose the easiest reason I cite is the default one: oh, its what I’m studying, I’ve been interested in the region for years, I have a few close friends from the Middle East. But I know there must be more to it than that. No one commits them self to studying the foreign if the familiar is truly… Familiar.

Here, in the West, I’m lost. There are so many possibilities–these days, the pressure to be something, to fulfill a professional aspiration, is waning in favor of the pressure to be someone, an intellectual-philosophical-socio-existential aspiration to find yourself and follow your dreams to personal fulfillment. And the prospects are terrifying. There are too many options, too little guidance, too much space, not enough time… We make it far too hard on ourselves, us twenty-somethings on the verge of completing our schooling and venturing into the real world.

So, when I started school I did what I thought was best–I picked something so foreign, so different, I must be defined within it. Studying the Middle East was a way to find myself, to see which truths could be translated across the map and still come back pure. But what if it was all in vain? What if my romantic notions of a country that I already identify with, that I am already enamored with, reveals itself to be like the gems it is famous for (turquoise, in particular is quite prolific in Iran)–beautiful, but impenetrable? There is an element of safety in studying the dissimilar. In conversations with well-intentioned relatives and inquiring friends, the conversation always turns to restrictions, to all the stone-cold realities of Iran today.

I feel protective of the image I’ve built of this place in my head, of what I’ve imagined from books and films–I suppose my perceptions are those of someone who, already committed, begs and pleads that reality confirm her dreams–because if not, she not only loses her knowledge of a place, but of herself.

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Stay tuned. More updates from Alexa coming soon right here on our Reality Tours blog.

My journey does not boast military might nor invasive power; rather, I travel simply with the hope of bringing back knowledge

Citizen Diplomacy delegates on this Iran trip will explore topics such as:

• Is the threat of war the best response to Iran’s nuclear program?
• Is the US media’s portrayal of Iran accurate?
• How do Iranians feel about the US government and people?

To learn more about this trip, visit this Reality Tours web page.

Alexa will be blogging about her experiences throughout her journey in Iran right here on our Reality Tours blog. As she explains on her own blog, “I always have a story to tell.”

Alexa’s First Post: “Excited and Expectant”

It’s comic how fast fear and anxiety dissipate entirely once routine and order is introduced. Yesterday our itinerary arrived, bringing with it descriptions of the sites we will see (Persepolis, The Friday Mosque, ect.), promises of the smells and tastes we will experience (shay under a 4,000 year old cypress tree, fesenjoon and bademjan in the bazaar) and the alluring dreams of people we might meet.

I can’t tell you just how anxious I was in the weeks between the time I mailed off my passport and yesterday. I had no time to be excited and expectant, instead I pragmatically researched what it might mean for an American to visit Iran.

The preparation for this trip really started a year or so ago, when my newfound interest of the region was strengthened with history books, pop music, a class aptly titled History of Iran—all of this information was gathered sporadically, from a myriad of sources, to help me understand Iran. And so it happened that I fell in love with a country I’d never seen.

But here’s the thing about those conventional courtships, where snippets of information are devoured with the utmost excitement—as the eventual meeting date grows closer, one begins to question just what exactly their enthusiasm has gotten them into.

About a month and a half ago I bought my ticket, and started to focus not on understanding my elusive paramour, but rather to prepare myself to meet it. I scanned the paper, researched the realities of the legal system, mulled over blogs and travel websites, and began to realize that even the most well-intentioned of tourists don’t always follow the rules of the Islamic Republic. I began obsessing, wondering just how much of me–my past, my thoughts, my opinions, my body–was now a public entity.

I’ve travelled far and wide, but I’ve always maintained the luxury of practically complete independence and autonomy, just as I do at home. I felt pathetic, like I was playing into the stereotypical fears of an ignorant, unaware tourist who assumed and generalized without a care in the world. I know better than this—after all, I had already proclaimed my infatuation with this remarkable place! How could I be wavering on the eve of my trip?

The truth is, I’ve never had to reconcile my somewhat romantic dreams of this country with the concrete realities of travelling there. I never thought I’d have to, so I tucked away my illusions of turquoise tiles, the soft, pleasing sounds of Farsi and mouthwatering kabob, along with my knowledge of the dress code, the awareness that the social is the political and the political is the social, and that the privilege of finally meeting that which I’ve fantasized will make reality better than dreams.

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Stay tuned. Tomorrow you’ll find more from Alexa here on our Reality Tours blog.

Laughing in Afghanistan
Jennifer Huber
Sky-blue burqas continue to flow down the dusty streets of Kabul. They’re remnants of the Taliban’s harsh reign and belief women should not be seen.  While Afghan women are no longer required to wear burqas, many prefer wearing the full-body, shapeless cape while in public. Or sadly, their husbands or other male in their life demand they be worn.

Behind the walls of Kabul’s Baghe Zanana (commonly known as the Women’s Garden), I spent an afternoon shopping and meeting with Afghan women. This is one of the few places in Kabul where women of all ages feel comfortable shedding their burqas and being themselves. Mothers watch their children romp in the playground while enjoying a picnic and laughing with friends in a serene, safe setting. Afghan men are not permitted into this sanctuary.

I exchanged smiles with each woman I passed while browsing the little shops run by Afghan women. A woman half wearing a burqa caught my eye. She had lifted it over her head and wore it almost like a cape. Her beautiful, green-brown eyes sparkled and her distinct, hooked nose stopped me. For some reason, I had the feeling she wanted to talk.

“Salaam,” I said, Farsi for “hello.”

Smiling, her curly, dark-haired head nodded and began chattering way. Unfortunately, I was limited in the native tongue, but somehow, we were able to communicate. Finally, I couldn’t resist. I needed to know. Using hand motions, tugging at the burqa and pretending to walk, I did the best I could to mime, “How can you walk and function in that burqa?”

She understood what I had communicated because the next thing I knew, she was proudly strolling down the sidewalk and suddenly stumbled and tumbled to the sidewalk.  At first, I thought she was hurt. She was belly up on the ground, her arms wrapped around her stomach and laughter suddenly rolled out and her giggles were contagious.  Within seconds, she was surrounded by a group of burqa-caped women howling with laughter, too.

Laughing myself, I extended my hand to help her up. As a small token of appreciation and hoping she would remember our brief interaction, I gave her a postcard and pin from my home town. It wasn’t much, but she grasped the items with her henna-stained hands, as if I had given her gold. Head tilted and with a smile, her right hand patted her heart. Under her breath, and in perfect English she whispered, “Thank you.”

Although she wasn’t one of the high profile officials I met and I am just an ordinary citizen of the U.S., our interaction had some impact in building a small pocket peace in the world. We didn’t exchange names, but I will always remember her.  And most importantly, I learned laughter is an international language.

July 12, 2010  Last Days in Tehran

View of downtown Tehran from the Tochal Gondola

After returning from Esfahan, we had a couple of more days to enjoy Tehran, do any last minute shopping, before returning home. We buy books of poetry as gifts, along with Persian sweets, pistachios and dates. Bahman gives me excellent recommendations for popular Iranian music, including Farman Fathalian, Benyamin, Googoosh, and Faramarz Aslani; these will make great additions to my collection, which includes only Mohammed Reza Shajarian of the Masters of Persian Music, whom I saw recently at the Kennedy Center.

I was also quite pleased also to visit the Cinema Museum. I’ve known of Iranian cinema’s cutting-edge reputation for some time, and seen quite a few of their award-winning titles, including Children of Heaven and the Color of Paradise (Majid Majidi), The Circle (Jafar Panahi), A Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami), and Two Women (Tahmineh Milani). This museum was a testament to the importance of cinema as an Iranian art form, as well as its complicated relationship to the government, which have both promoted Iranian cinema – particularly under former President Khatami – as well as censoring it (filmmaker Panahi has just beenreleased from jail.)

During the trip, I have asked about the economy, because I haven’t seen nearly as much urban poverty as many other places I have traveled. From my discussions with Iranians, and from previous research, it seems that the government has invested quite heavily in infrastructure, consumer subsidies, and social services, and the country boasts high levels of education and good health care coverage, and good infrastructure (roads, electricity, water distribution, etc). Economic growth has been steady in recent years. At the same time, several Iranians pointed out that given the revenues from oil, the country should be doing even better. Mostly though, they expressed worry about the impact the sanctions would have on the poor, rather than the governing elite, believing that the mullahs would find ways to evade the sanctions, which would only create more black market activity and drive up prices for the poorer Iranians.

Our intrepid Bahman takes us on a final adventure up a gondola and several chairlifts to reach the top of Mt. Tochal, just above Tehran in the Alborz mountains. Tehranis go to ski in the winter, and to take refreshing hikes in the summer. It is beautiful, relaxing, and pleasant to get some exercise. We also pass by a “green belt” in Tehran, which Bahman explains not just roadside landscape, but part of an extensive new park that has been built for women to exercise without being seen by men.

That evening, Alice and I wonder, for the fourteenth time these last two weeks, How did we get to be so lucky as to be on this trip? When we spoke of our upcoming trip to Iran, most of our friends and family were either scared or thought we were crazy. “Why would you want to go to Iran, of all places?” they would ask, the bewilderment in their voices not at all hidden.

It’s understandable, given the image in Western media of Iran – mostly formed by negative images of a repressed society, a demagogue president, and oppressive mullahs. But these images alone aren’t fitting with the warm smiles and pleasantly surprised looks we got every time a curious Iranian stopped us on the street to inquire as to where we were from. It’s not that those things don’t exist here, but they do so along with another, more complex reality, one of an incredibly varied, dynamic history, of expansive empires and destructive foreign occupations, of artistic and literary marvels alongside current religious fundamentalism, of youth eager for a future and elders mindful of the country’s past greatness.

We turn on CNN International, and hear about the horrifying case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman in Iran who has been sentenced to stoning to death after being convicted for adultery. After having seen the film, “The Stoning of Soraya M.” before coming to Iran, and knowing of how wrongfully convicted inmates are still put to death in U.S. prisons, the thought that this dreadful act could still occur turns my stomach. At the same time, it is not difficult to identify the propaganda against Iran being ratcheted up in recent months, and fear that this case will play into the hands of those demanding that the United States “do something” about Iran.

In the two weeks I’ve been here, the number of stories about the “existential” threat posed by Iranian’s alleged nuclear ambitions has increased, with calls for a pre-emptive attack by Israel. What about the real threat of Israel’s existing nuclear weapons? Iran sits surrounded by nuclear Israel and Pakistan, sandwiched between two states – Iraq and Afghanistan – occupied by U.S. troops, which also hold military positions in neighbors Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and UAE. Iran is no threat militarily, and has not acted aggressively towards any other country in decades – something that cannot be said for Israel. Of course no one wants Iran to develop a nuclear bomb. But the majority of the world support Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy. As Chomsky has pointed out, the threats of the US and Israel contravene the NPT – and are more likely to induce Iran to develop a deterrent. If the US and Israel were serious about making peace with Iran, they would reduce that threat. Or do the hawks in our government somehow think that the heroes of the Green Movement will be immune from the destruction of war?

And yet we have seen some of the most incomparably gorgeous mosques and palaces, all architectural gems; walked in sublime gardens and passed by lovely landscape; eaten the most delicious fresh food in fabulously decorated teahouses and restaurants; seen hundreds of painstakingly knotted rugs, delicately painted miniatures, and other beautiful arts; witnessed testament of 2,500 years of proud history; and met some of the most friendly, sweet, and generous people.

I can’t wait to go back and look at the hundreds of photos we took, leap back into my Netflix queue of Iranian films, and finish the other Iranian books waiting on my shelves. I hope that others will take advantage of these tours – next scheduled for September and April. The more Americans know about the Iranian people, the less likely we will be to allow our government to drag us into yet another senseless war.

As grandmothers, mothers, and daughters dine together in Iran, can you help ensure their future is one of peace?

August 2, 2010  post-script

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, this weekend admitted that the United States does have a plan for attacking Iran, although he maintained his position that it is probably a bad idea due to the unpredictable impacts it would have across the Middle East. At the same time, Gareth Porter wrote in Truthout about the neocon strategy of building up enough pressure on Obama, to get the United States to support an Israeli bombing campaign. There’s also a media strategy to build public support, that has evidently convinced two thirds of Americans that Iran already has a bomb. House Republicans seem eager to do so, and have already introduced a Resolution supporting a pre-emptive bombing of Iran by Israel. You can learn about how to oppose this Resolution and support other diplomacy efforts at the National Iranian American Council.

Read the rest of Deborah James’ ‘Journey to Iran‘ blog posts.

July 8, 2010 Esfahan, Half the World

During some of the dynasties of the Persian Empire, the area it governed was so large that its capitals were located in cities that are now outside of present-day Iran. During other times, the region was ruled from foreign lands, such as by Arab caliphates in Damascus or the Uzbek Timurids from Samarkand. It wasn’t until the Safavid dynasty re-established the Persian Empire in 1502 that the capital cities were henceforth located within present-day Iran. And it was under the Safavids that Persian art and culture again flourished, and most of all within their capital city, Esfahan.

Shah Mosque

We arrived at night, and after dinner our guide Bahman conducted us on a pleasant walk through the city. He then insisted we close our eyes for a moment. I was nervous and excited, thinking to myself, this must be great, if it was going to top the amazing palaces, gardens, and other sights upon which we had already feasted our eyes. Then he gives the word, and immediately my senses are treated to the most gorgeous sight I have ever witnessed. Imam Square by night is an ethereal rectangle of archways, anchored on two sides by infinitely gorgeous mosques, and on another by the Ali Qapu palace. The square is second in size only to Tienanmen.

Serving as a polo field in the past, today it is chock full of hundreds of intergenerational families setting out a blanket or rug for an evening’s picnic and delighting in the cooling air. Alice gets out her camera; she has become an expert at finding joy in children’s faces, and their mothers always seem pleased to have their child’s picture taken. This interaction inevitably leads to an invitation to sit down, and we share a family’s melon, cheese, and bread. I marvel at the generosity of Iranians who are so quick to share a meal with a complete stranger, one who speaks no Farsi beyond Salaam, and who is from a countrythat is at this very moment, contemplating bombing them.

The next day we visit the Congregational Mosque, considered a museum of nearly a thousand years of Persian religious architecture, due to the fact that, after having been first built by the Seljuks in the 11^th century, it was added to, rather than destroyed and rebuilt, by subsequent dynasties. This includes the Mongol Il-Khanids in the 14^th century, the Timurids in the 15^th, and the Safavids in the 17^thcentury. It was one of the first mosques that included two iwans, built facing each other within the inner courtyard that contains the ablutions fountain. The religious center of any mosque is its mihrab, or prayer niche, and the famous Uljaitu Mihrab of the Il-Khanid period, in finely detailed stucco, is exquisite.

We return to Imam Square that afternoon, and it becomes easy to see how the square has earned its name, Nesf-e-Jahan, or Half of the World. We behold two of the Islamic world’s greatest architectural masterpieces – the incomparable Sheikh Lotfollah and Shah mosques. To enter the latter, we have to throw light cotton chadors over our heads. First, we walk through a brilliantly tiled iwan, or perfect ly proportioned arched gate. These are richly decorated in mosaic tiles featuring geometric motifs, floral designs, and kufic calligraphy from the Qu’ran. They even have muqarnas, the sumptuously decorated stalactite-like patterned archways that are one of Persia’s gifts to the Islamic architecture. We pass through a hallway – every square inch is covered in tiled designs – and enter the courtyard with the ablutions fountain that is the center of any mosque complex.

From there we make our way to the masterpiece – the interior dome. The Shah mosque, boasting a dome covered in tiles made from Iranian turquoise, has an equally stunning interior floral and arabesque pattern dominated by lapis lazuli blue and turquoise tiling. The mosque of Sheik Lotfollah, which is crowned with a unique and striking cream-colored dome, reveals an interior graced with an almost imperceptibly tiny peacock, ringed by wispy arabesques, surrounded by a field of the most exquisite tiles in the shape of peacock feathers. My breath is taken away; I truly cannot find words to describe the sublime beauty in front of me.

We see so much more in Esfahan, starting with the famous arched bridges which link the city divided by the Zayandeh River, many of which are gathering places for families and young people to walk and enjoy the sunset. We revisit the Ali Qapu palace on the main square, and meander through the Qeisarieh Bazaar with hundreds of shops displaying the handmade carpets, silver housewares, gold jewelry, tiles, inlaid woodwork, block print and woven fabric, miniature paintings, and other divine crafts for which Esfahan is famous around the world. We visit a synagogue, as well as the Christian Armenian quarter and the Vank Cathedral; the Chehel Sotun Palace with its mind-bogglingly beautiful paintings, built in the 17^th century; as well as the Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradises) house built in 1670 for another shah’s harem.

And we are constantly pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the Iranian people. While visiting the Shaking Minarets, a young girl approaches us and asks (through hand-motions) if she can take her picture with us. Alice and I are happy to oblige! Then her friend comes up with the same request. Of course! Suddenly their entire school class is upon us, giggling and edging in to the photo! They all want to know where we are from. When we say the United States, they are always curious! All of a sudden paper is produced. They want us to write a note! A note, any note, from the American women they have just met. I wish them each a bright future, and one in which our two countries can be friends and not threaten each other.

We do not want to leave Esfahan. We contemplate ways to come back.

Read the rest of Deborah James’ ‘Journey to Iran‘ blog posts.