“For what gives value to travel is fear. It breaks down a kind of inner structure we have. Far from our own people, our own language, stripped of our props, deprived of our masks we are completely on the surface of ourselves. But also, soul-sick, we restore to every object its miraculous value.†Albert Camus
In the summer of 2008 I traveled to Nicaragua on American Jewish World Service Volunteer Summer. I was based in the small village of El Horno, cradled in the lush northern mountains of a devastatingly impoverished country. As a group of fifteen international students, our delegation aligned with a local NGO to improve the income and nutrition of locals through sustainable development. During my cultural-immersion, I indulged in a world of curiosities; I questioned aspects of society that affected our companions in their daily lives, such as, social construction and gender roles, future orientation, religious customs and practices, conceptions of time and space, birthing methods and the local justice system. Utilizing pen and paper as tools to instill the peoples’ stories into my journal, I became intimate with local human condition and realized my responsibility as a witness.
Over a course of two months I witnessed my vecina, Mayra, speak in tongues at a powerful Evangelical culto; I was a patient at both a private clinic and a public clinic but was healed by a second generation Sobadora (female folk chiropractor); I made gallo pinto with Dona Carmen who lost her soul-mate in the Nicaraguan Revolution – using the beans we had harvested together; I grazed goats, climbed trees and played futbol with eight year old Hermán; I wrote poems and played guitar with Gerald de Jesus Blandon Rodriguez; I was an anomaly for  not wearing heals, a skirt or makeup to the fields; I confronted many coffee and corn farmers who are facing the consequences of Free Trade and NAFTA; I saw the effects of globalization and the encroachment of American capitalism; Kayla – a single mother at the age of twenty-three - taught me more than just artesania, together, relating as women,  we exchanged cultural practices and personal anecdotes; I marched for democracy with friends on July 19, the anniversary of La Revolucion proudly chanting:“viva la revolucion,†“viva la democracia.â€
I am a witness; when stripped of everything else we have nothing more valuable than our worlds in words. Amidst the stories of others, I have come to realize and embrace my own truths. I am a minority, a first-generation Persian, Jewish woman who embraces stories as a testament to the past. I am a student at Wellesley College, studying Comparative/World Literature and preparing for medical school. As a New Yorker from Jewish Long Island, I seldom noticed anti-Semitic sentiment. This no longer holds true. Every so often the few Jewish members of my college community are subjected to ignorance whether it be someone who drew a swastika in the public arena or a woman from a Hezbollah background admitting that she was taught to hate. While I most strongly identify as a cultural Jew, my mezuzah still has its place on my doorpost. Recently, a fellow student assumed that my Iranian nationality negated the possibility of a Jewish background; my background is ironic given the relationship between Iran and Israel. This Saudi Arabian student and friend comfortably referred to Israel as “the enemy†in conversation.
The controversial Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to have a story of his own. During the March 2008 elections in Iran, his Jewish past was revealed. Evidence shows that his family – originally, the Sabourjians, a common Jewish last name – converted from Judaism to Islam when Ahmadinejad was four. To find out more: Mahmoud Ahmadinehad Revealed to Have Jewish Past
This same man who denies his Jewish past is notorious for refusing to recognize the truth of the Holocaust. This past month Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations General Assembly – just five days after denying the Holocaust. For information on the situation and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rebuttal visit: Is Ahmadinejad a ‘Gift’ for Israel?
