SMR a Siem EI ET Re rr ve eile et aren 1 i Teleased. ’ Improve his English to the extent _¢xam for. his ticket.. He and . 10.are... When we flew from Van- _couver to Terrace, we saw all the, mountains covered with snow. ‘We thought. we would meet: many. Eskimos here.-We were. excited,, but-afraid. I had asked - my: American friends and they didn’t know. Terrace, Even my Canadian friends didn’t know. When we got off the plane, sur- * prisingly everything was green. But there were no people. And the airport was teeny tiny. Our friends (sponsors) from the Alliance Church met us. Terrace was very quiet — we thought it would be difficult to adapt. We: had always lived in large cities.’ _.-. by Betty Barton This was the first impression of Terrace for Mahyar. Vahedi, his mother and father and two brothers Mehrzad and Mehrdad. Originally from Iran, the family travelled from Pakistan to Toronto on June 24, 1989. Canada immigration officials had met them there and made. the necessary arrangements for their journey to ‘Terrace | four days later. Coming to Canada was a lengthy process for the Viahedis. In 1985, they had escaped to Pakistan from Iran (pronounced... * E-ran), They paid smugglers to, get them through.:the .border crossing... They left behind in Iran one sister and one brother, both of whom already had families of their own and were - reluctant to leave. Mehrdad, the’ oldest, explains that. the two were also less vocal against the ' Ayatollah’s regime and so were at less risk. The rest of the fami- ly decided to flee Iran when Hassan, the father, was jailed. The Vahedis had earlier sup- ported a demonstration ‘for democracy with the Sha. They were persecuted, had difficulty finding work, and finally Hassan was taken to prison. With bribes and a friend who worked in the prison, he was - The judicial system in Iran is | very corrupt and it was possible -. that they would never see him again if they allowed the. ‘system’ to proceed. Hassan had his own company, ‘importing and exporting hospital and | laboratory equipment. They..’ walked away from it all — home, family and family .. business, to escape to freedom, ~. welcome one, Mehrzad explains, Mahyar, the youngest, ‘left... The regime spoiled our culture, - high school: (Grade 12) to flee. with his family. He explains that he repeated both Grades 11 and 12 to'delay conscription into the-" Iranian army. Many students _purposely failed grades in school because they disagreed with the war and the barbaric manner in which it was being fought. Mahrzad had already finished his education when the revolu- tion happened 10-years.ago. He was trained as a machinist. But, because of his political views, he couldn’t - find work. His journeyman papers were lost during their escape. He hopes to © that he can soon write the B:C. Mehrdad, the eldest, a graduate in economics, worked, instead, — ‘in a market selling: textiles and ready-made clothing. ‘ The mother, ‘Shamsi, was 4. housewife in Iran. Here in Ter- tace, she: takes care of their small rented house on Medeek Ave., and her husband and three grown sons, . ‘For almost four. years, they lived and worked in Pakistan. They were labelled refugees, but were free to live. where they. chose while they awaited exit visas to a country that would ac- cept them... very-free compared to their restricted lives in Iran. ran a poultry farm and sold hand-made carpets in the market. Mayhar worked for the American Embassy as an inter- preter. The whole family studied The Vahedi family — Mahyar, Mr. Vahedi, Mrs. Vahedi, Mehrzad and Mehrdad — are new- English. . They had hoped to emigrate to a European country because two other members of the family live there. One. married. sister . lives in France; one brother is ‘studying law in Holland. Even-: | tually World Relief and the Alliance Church of Terrace came to the rescue and brought | them here. The Vahedis are Christians, not Moslems as we might expect. ' The*'whole family is taking . English: as a second language at | Northwest Community. College. ’ Mehrdad praises “his Sirents, * ““Tt’s really hard; but they have the courage.’’ The ‘three young men are taking upgrading, first . year university courses and learning how the system works for future reference. Mehrzad worked in the bush doing tree spacing for one month this summer. Now he is a cook at A & W. When asked about his cooking experience, he’ replied, ‘I’m a great cook — at home! Now I’m a great cook at A & W!”’ Mehrzad is a singer in his spare time and is looking for ‘an accompanist (piano, uitar...). Call him at 638-0014. Mehrdad was briefly with CMO Carpets. Now he does odd ‘jobs, Mahyar is at college full time. He is impressed with the students and teachers and the whole democratic system — ‘People here are free to do what they want to do.” The three sons eventually plan to go to university in acity. But , + for now, Terrace is home and a : ‘our people. We have a bad - reputation in the rest of the world, .but people, here have | treated us well.’” | AMWAY | QUALITY | __: * HOME CARE AND — PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS. .. ARTISTRY =~ QUALITY SKIN CARE AND COSMENICS - _ NUTRILITE . QUALITY _NUTRITION AND FOOD SUPPLEMENTS 635-4618 comers to Terrace from Iran. Betty Barton photo. 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