| Who is...

Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 18, 1990 BS

_ Aira Mansouri?

by Betty Barton

Aira (pronounced IRA) Mansouri
is a newcomer to Terrace, but
she’s no stranger to small towns.
Although she lived in Helsinki (the
capital city of Finland), Aira spent
her early summers in Tikkokoski
with her grandparents. A street in
the town is even named after her
grandmother. She says Terrace
reminds her of it. She already
knows all her neighbours and her
son and family live right next
door.

Aira moved to Terrace on March
30th of this year, after 26 years in
North “Vancouver. Her husband
died just over a year ago, and she
decided she wanted to be closer to
her family. Aira is an only child
and she has only one child, Sami,
who works for B.C. Telephone Co.
here in Terrace. Aira finds it an
unusual coincidence that her father

| worked for the Finnish telephone

AIRA MANSOURI: Nothing shakes me. | take everything with

a grain of salt and a.sense of humour.

Local White Cane
Club gets moving

by Harriett Fjaagesund

Stan Bradshaw, B.C./Yukon
president for the Canadian
Council of the Blind (CCB), was
in Terrace recently to present
charter president Felix Goyette
with a charter making the Ter-
_Yrace chapter of the White Cane
Club a full member of the CCB
organization.

‘Twenty-one people, including
the press, attended the luncheon
at the Inn of the West. Brad-
shaw explained that White Cane
Clubs were first formed ‘na-
tionally in. 1944, and that B.C.
became a division in 1950, There
are now 21 White Cane Clubs in
B.C, (98 across Canada), with a
membership of over 800.

Bradshaw said that while the
CCB is recognized as the voice
of the organized blind in
Canada, providing scholarships,
employment; educational and
recreational opportunities, etc.,
White Cane Clubs are equally
important.

Not only do members meet
for recreational and social ac-
tivities, but each individual club
in a self-help group. ‘It helps to
know there are others in the
same boat with you,” he said.
White Cane Clubs also let
sighted people know that there
are those in their community
with special needs.

Bradshaw, who has been reg-
istered as legally blind since the
early 50’s, went on to explain
that blindness is a very isolating

experience. ‘‘You cannot read a
book or a newspaper or watch
television, you cannot drive a
car or run downtown for some-
thing; people sometimes cannot
even get a meal served to them.”

This feeling of isolation is
especially true in smaller com-
munities where people are
unaware of your needs. And it is
especially difficult for the newly
blinded because they often try to

hide their blindness from the
- public. ‘‘But blindness is respec-.

table — there is no shame in be-
ing blind.”’

The Terrace chapter of the
White Cane Club was formed
last year; presently there are 12
members. Bradshaw made a
point of adding that having only
12 members does not mean they
are insignificant.

Although they are on excellent
working relations with the CNIB
(Canadian National Institute for
the Blind), the CCB is not af-
filiated with them.

Anyone can belong to the
CNIB, but in order to belong to
the CCB you must fail within the
legal meaning of blindness; 20
over 200 in both eyes. Meaning
that when the optometrist fits
you with lenses, the very best he
can hope to achieve is 20 over
200, as compared to 20 over 20.
In other words —. you would
have difficulty reading these
words I have written.

company for many years.
The name MANSOUR] doesn’t
sound very Finnish. And the full

‘name was El Mansouri. That is

because Aira married an Egyptian

from Cairo. They dropped the "EI"

for convenience sake. Esmat was a
teacher and a counsellor and was
about to begin a job in Finland
when he and Aira met. At the
time, she worked for the Ministry
of Communications ‘and Public
Works, which handled all foreign
workers coming into the country.
Esmat was engaged to a Polish girl
-at the time, but shortly after meet-
ing Aira, asked her to marry him.
They were engaged only one week
and then went to Stockholm,

‘Sweden to get married. That was

in 1953. They had been married 37
years when Esmat died last spring.

Esmat was of the Muslim -religi-

‘on; Aira was Christian. But, that

never proved to be a problem in
their marriage. He always said that
one’s religion is part of one’s
being, one’s culture, and it would
be unfair to ask his partner to
convert to Islam. The only time it

' caused a problem was when his

brother tried to plan a Muslim
funeral for him. Aira put her foot
down and with her son’s support,
did it her way. Aira says, "Nothing
shakes me. I take everything with
a grain of salt, and a sense of
humour."

' Aira bas experienced much in her

life. She studied journalism, litera-
ture and international politics at
college. One summer, she worked
for a newspaper in Lahti, Finland.
Another year, she worked on an
international orchard in Holland,
She spent two summers at summer
Student camp in Switzerland. The
boys built roads and the girls
cooked,

Aira laughs when she remembers
peeling potatocs and speaking
Swedish with her cooking partner
at four o’clock in the morning.
Aira says she still loves to cook,
particularly Finnish and Italian
dishes. During her time at the
camp, she [ell in love with an
Italian boy. They corresponded
during the year between camps and
then both retumcd to the same

camp the second year.

Aira’s love of anything different
makes her reach out and try every-
thing. She is conversant in Finnish,
Swedish, German, English,
Estonian and Itatian. The first four
languages, she learned during her
school years. Then she worked for
a travel agency as a tour guide
throughout Europe.

During the 1952 Olympics held
in Helsinki, Aira worked for Fin-
nish radio as an interpreter in
English and German. She used this
opportunity to use her languages
and to view every event. Aira was
the only female staff member to
see the boxing matches, She went
to see swimming competitions and
soccer matches. An Indian team
from India was playing soccer and
Aira made a point of going to see
them. At the time, she had never
seen an Indian.

The job gave her a pass to every-
thing except the opening and clos-
ing ceremonies. That didn’t stop
Aira. She "bluffed’ the gate attend-
ant with her pass and enjoyed them
thoroughly. Aira still gets letters
from co-workers and childhood
playmates and friends.

Aira studied Italian at university

in Helsinki. The instructor was so

impressed with her quick and
thorough grasp of the language that
she wrote to the Italian government
to recommend a scholarship for

_ Aira to study in Italy. This request

was quickly granted, but Aira got
married and took another path.
Until she and Esmat emigrated to
Canada in 1957, Aira continued to
work for the Ministry of Com-
munications and Pubiic Works.

She says "It was a good experience
to work for that government de-
partment. And the hours were
good. In summer, we worked until
3 p.m. In winter, until 4.".

In Canada, Aira and Esmat and
Sami lived in McBride, Nelson and
Dome Creek. For four years, Aira
taught primary grades in a one-
room school house in Dome Creek,
Esmat was principal and taught the
intermediate grades.

When they moved to Vancouver,
Esmat worked for over twenty
years as instructor/counsellor at
Vancouver Technical Secondary
School, and coached soccer. His
knowledge of Arabic and other
languages helped in counselling the
students from a variety of coun-
tries, including Palestine:

Now that Aira is one her own,
she would still like to visit Egypt.
But Esmat had always said, "Don’t
go to Egypt without me." She'll
think about it for a while yet.

Aira Mansouri is glad to call
Terrace home now. She has her
son, Sami, her daughter-in-law,
Kathy and her grandson, Jesse. Her
mother lives at Terraceview Lodge.
Aira calls her "a tough old bird
and feisty." Her mother came to
Canada in 1981 at age 75.

Aira is looking forward to getting
involved in Terrace in activities
like cross-country skiing, skating,
swimming and.some night-school
classes, once her new home is
complete. Since her arrival in
Terrace, Aira has been supervising .
the building of her home, from the -
vantage point of her son’s house.
A small-town lady with a big view
of the world.

| h
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