In promoting new skills for our Iranian community, we are forced to discuss a prolonged migration that has direct impact on our lives. In our Iranian community, we have numerous professionals who do challenge the status quo by asking the mainstream services target more specific populations. In that sense we are creating our new immigrant community.
We Iranian know this metaphoric paradigm: “No one scratches your back but your own nails”, meaning no one helps you but yourself. This is how it feels when realizing the overwhelming amount of issues and problems that our communities face.
We can not afford to let go of our own power and wait for someone else do something for our community. For years we Iranian have asked all authorities to provide for an “Iran’s House”, however we can not organize our own resources towards something like that.
Now, it is time for action and we have to understand that the solutions to our problems are in our hands.
I will tell you more about what I mean.
Having one epsilon of care for the cultural-political-social-historical and psychological dilemmas we Iranians live with, we have to think large. We have to be wishful in our thoughts. We have to imagine the best we can do in order to anything gets done.
We are all suffering from the constant repressive forces that are worsening the human condition in our communities inside our home country.
However problems do not stay in one place, they move.
They come here with people who are leaving Iran due to the unimaginable hardships. We have dilemmas here, in our communities where we reside.
The only difference is the degree of problems, however relationship issues, divorce, parenting problems, depression, anxiety, confusion, and family problems find new shapes in our immigrant communities.
We need to gather our strength and optimism to help our communities in best possible ways.
For this reason, we have established a non profit society to offer our clinical expertise to our people here in Greater Vancouver.
Iranian Educators Society for Families is the result of a wishful thinking and hard work.
Now that we have a society in place, we need support for the delivering of our services.
Yet, we hear some government funded programs being concerned about “duplication of services.”
It is interesting that now that we have for the first time created a place of our own, a place we can use our cultural expertise and clinical support for our people, then we hear about some “concerns.”
It is well perceived that in the North American culture we live in a large competition filed, those who run faster will win, yet not necessary those who run faster always do a greater job.
To those who are concern about our growth and our Society, I would like to say: Sorry, competition is a fact.
At times we have to look at the quality of the services we offer.
This is where my paradigm shift comes to place: No one scratches your back besides your own nails. We got to do it by ourselves. we can not let our deprssed or abused women be in the long waiting lists for counselling. We can not let parents who do not know how to handle their young children suffer alone. We can help them.
Iranian Educaotrs Society for Families have clinical counsellors and we do not have any waiting list. We like to offer our best practices to those in need in a clear concept: Care.
We have the knowledge and expertise. More wishful thinking is to receive government funding for what we believe is a unique set of ideas and programs.
November 17,2009
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