Nazy Kaviani

Part I

I have returned from my visit to IAAB's Camp Ayandeh which is being held this year in Belmont, California. What a wonderful time I had around so much youth, energy, and exuberance! [photo essay]

The young people at Camp Ayandeh were beautiful! Of course they were physically beautiful as youth is naturally beautiful; but I meant more that they were beautiful inside. Did some of these kids kick and scream when they learned that they were being sent to camp with a bunch of other Iranian American kids this year? Is it possible that some of them didn't want to be there? You couldn't tell if that was the case! They all seemed to be present with energy and interest. Some of them told me that it was their second and third and fourth year at Camp Ayandeh. At least two of them said they wanted to come back as camp counselors in the coming years.

When I followed the kids to different sessions, I was really impressed with the kinds of interactions they were having. Some of the youngest participants had signed up for the session which discussed contemporary Iranian history. None of them seemed bored or lost in the session. Several of them knew so much about different topics. Some of them already knew about Mossadegh and about the Shah, about the 1979 revolution and about the recent developments in Iran. I was impressed!

Born to an Iranian mother and an American father, the young man who won the "Taarof Competition" spoke fluent Farsi, even though he has never set foot in Iran. I was so touched to see that these kids had such a good idea of their identity, and of their appearing to wholeheartedly "belong" to this group.

I chatted with one young man born to a mixed Iranian/American marriage who said his Iranian grandmother who spoke no English took care of him since he was two years old and this is how he learned Farsi. He said he has already finished grade 4 and can read and write Farsi, too.

I feel privileged to have met the representatives of the hopes and dreams of the Iranian American community in the group of 100 young people I saw at Camp Ayandeh this week. This group of young Iranians certainly seem aware of their identity and carry themselves with a sense of belonging and pride about that identity. I have a feeling that this group will be a little more comfortable with themselves and their place in the world than our generation was. Though they will have their own preoccupations and pains, they wouldn't have the sense of displacement and longing that we felt most of our lives without ever planning on any of it!

I want to be very careful and not sound corny here, but isn't it possible that whenever we see a group of our youth like this, we could quite possibly be looking at the future leaders of their communities, cities, and states? Couldn't most of them go on to become politicians, professionals, artists, and, hey, what do you know, maybe even the president of the United States of America?! What if as members of one of the largest and most educated minority groups in the US, with its inevitable vested interest, one or more of these young people will become instrumental in the Middle East peace process? Is that too hard to envision? I don't know. Maybe I am just expressing my own hopes and dreams. If you had followed me to Camp Ayandeh this week, you, too, could quite possibly be feeling this hopeful right about now!