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The following article appeared in The Ottawa Citizen, Thursday, May 17, 2001 Friendly, generous Iranians welcome usMike
Nemesvary
Tehran, Iran We assumed we would be driving through the Middle East anonymously, with little attention from the public or media, given the language barrier and our preconceived notions of this part of the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can honestly say that Iranians are the friendliest, most generous people and our journey through Turkey and Iran has been amazing. Let me take you back a few days to Erzurum, Turkey when we were jolted awake constantly by the alarm of the truck, which we had left parked in front of our hotel. The safety of our vehicle is always a concern and we try to park in secure locations. Teammates, George Swinimer and David Hamilton rushed out time and again to check on the vehicle; no apparent intruders or damage. We finally determined that curious children from nearby prayer sessions (which also woke us up every few hours) were leaning on, looking in and trying the doors of this most unusual vehicle, a specially equipped Chevrolet Blazer. Relieved, but fatigued from our false alarms, we left the hotel and stopped by an Internet café. While there, a couple of young university guys starting calling local reporters and encouraged us to stay a bit longer. Soon, a news photographer was crawling up a two-storey building to get a better shot. By this time, in less than 20 minutes, a large crowd had gathered - how quickly news travels. This is becoming a welcome pattern. Finally, we headed out over a mountain pass (altitude 2,200 meters) where the roads became increasingly narrow and filled with bumps and potholes. There were no shoulders and a constant parade of tanker trucks. The drive is getting increasingly difficult. Driving habits are so erratic relative to Canada where you may experience a close call once or twice a year. Between blinding curves and oncoming traffic, I am experiencing close calls as much as once or twice an hour. But as I become more accustomed to the ways of the road it is becoming less nerve-wracking - I think I'm starting to understand the mind-set behind the aggressive driving. We expected the drive
to the Turkey-Iran border to be about three hours, but it was closer to
seven hours before we pulled into a little town about 100 kilometres from
the border. Unable to locate a restaurant, we continued on to another
small village; population 15,000, set back in time, no paved roads, but
wonderful people. We started the 100-kilometre journey to the Iranian border but, as advised by our home team, we decided not to cross the border in the evening and found a place to stay the night in Dugubayazit. The next morning, with escorts and support on both sides of the border, we crossed into Iran in just four hours; nothing compared to some trucks that were stuck at the border for a week or more. And so, we set off for our first Iranian city, Tabriz for more visits to local rehabilitation centres. Welfare organizations in the Middle East appear to be a catch-all for rehab facilities for the disabled. Our hosts were terrific, taking us out for dinner and not allowing us to pay for anything, including our hotel bill. We are very fortunate to have local escorts taking us through Iran and the changing team dynamic continues to amaze; we now have a couple of very kind Iranian women along for the journey. Once we got through the mountains beyond Tabriz, we found a motorway and relaxed a bit; we managed to cover the 650 kilometres to Tehran in about 12 hours. In Tehran, we met up with a young blind man, Davood, who provided English translation for us. We hit it off right away. I can understand and appreciate his disability and we have had some great discussions. As we visit the many welfare organizations, I am constantly being asked "Are you the guy driving around the world?". Our visits included the Sports Federation for Disabled Athletes who proudly spoke of the international success of their seated volleyball team, and an all-women's rehab centre for which our Canadian Consulate does a lot of fundraising. Expecting poorer conditions in these centers, I was inspired to see the great condition of the facilities, including the occupational therapy rooms and libraries. It is also very encouraging to learn that many of the Iranian centres employ people with disabilities. Our generous hosts
at the Canadian Consulate and the Iran Auto Club commented that my vehicle
blew them away. It is the generosity and interest shown by the people
of Iran that truly blew me away.
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