The First Trip: Exploring Possibilities

Building Bridges: Middle East – US has been interested in pursuing citizen diplomacy with people in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over the last year, we have engaged in a number of educational opportunities as preparation for face to face meetings.  From Oct 6-19, 2003, four people from our group – Building Bridges President Mary Brownlow Huessy, Vice President Charles Buell, Richard Broussard and Adrianne Carr – traveled around Iran getting acquainted with people and places.

We visited a number of cities, including Tehran, Shiraz, Yazd and Esfahan. The kindness of the Iranian people and the beauty of our surroundings were overwhelming.  In each place, we had unexpected meetings with people of good will as well as planned encounters.  All Iranians we met were proud of their heritage and culture and eager to show us around. They were also very interested in hearing our opinions. Over and over we heard the phrase, “We love Americans!”
 

An impromptu meeting with young people in Esfahan; Mary Huessy in back row

One of the people facilitating our travels told us: “ Every day, you will think you have figured out Iran and understand what’s going on here, and every day you will realize that you got it wrong.”  Iran is full of contradictions and variety. In every hotel and most stores, there were portraits of both the previous Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini and his current successor, Ayatollah Khamenei, sternly representing the Islamic Republic of Iran. We met both traditional and secular Moslems who seek to find ways to balance their faith with modern life. We met Jews, Zoroastrians and Christians, people whose faiths are protected under the law. We met people practicing traditional crafts and those involved in high tech professions. Just the variety in the hijab, the obligatory “modest dress” for women, was startling and unpredictable, ranging from starkly traditional to luxuriously fashionable. The one unvarying constant was the friendliness of the people we met and their desire for peace.
 

Meeting friends in the bazaar in Shiraz

 
Following up on leads we received from friends in the US and Iran, we met with members of the foreign press, leaders of Iranian NGOs, members of the Islamic clergy, and academics. All were very positive about pursuing possibilities of dialogue.  We are hopeful that we may enter into dialogue, whether the meeting will be in the US, in Iran, or in a third location, and that meetings can continue.

Exchanging books with Ayatollah Hassan Emami

 
As these contacts produce results, Building Bridges will continue to work on making it possible for more Iranians and Americans to meet face to face. A symbol of this bridging work is the Khaju Bridge in Esfahan: