Archive for the ‘Afghan American culture’ Category
ABC News interviews the Afghan Coalition for ‘Profiles of Excellence’
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Video: Afghan community encourages everyone to participate in the Census
Monday, March 15th, 2010On April 1, 2010, over 300 million U.S. residents, citizens and non-citizens alike, will be counted. Once collected, this information is used to determine how over $400 billion dollars in federal funding will be allocated to communities around the country. Resources include funding for healthcare, schools, transportation, job training, senior centers and emergency services.
Be counted — let people know you are out there. The Census is a portrait of us all.
Afghan family featured in the San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009In early November a freelance journalist who writes for San Francisco Chronicle’s “On the Couch” column contacted the Afghan Coalition in search of a family to feature. Each Sunday the column features a couple in a Bay Area community whose story illuminates a culture, situation or aspect of Bay Area life. Each story includes a picture of a Bay Area couple (on their own couch) and a brief article.
Read the story published on Sunday, December 6, 2009 about a local Afghan family.
Afghan translator, family start over in Fremont by Louise Rafkin, Special to The Chronicle
“Here is another country from mine,” says Abdul-Manan, smiling, with his family circled around him. “Everybody can be different and yet live together.”
A conference for both the head and the heart
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009By Bruce Green
Afghan Coalition Board Member
From Left to Right: Teri Lindgren, Rona Popal, Dr. Mohammad Qayoumi, Hamid Nekrawesh, Bruce Green and Qasim Tarin
In 1979 two events shook the world: The Iranian Revolution and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. These events caused millions of refugees to scatter around the globe thereby creating the cultures of the Diaspora. Thirty years later the California State University East Bay (CSUEB) hosted the first Global Knowledge Conference where scholars gathered to present research and discuss the dynamics of this Diaspora.
The historic event took place October 22 – 24, 2009. The venue at CSU East Bay was appropriate for two reasons: First, the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area is home to some of the largest communities of Afghans and Iranians and secondly, the president of CSUEB, Dr. Mohammad Qayoumi, is a member of this Diaspora from Afghanistan.
The opening evening reception featured art and music from accomplished members of the Diaspora such as sculptor Sami Nadi and master of the Rubab, Homayun Sakhi. Friday’s dinner featured the Shahrzad Dance Academy performing traditional Persian dances. Original verses were recited by poets Najia Karim and Nosratollah Nooh.
This was a conference for both the head and the heart, featuring scholarly presentations as well as emotional personal narratives.
As the host of this noble gathering, Dr. Qayoumi set the stage with his presentation on the ancient history of Persia. Scholarly workshops from CSUEB faculty covered topics such as “How to Meet the Informational Needs of Afghan Women” by Dr. Valerie Smith and “Causes of High Divorce Rates among Diaspora Afghans” by Dr. Farid Younos, and the results of an extensive survey on “Health and Well-Being of Afghans in Northern California” presented by Dr. Carl Stempel.
Keynote speakers included Dr. Alam Payind, the director of the Middle East Studies Center, Ohio State University, who had just returned two days previously from Afghanistan to bring a fresh report of conditions and attitudes there. Dr. Shafiq Shamel from Stanford University shared his insights concerning “New Directions in Afghan and Iranian Scholarship.” The wrap-up plenary session featured Rona Popal, executive director of the Afghan Coalition and journalist Mizgon Zahir-Darby, discussing “Emerging Issues within the Diaspora.” The final emphasis was on the needs of the new generation, who represent both challenges and great potential for blessing.
The entire conference was videotaped and hopefully will be available for viewing on the CSUEB website in the near future. A published form of the conference will also be produced so the lessons can be passed on to others and the benefits of this effort can be multiplied.
Links:
Presentation by Afghan Coalition Board Member Teri Lindgren, Ph.D., UCSF, “Impact of Sept. 11 on Afghan Women’s Community Participation”
Presentation by Afghan Coalition partner Carl Stempel, Ph.D., CSUEB, Social and Experimental Influences on the Health and Well-Being of First Generation Afghans in Northern California”
Presentation by Afghan Coalition partners Aida Shirazi, Ph.D and Mehra Shirazi, Ph.D., UCB, “Afghan Immigrant Women’s Breast Health Knowledge and Behaviors”
For links to other wonderful presentations from the conference, please click here.
Presenter Biographies
Conference on Afghan and Iranian Diaspora in the Bay Area
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
This October, please join the Afghan Coalition and our colleagues for the Global Knowledge Conference: Afghan and Iranian Diaspora Cultures and Communities in the Bay Area. The event will take place Thursday-Saturday, October 22 – 24.
Location: Biella Room, Library & Music Building 1055
25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward, CA 94542
$35 through Oct. 15
$50 at the door (space permitting)
Campus parking $7 per day
The Conference Agenda
I. Thursday, Oct. 22, 5-7 p.m., Biella Room, University Library
Reception, art exhibition, and short documentary and discussion
II. Friday, Oct. 23, 3-8:30 p.m. Music Building 1055
Plenary, “Framing the Afghan and Iranian Diasporas,” will feature Farid Younos, CSUEB lecturer and radio and TV commentator, a welcome by CSUEB President Mohammad Qayoumi, keynote address by Alam Payind, director of the Ohio State University Middle East Studies Center, poetry and dance, and a buffet of Afghan foods.
III. Saturday, Oct. 24, 8:15-6:30 p.m., Music Building 1055
Plenary: “1979 – 30 Years Hence” will feature Fatemeh Keshavarz, author of “Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than ‘Lolita’ in Tehran,” sessions on “Community Research in the Local Afghan Diaspora” and “Social Activism in Iranian Diaspora,” Personal and Immigration Narratives, roundtable discussion on “New Directions in Afghan and Iranian Scholarship,” and a Closing Plenary, plus a buffet of Iranian foods, and both Afghan and Iranian sweets.
Conference Details
Afghan Coalition Executive Director Rona Popal will be presenting along with Parvin Ahmadi, assistant superintendent of the Fremont Unified School District; Nushi Safinya, director of Studies for International and Multilingual Students at St. Mary’s College; and Vida Samiian, dean of the CSU Fresno College of Arts and Humanities.
The conference will lead off with a reception, art exhibition, short documentary and discussion from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Biella Room of the University Library. Yuko Kurahashi of the School of Theatre and Dance at Kent State University will present her short documentary on the making of “Beyond the Mirror,” a theatrical performance by the Bond Street Theatre of New York and the Emile Theatre of Kabul, and a discussion will follow.
The conference opening plenary at 3 p.m. Oct. 23 in the Music Building 1055 will bring together Farid Younos and Nushi Safinya on “Framing the Afghan and Iranian Diasporas,” with Diedre Badejo, dean of the CSUEB College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, moderating.
Najia Karim will set the stage for dinner and a short Iranian dance performance by reading Afghan poetry. Later, CSUEB President Mohammad Qayoumi will introduce Payind’s keynote address.
The conference will resume on Oct. 24 with the plenary, “1979 – 30 Years Hence,” with two parallel sessions on “Community Research in the Local Afghan Diaspora” and “Social Activism in Iranian Diaspora.” Sessions will highlight personal immigration narratives by Abubakr Asadulla, M.D., of the CSUEB Student Health Center, Sahar Haghighat, a CSUEB graduate student. The sessions will be followed by a roundtable discussion on “New Directions in Afghan and Iranian Scholarship” and a closing plenary.
The conference is co-sponsored by the Afghan Coalition; the California State University; Fresno College of Arts and Humanities; Zale Video and Film; CSUEB Associated Students Inc.; Balkh Bakery & Deli; and Nushi Safinya, Director, Studies for International and Multilingual Students, St. Mary’s College.
To register, send your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and a check for $35 per person, payable to CSUEB CLASS, to:
Global Knowledge Conference
CLASS, MB1501, CSUEB,
25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward, CA 94542.
Conference information and updates are at: http://class.csueastbay.edu/Global_Knowledge.php
CSUEB welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodation upon request. Please notify event sponsor a minimum of two weeks in advance at 510-885-3183 if accommodation is needed.
Homaira Hosseini to Deliver Speech at UCLA Commencement
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Homaira Hosseini
A longtime volunteer with the Afghan Coalition and a community activist, Homaira Hosseini, was recently selected as the student speaker for the UCLA College of Letters and Science graduation ceremony, to be held at Pauley Pavilion on Friday, June 12. “Actions speak louder than words. You need to do as much as you say you are going to do. Never do anything you won’t be proud of,” says Homaira Hosseini, a political science major and UCLA’s student body president.
As a youth coordinator for the Afghan Coalition, Homaira helped the Afghan community locally in Fremont, where she grew up, while also raising funds to help Afghan women and children in Afghanistan who were victims of war.
When Homaira Hosseini was just 2 years old, Soviet troops invaded her native Afghanistan and imprisoned her father, who was a justice of the nation’s highest court. Her father escaped and the family fled to India, then on to the United States when she was 4. They settled in Fremont, California, a Bay Area community with the largest Afghan population of any U.S. city.
Her experience with the indignation of poverty, culture shock, discrimination and disempowerment by language barriers, gave her an early appreciation of the hardships her family had escaped and a desire to help those left behind.
In 1994, at the age of 7, she returned to Afghanistan to visit family. There she witnessed the devastation of war and visited a refugee camp, a Taliban-controlled school and an excavated mass grave of skulls and bones.
“I learned very early on that I was destined to aid people afflicted by the scourge of conflict and injustice,” she said. “As a victim of war, I knew that I held sole responsibility for my success in life.”
Homaira Hosseini says her experience traveling back to Afghanistan has continued to be her source of motivation throughout her life pursuits in education and community service and her commitment to being an architect of positive change.
At UCLA, she helped coordinate the first “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” conference, which focused on raising student awareness about international poverty and oppression.
She has also been deeply involved in student-initiated community service programs at UCLA, including the Incarcerated Youth Tutorial Program and Mentoring for Academic and Peer Support, a program through which she provides academic guidance and personal support to students at Jordan High School in Watts.
Homaira Hosseini also helped establish a program pairing underclassmen with upperclassmen mentors at UCLA. As student body president, she has sought avenues to help students who are disadvantaged and give students a voice.
Her key achievements have been developing a tuition installment plan for students, a program that will likely go into effect next year; establishing Bruins in the City, which works with the city of Los Angeles to place students on city commissions; and organizing the first BruINTENT event to raise student awareness about homelessness in Los Angeles, and even on the UCLA campus.
As for her immediate plans after graduation, she has been selected to participate in the prestigious Coro Fellow leadership training program close to home in San Francisco next year. She eventually plans to attend law and public policy school.
Read the full press release here on the UCLA Web site.
Student spotlight: spotlight.ucla.edu