By Jay Crook

When the latest two groups of PeaceCorps Volunteers arrived at Mehrabad,Tehran's sleek, air-conditioned airport,and were whisked into the city on awell-lit divided hi ghway, there weremany expressions of astonishment anddismay. "lust what are we doing here?"was a question asked more than once.

The next morning, faced with 20th-century traffic snarls caused b y Tehran's200.000 motor vehicles, and seeing newbuildings, supermarkets, and other evi-dences of prosperity. the Volunteer beganto go through a different kind of cultureshock: if Iran is like this, who needs us?

The answer might be given in Arciebil.475 miles northwest of Tehran. WhenVolunteer English teachers Frank andPat Vergata (New York City ) first metone of their counterparts, Mr. Mohajeri,the Iranian said simply, "We are gladyou have come. We need you verymuch.-

Unfortunately, the oil-born wealth ofIran's economy has not spread to thevast majority of her people. For the vil-lagers, who comprise two-thirds of Iran's23 million people, 20th-century life hasbrought many discomfitures and disloca-tion but few amenities.

The answer to "who needs the PeaceCorps?" could be found in wealthy

Tehran itself, even though it consumeshalf the country's electric power and con-tains half the literate population. LeslieMiller (New Rochelle. N.Y.), assigned towork in Tehran. was disappointed thatshe wouldn't be out in the field, whereshe felt she would be needed more. Thenshe went to South Tehran and visited thelittle school where she would be working.After a morning's look at the narrowalleys, mud walls, tattered clothes, poorhealth, and seeing the ea ger expectancyof the school children, she rushed intothe Peace Corps office and demanded toknow why everyone hadn't been assignedto work in Tehran.

Iran. like many other developing na-tions. has one foot planted squarely inthe 20th century and the other some-where back near the 13th. Leaders inand out of government are trying hardto bring Iran technologically into thepresent with a reworking of past social.moral, and aesthetic values. The physicalremains of 3000 years and more of his-tory confront the modern Iranian fromthe empty gateways of Persepolis. thegrotto sculptures at Taq-i-Bustan, thegleaming tiles of Safavid Isfahan. Theyare reminders of a proud imperial past.Persians organized the first world-empirein history, five centuries before the birthof Christ. They worked out an admin-

Doris Witriol (New York City), DorothyDavidson (Gainesville, Ga.), Carol Posey(Jackson, Miss.) visit Isfahan bazaar.

istrative and communications system thatforms the basis for many Westerninstitutions.

The country was submerged by Arabconquest in the seventh century, andwith the Arabs came Islam with its all-pervasive code of life. But a centurylater. Persians were dominating the in-tellectual and philosophical life of Islam.The Persians accepted Islam graduallyand with increasing enthusiasm, addingto it somethin g of the Persian historicalexperience. Reflecting the unique charac-ter of her people even today, PersianIslam differs in many points of faith andritual from the bulk of other Muslimsthrou ghout the world.

Durin g the 16th and 17th centuries,splendor and glory once again returnedto Iran. Isfahan. the ma g nificently-adorned capital of the Safavid Dynasty,proudly took her name from "nesf-e-jahan—half the world.

Today's Iran, after the vicissitudes of19th-century colonial machination, is stilla formidable land. Her area of 628,000square miles is nearly as lar ge as Texas.New Mexico. Arizona, and Californiacombined. Her diverse geography con-tains the highest mountain between theHimalayas and the Atlantic Ocean (Mt.Demavend at 18.000 feet in the Elburzrange) as well as a national breadbasketon the edge of the Caspian Sea at 75feet below sea level. There are stillimmense deserts through which journeysare calculated by days instead of kilo-meters, yet the Caspian Sea coast getsmore rain than any. other area in the

For want of a woodworking lathe, Volunteer Chuck Warsing (Saxton, Pa.) teacheswoodworking on a metalworking lathe to young inmates of Isfahan work camp.

IRAN'We Are Glad You Have Come—We Need You'

6

C‘/2S/IC

7/;4.L• Khvey

Lakerrnia

Rezaieh •• 'll Fumen

MahabadKazvino

KURDISTAN/•Sunandaj

(-4HamadanTaq-i-Bustan

KermanshahA. •Arak

Tabriz

TEHRAN

Sari,V1olatta ins

GurganNishapurs

Shahrud Meshed

Na'in

Persepolis(ruins)

ShirazKuwait/

• Dizful. •Susa

KHUZISTAN• Ahwaz

dr •• Khurramshahr*Abadan

Isfahan

Tabas

12)aSb Birjandt

erKerman

Zahedan

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Saudi Arabia1,00

Miles

By portrait of Shah, Director SargentShriver (right) talks to Parviz N. Khan-an, former Iran Minister of Education.

CaspianSea

Dasht-i-Kavir

Near East. Although rivers and waterare normally scarce, the Khuzistan plainis crucially water-logged.

Tremendous mineral wealth, in addi-tion to oil, lies locked in the mountains,but a poor hinterland road system makesexploitation difficult. Oil, of course, isthe lifeblood of modern Iran and earnsmost of its foreign exchan ge. Other ex-ports include the famous Persian rugs.caviar, dried fruits, gums, hides, wool,and marble. Not as well-known are Iran'spistachio-nut exports, which are a topexchange earner. But for most Iraniansthe economy is subsistence, notcommercial.

Communication Difficult

Iran's diverse geo graphy has madecommunication difficult between differentsections of the country. Under RezaShah Pahlavi. the present ruler's father,a national transportation system of roadsand railroads was started, emanatingfrom Tehran. Since World War II thissystem has been greatly expanded underReza Shah's son. Mohammed Reza ShahPahlavi. But the task of welding Iran'speoples into one is a formidable one.Many Azerbaijani Turks, Lurs. Kurds.Qashquais, and Baluchis think of them-selves as members of their own ethnicgroup first and Iranian citizens second.However, the unifying forces of educa-tion, economics, and growing interna-tional awareness are rapidly changingthis.

Life in Iran today is exciting for those

of us who still possess a spark of thepioneering instincts of our Americanforefathers. Despite her great a ge. Iran'sface is surprisin gly youn g. With all herancient monuments, the great majority ofIran's permanent structures have beenbuilt within the last two generations.Dams are harnessin g and evenin g outher feast-or-famine water supply. Landis being returned to the men who till it.And Iran's own "Peace Corps," theSepah-e-Danesh (Army of Knowledge) isbringing primary education to villageswhich cannot even yet be reached byletter sent through the postal system.The members of the Peace Corps work-ing in Iran are also a factor in Iran's20th-century pioneering.

Peace Corps efforts began in Iran whenthe first 44 Volunteers arrived in Sep-tember, 1962. After orientation theywent to several parts of Iran to work inagriculture, physical education, and Eng-lish teaching. As was the case in mostother first projects, there was hard ex-perience to be gained—both by staff andVolunteers. This group finished in Juneof this year with a sense of generalsatisfaction—in spite of frustrations in-herent in Peace Corps experience. Therewere the spectacular successes—JackHuxtable's swimming pool at the Agri-cuitural School at Rezaieh, for example.The pool is used by the public in addi-

7

tion to the school. mostly village boyswho have had little opportunity forswimming in the scanty streams of west-ern Azarbaijan. Jack designed and super-vised the pool's construction. Today it isknown as "Mr. Jack's pool."

In another area—the hot, once-fertilesaline plains of Khuzistan—Iran IVolunteer John McKee (Mt. Pleasant,Mich.), oversaw the drainage and desalinization of 1250 acres of land belong-in g to the new A gricultural Colle ge atAhwaz. At times he had 500 laborersworking under his direction.

Achievements in the fields of Englishteaching and physical education arenaturally less tangible, althou gh one Vol-unteer, John Mullins (Griffin, Ga.), as-signed to Isfahan's Agricultural TrainingSchool, so impressed Isfahan city officialsthat he was asked to coach what becamea hi ghly successful track team, defeatingopponents in most of Iran's principalcities. But for most Volunteers teaching,then as now, the spectacular is theexception, and everyday routine the rule.And there were temporary setbacks anddisappointments in plenty.

Leonard Passwater (Wa ynoka. Okla.)in Kerman was assigned to an a g ricul-tural-training school as a farm-mechanicsteacher and was in charge of maintainingthe school's equipment. It took him afull year of argument and struggle to

ON THE COVER—Near Shiraz in southwestern Iran are the ruins of Persepolis, sum-mer capital of the ancient Persian Empire under Darius I, who ruled from 521-486 B.C. Persepolis flourished until destroyed by Greeks in about 330 B.C. Below,Volunteer Ann Mentzer (Roseville, Calif.) works with deaf children in Isfahan.

John Williams, a Volunteer teacher from New York City, directs a rehearsal of sec-ondary-school students preparing an English playlet, which was presented at cere-monies marking the end of a Volunteer-sponsored summer-schooi camp in Hamadan.

convince school authorities that his sparseshop equipment simply couldn't do thejob in instruction or repair. The moneyhad been budgeted but the supervisorystaff didn't realize the need. But after ayear of waiting and cajoling, the staff didbecome convinced. The equipment wasbought: the Kerman shop became work-able. But it took a year of Leonard'sPeace Corps time just to get started.

These first Volunteers laid the founda-tions for the program's present expan-sion in the fields of a griculture and voca-tional education, just as teachers likeRene Smith (Annapolis, Md.), DaveWan gler Buffalo. N.Y.), and Jerry Clin-ton (San Jose. Calif.) did in English.

A year after the arrival of Iran I camethe seven members of Iran II. Theyhave been assigned to teach in voca-tional schools in Tehran and Isfahan.Dick Mentzer (Costa Mesa. Calif.), in

About the Rep

Cleo Shook hasbeen Peace CorpsRepresentative inIran since July ofthis year. Heserved from 1961to 1963 as Pro-grams OperationsOfficer for the FarEast Regionai Of-fice of the PeaceCorps, then leftthe agency to join the Ken R. Whitefirm of consulting engineers in Denver,as vice president in charge of interna-tional operations.

A native of Glendale, Calif., he at-tended the California Institute of Tech-nology in Pasadena from 1942-1945 in awar program sponsored by the ArmySignal Corps. After service in the FarEast as a communications officer, hewas assigned in 1946 to Yenching Uni-versity in Peiping to study MandarinChinese and economics; he also servedas a part-time physics instructor at theuniversity.

In 1948 he returned to the U.S. andworked as a communication engineerfor the Pacific Telephone and TelegraphCompany in Los Angeles. From 1953 to1956 he served as director of the AfghanInstitute of Technology in Kabul. (Dur-ing former President Eisenhower's tripto Afghanistan, India, and Iran in 1959,Shook was the chief executive's per-sonal consultant and interpreter.) In1957, he became associate professor ofindustrial arts at New York State Uni-versity College of Education at Oswego,then returned to Kabul in 1958 asdeputy chief of the engineering divisionof the U.S. Agency for International De-velopment program there, a position heheld until joining the Peace Corps staffin 1961. He is married and has twochildren.

Isfahan, was responsible for developingthe liaison to get surplus and discardedWorld War II Iranian army trucks foruse in instruction at the vocationalschool. During the past summer he hasalso, with the help of Volunteers CharlesGilmore (Anderson. Ind.) and JohnCostello (Chelsea. Mass.), set up a shopat a new school for orphans sponsoredby the Red Lion and Sun Societ y (Iran'sequivalent of the Red Cross). As partof their work they also prepared thecurriculum for the new school.

Iran III. 27 strong, followed in Aprilof this year. Four are working in com-munity development, five in agriculture.and eighteen teaching English.

Most of the 18 English teachers hadsummer programs in their schools, usuallyvacant during the vacation. In co-opera-tion with the Ministry of Education andthrough the efforts of Gertrude NyeDorry, English-program consultant to thePeace Corps in Iran, a summer schedulewas organized in 11 cities.

Day camps featured spoken En glish in-struction, handicrafts, and sports. Morethan 200() boys and girls participated.The normal pattern was three three-weeksessions at each site with a new set ofstudents for each session. Many stu-dents. never having had such an oppor-tunity before in their home towns, electedto repeat for a second and even a thirdsession.

In September two more groups of Vol-unteers arrived—Iran IV, consisting of72 English teachers plus a Volunteersecretary, and Iran V. with 53 men towork in agriculture, community develop-ment, and vocational education.

Iran's modernization has yet to godeep below the surface in most areas.even in most of Tehran itself. Outsideof the modern sections of the largestcities, almost all women still wear thecloaklike chador when goin g outside

their home compound. The Iranian isstill a fierce individualist and the levellingeffects of Westernization have, perhapsunfortunately, done very little to curbthis. As in other countries, women Vol-unteers find their social lives much re-stricted, especially outside Tehran. Theaverage Iranian has a structure of ideasand beliefs about Americans built up bytabloids, films, literature, and unfortunateincidents which is difficult to shake.When an American Volunteer is accepted.his Iranian friends are likel y to thinkhe is exceptional and will confound allargument by saying, "But you are notlike other Americans." Perhaps what heis saying, though for the wrong reasons.is valid.

Volunteers in Iran have to have fairto good linguistic ability in nativetongues. En g lish is little understood evenby educated classes. In the past here.French predominated as the internationallanguage, and only since World War IIhas En g lish come to supplant it. Tofurther complicate matters, many Volun-teers are assigned to areas where insteadof Farsi (Persian)) the native languageis Turki. Kurdi. Luri, or Arabic: or toareas where the Farsi spoken is a widely-diverging dialect.

There are many rewards for the Vol-unteer in Iran: some of them articulated.some of them not. Iran I Volunteersdeparted amid a torrent of Iranian fare-wells, presents, and tears. And recentlyan Iranian En glish teacher submitted areport about his work on the summerpro gram. He wrote: "I believe this is agood lesson to many teachers, that ayoung American . . . is always ready tolive anywhere in the world in order tokeep the peace . . . Many of these people(referrin g to Iranian friends) think it isimpossible to leave their families and goout to serve the people . . . I have hearda lot of people remark, 'Now I have come

—

A Bridge for Makhlavanto understand why the United States is

such a progressive and rich country; andwhy it is the leader of peace in the worldand why it is the pioneer in so manythings.' They say that they have seen thereason with their eyes . . ."

The Peace Corps in Iran isn't gearedfor the sensational and in spite of whatwe ourselves think we are doing, weprobably aren't very unusual. But foreach Volunteer and member of the staffalike, being a part of it is a uniquepersonal adventure in living which fewof us will ever have the opportunity torepeat.

Jay Crook has beena Field Officer inIran since lastApril. He served ayear as AssociateRe p resentative inEast Pakistan,from September,1962, until Septem-ber, 1963, and wasa staff officer inWashington before

going to Iran in April of this year. Heis from Freeport N.Y., and worked thereafter high school for the ColumPianBronze Co., from 1949 to 1952. He sawtwo years of military duty, then went towork for a New York firm as a book-keeper. He became interested in Is-lamic studies, and went to East Paki-stan in 1956 to enroll in the Universityof Dacca. He studied classical Arabicand philosophy, and was granted a B.A.degree in 1960. He returned to hisformer New York employer, then par-ticipated in the training program forPakistan Volunteers in 1961 at the Uni-versity of Minnesota. He joined thePeace Corps staff the following yearand went abroad with the Pakistanproject. He is single.

Jack Huxtable (Richfield Springs, N.Y.),at wheel, oversaw building of "Mr. Jack'spool" at Rezaieh Agricultural School.

By Jim Anderson

But I can't tell the farmers to cutdown their trees without a written slipfrom the forestry office in Fumen.- pro-tested the head of the Makhlavan villagecouncil. Volunteer Jim Whitaker(Naches. Wash.) and I looked at eachother stoically and thought. "Well. wewere warned in training that there wouldbe some obstacles, weren't we? Timenow, if ever, to be flexible."

The whole episode had started twoweeks before when Volunteer JohnSeligman (Los .Angeles) a community-development worker in Makhlavan, hadasked Jim and me to help him with abridge-building project in his village.

After many delays and a few falsestarts, usin g mostly village labor andmany words of encouragement, thefoundation for one of the supportingpiers was finally dug. We were thenready to be gin laying log cribbing inthe hole to support the rocks that weeventuall y intended to use as stabilizingmaterial. Here we ran into our firstmajor difficulty. In Iran, in order to cutdown a tree (besides poplars, which area cash crop), a person must first havepermission from the forestry office.

After a week of delay. John finallyexacted a promise from a forestry officialto come to Makhlavan and approve thecutting of the trees which the villagefarmers were donatin g . He gave us per-mission, and then added we could pickup the written approval the followingmornin g at the forestry office.

So it was decided that John would goto Resht to get a bulldozer and materials,such as creosote and iron spikes, while

Jim and I would go to Makhlavan tohelp with the felling of the trees.

The following mornin g , hoping forthe best, Jim and I walked to the stopwhere jeeps and busses left for Makhla-van, Jim planned to run over to theforestry office to pick up the permissionslip, I was to delay the jeep momentarilyand then we'd be on our way.

Twenty minutes elapsed. I becamecurious and the jeep driver became im-patient since Jim had not yet returned.I decided to go to the forestry office tosee what was wrong. The jeep driverpromised not to leave without us. WhenI arrived at the office. Jim was talkingwith a staff assistant. He said the bosswouldn't be in the office until the fol-lowing morning, and without his signa-ture on the permission slip, it was in-valid. We told the exasperated assistantthat we had been promised the slip today.Finally, in an act of self-defense, theman told us that we could cut the treesthat day, and get the permission slip thenext morning.

To our dismay, when we returned tothe jitney stand, the driver who had prom-ised to wait for us had gone. and therewasn't another vehicle in sight.

By this time, we were showing signsof poor cultural adjustment. We shouldhave calmly sat down and had a cup oftea, and perhaps a watermelon, medi-tating all the while on the lofty thoughtsof the great Persian poets. Hafiz. Saadi.Omar Khayyam. and shortly a jeep wouldhave appeared.

instead we reacted in a less enlightenedmanner. We rushed back to our houseto get our bicycles, forgetting the 12kilometers of uphill, muddy road and the

Volunteer Teacher Kathleen Conroy (Allston, Mass.), a June, 1964, Boston Universitygraduate in English literature who went abroad this September, conducts aclass for students learning English at the Jorjani Nursing School in Meshed.