There could only be one subject for me to write about his week: Iran, now entering a week of war.
With things changing by the hour, news reports diverging, and the number of conflicting opinions set to outstrip the population of that large country, one hardly knows where to start. It hardly seems worth it at all to try to make sense of it. Where I will start is with a couple of friends of mine from Iran who have had refugee status here in Georgia for a little while now. I have known them for over a year. They are husband and wife, Christians, and they have consented to an interview, on condition of anonymity.
How long have you been in Georgia, and how and why did you come here?
We’ve been here for two years; we flew in directly. We came because conditions for Christians in Iran are very repressive. We cannot live our faith there openly at all. So we applied for refugee status here, and so far have been granted it. For this we are glad.
Dare I ask: How are you feeling now, given the current situation back home? What hopes do you have?
Very mixed feelings: joy that things are changing, great sorrow for the death and destruction. Uncertainty about what news to believe. We hope that there will be enough change to let us return to a peaceful, free country where we can be believers in the Messiah openly.
How has your time in Georgia been? What is hardest, and best, for you here?
Here, we have freedom to be ourselves. Peace. Security. But home is… there. It always will be. We have family members in Iran who cannot get out because of border issues. Oof course, there are no flights in the whole region. The only open border for foot traffic at the moment is to Armenia, but our people are not registered, they are believers too, so this is unavailable to them at the moment. Contact is sporadic. We can’t call them, and have to wait for them to get in touch with us when they can. It’s very hard not knowing how they are, and what is really going on there.
What do you wish to tell people who are reading this about Iran?
“We ask for those who pray to do so, for the things we have mentioned above. And, when peace and freedom return, we will welcome many guests and visitors, even to our own home!”
I, too, wish and pray for my friends and their magnificent, ancient country comfort, protection for loved ones, new freedom, and the hope to return to a new beginning. God knows they’ve all had enough fear, repression, disappointment and disaster over many decades. There is no telling, yet, when and how this war will end. There is plenty enough to fear about the many ways in which it could go so badly wrong, and how far it could yet spread.
The photos, by the way, are from my only ever chance to see Iran so far, which was from the air, on the way from Dubai to Kathmandu a few years ago. I, too, hope to be a guest there one day.
Interview by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
