Last week, the Kurdish Human Rights Watch (KHRW) hosted a unique event aimed at raising awareness about the importance of education for the success of the Middle Eastern American Youth. One of the regular and important exercises held at the KHRW office in the San Diego area in California is a roundtable discussion in which faculty meets with public officials such as the mayor, police department and others to discuss community issues and problems. One major issue continuously brought forth is the lack of higher education among members of immigrant communities. The purpose of the event entitled,“The Educational Symposium for the MidEastern Youth”, was to not only share valuable information about how to best pursue an education in the United States but to also provide the youth with the motivation to do so, and attendees received just that.

The conference began with an introduction by one of the organizers, Zozan Berwari, for the Kurdish Human Rights Watch. Ms. Berwari welcomed the speakers and guests and explained the importance of the event; to help guide the youth in pursuing their higher education.

The first guest speaker was Adam Jeffers, a counselor at San Diego State University. Mr. Jeffers explained the importance of choosing a major that one has a passion for regardless of the area of study. He later spoke about the university’s scholarship office and the number of programs making it easy to pursue education in a field that one is interested in. Mr. Jeffers was followed by Arzo Mansury who is a director for the San Diego Foundation, an organization aiming to accommodate community needs. Ms. Mansury specifically works for the Community Scholarship Program, which helps students in San Diego find scholarships to pursue their education. She introduced a program to attendees in which her organization allows students to submit just one application for over 75 different scholarships making it much easier and more probable to receive a scholarship. (Contact the San Diego Foundation at scholarships@sdfoundation.org or 619-235-2300.)

The next speaker was Luqman Barwari, a Kurdish activist and board member for the Kurdish National Congress of North America. Mr. Barwari’s talk was entitled, “Value of Education”, and he spoke about the various resources for college financial assistance making it possible to get an education in the U.S. for free. He then shared statistical information showing average salaries of people with higher education at a much higher rate than those without education. Dr. Sami Jihad, a motivational speaker of the San Diego area’s Chaldean community and Outreach Specialist at Cuyamaca College, spoke about his experiences as an immigrant to the U.S. He shared his experiences about how he came to the U.S. with no help and no money and that it was simply his hard work and his strong ambition that allowed him to pursue his dreams and enter a field that he enjoys.

Next, Raving Barwari, president of the Southern California Chapter of the Kurdish American Youth Organization (KAYO), spoke about his group and the various goals set and achievements made by the Kurdish youth. Mr. Barwari explained that education has been a primary focus for his organization and one that members continue to focus on. He explained that the lack of education is one of the greatest threats to an oppressed nation and provided motivation for the youth at the conference to pursue their higher education. Next, Goran Sadjadi - a freelance writer of MidEast politics and a national advisor for KAYO - began his talk with a discussion about disadvantaged youth in the Kurdish region of Turkey and throughout the Middle East and the obstacles faced in getting an education. He compared the disadvantages of that part of the world with the opportunity for the youth that exists in the United States. Mr. Sadjadi finished with an introduction of the Kurdish-American Student Database (KASD), a project organized by KAYO members and aimed at helping Kurdish youth pursue their educational and career goals. (Visit the official KASD website at http://kasd.kurdyouth.org .)

A short coffee break allowed attendees to exchange information with speakers and ask questions. During this time, the El Cajon Police Department of the San Diego area also shared a booth where attendees could go look at police equipment and gear. At the start of the event’s second session, Ms. Berwari introduced Rick Whitman, an officer of the El Cajon Police Department, who spoke specifically about diversity in communities and the need to open up channels of communication between the police departments and the MidEastern communities. He explained that the police departments need to know what the communities’ needs are in order to help them and that it is up to the communities to provide them with that information. Mr. Whitman said that these practices would allow communities to develop and could help keep the youth out of trouble and engaged in positive activities.

The next speaker was Dr. Jessee Mills, a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego. Dr. Mills spoke about the issues faced by developing communities, and in particular, his experiences and involvement in the Somalia communities. He also discussed the various injustices committed in the United States and how each person could get involved individually and through community organizing in supporting human and civil rights struggles. Dr. Kamal Artin, a psychiatrist and director of an organization for conflict resolution, provided the audience with a very entertaining satire to explain that education is a human right. Dr. Artin said that education is the most important tool in allowing freedom to prosper and oppression to end. He explained that education helps the oppressed to question their state, and eventually, determine their own destiny. (A summary of Dr. Artin’s discussion can be read at http://www.art-in-mind.org/latest .)

The conference ended with a letter sent by Mr. Aria Fani on behalf of the Persian Cultural Center of San Diego, which was read by Niroj Rekani for the Kurdish Human Rights Watch. Finally, Ms. Rekani and Ms. Berwari closed the event with a reminder to the youth that success is in each youth’s hands and that it is their choice to make that success a reality.

Visit the Kurdish Human Rights Watch (KHRW) at http://www.khrw.org

For more information about the KHRW office of the San Diego area, visit
http://www.khrw.org/san_diego.html

This report/summary was prepared by Mr. Goran Sadjadi.