"There is always a fear following you on streets"
I was comming home back , it was 6 pm , only about 1 hour after sunset , i was walking toward home in an area which was not very crowded, and also a little bit dark , a young man was walking , in an opposite direction , i changed my way into the other side of the street , im used to do it whenever a male creature(!) is getting near on an empty streat, after i did it, i saw that he did the same , he was getting near to me , again i changed my way and again he was getting nearer and nearer! Ah! i could see his face better now, one of those men who migrate to Tehran from a far town, with a hope to find a job, i had to shout on him ! he was in 1 meter distance and i was making myself ready to escape or may be even to fight with him! but fortunatly my shout made him scared enough to leave me and went far while nagging to himself,,, puuuuuaah! i could have a relax breath!...

finished! it happened for me just like a routine part of my dayly life! my heart stopped beating fast after 1 minute and everything became the same as before!..

i remembered my schoold days , the evening that i was comming home back , i was a 15 year old school girl , a very simple one , i was walking and a man stopped his car and asked me an address , a usual man in a usual car with a usual and polite way of speaking , so, me stupid believed him ! he said that the address was written on a piece of paper which was in his hand , asked me to read it and guide him, so i got near to his car to get the paper, and he gave me the paper, and then before i find time to have a look at it, took his hand out of the window of his car and made a hit into my belly , a hit that pushed me away on the ground , then he speed up the car and went ,

i was so confused ,just asking myself why he did it.

"The abused child often clings to the abusing parent rather than go to a foster home, and he later grows up to abuse his own children even though he hated the treatment he received"

Human's soul is so complicated, so difficult to know, i was shocked after reading the upper sentence in a sycological paper, childhood is a very important period in life time,

i always imagine what happens to those children who are living on streets, what do they eat? where do they sleep at night? what do they learn from their environment? what kind of men or women they will change into after they grow?

its so cruel that nobody cares for them, they will finally grow, each of them will become an adult with an undesirable childhood, a childhood without love, without feeling safe with anybody, without any game, without education and learning nice things, full of cruel dark cold streets,

someone should finally do something for them!

My British friend says..
Hi fatema, It's my last travel story from Iran for your weblog , I hope it's o.k.. It is my biggest regret that I did not keep a diary as i travelled in nepal,india,pakistan and iran....

ESFAHAN,QUM,TEHRAN APRIL 1997 --- I have been on the road for four months and I have yet to have a conversation with a woman.Hotel and restaurant workers,taxi drivers,bus drivers and tourist guides are all men.As the saying goes.......IT'S A MANS WORLD.In Iran especially,girls smile as you pass them on the street but none will stop to talk.I'm aware of the implications for a girl to be seen talking to a man in public so I don't engage in conversation either.It's a pity as I'm curious about whats life is like for a girl in Iran.I think as well that a person has fonder memories of a country if you get chatting to the people.A couple of years ago I was travelling around vietnam,enjoying it immensely,but I never had a good chat with anybody.Admittedly,very few people speak english in vietnam.Now when I think about vietnam,I've got no warm feelings towards it.So now I've got my chance.I am in Esfahan,enjoying the Eman Mosque with its gorgeous blue tiles,when two girls wave at me to come over to them.I'm not sure what to do as I do not want to get them into trouble.I decide to go and as I begin to walk over a group of schoolboys,on a school trip from Mashad,appear from nowhere and surround me,wanting to talk about football!!!What bad luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Next on my list was the Holy city of Qum,155km south of Tehran.I was not allowed to enter the Masumeh Mosque but it was fantastic just to look in.At the entrance a man,smartly dressed in a suit,approached me and asked to see my passport.He was polite but firm asking where I was staying and where I was going to next.

The taxidriver taking me to Tehran told me he was from the secret police.I like cities the best and the bigger the better.So arriving in Tehran was very exciting.I remember thinking as I walked around Tehran,here I am in one of the safest cities in the world and yet I decided not to tell my family I was going to Iran.I did not want to worry them.Over the next five days I visited many of the sights in Tehran including the Holy shrine of Eman Khomeini and the cemetery,Behesht-e Zahra.My travel guidebook says "the graves go as far as the eye can see" .It is true.Many of the graves contain photographs and personal things of the soldiers.It was truly shocking to see so many graves.

The hotel I was staying at also had two Malaysian girls.One was a Malay muslim and the other was a chinese Malaysian.They were travelling around Iran only.We went on a day trip to Tochal mountain,taking the cable car.On arriving at the base we got something to eat and as we went to board the cable car a woman in uniform approached us.She told one of the girls,quite sternly,to close her jacket as underneath she was wearing a loose fitting tee-shirt.She got a fright as I did also.We had a marvellous day on the mountain.There was no skiing, as most of the snow had melted, but people were sliding down on plastic bags.All of us were given chances to slide down by people we met there.In my three weeks in Iran they were the only tourists I met.One evening at the hotel I went to their room for a chat and to decide on what sightseeing we would do the following day.About fifteen minutes later the Hotel Manager knocked on the door and said I should leave.He told us that it was O.K for me to talk for a few minutes but not too long as somebody could report it to the police.

My Iranian Odyssey was coming to an end.I had two days left on my visa.One would take me to Tabriz and the other to the turkish border.I have been to many countries since but Iran will always be my number 1.The reason why ......its people.When you meet fellow travellers many stories are exchanged----which countries you been to and what you saw there.Very,Very few people have been to Iran and when I say I have been there,invariably,they say WOW, what was it like?This is where I do my ambassadorial duties!!! come in and I tell them it's the best country you could visit

This post is writen by Mr Sidney Phelan

I agree with Plate, ( he has started writing again, welcome back ;) ) , political problems shouldnt be mixed with this earthquake problems,, because these 2 are completly different fields, horrible earthquake ! in relation to people's blood and lives, its much more serious than dirty political thoughts! more important than what passes through political men's minds!...

i can't understand why president Khatami insistes on losing this small number of fans remained for him emong people! sometimes he says some words that shows a 100% mullah face of himslef!... we all know that he doesn't have enough power in the dictatorship of KHamene'i , but nobody had put a gun behind him that forces him to say stupid words about iranian's hopes and believes.

about US and diplomatic relation of this country with iran,.. i myself like american people ,they look nice ,simple,happy and free! but i dont like the american government's foriegn diplomacy, ( although its natural diplomacy for a superpower country!) still i think its better for Iran to have friendly relations with USA ,... anyway,...

me, as a simple un-important iraniangirl, thank US and all other countries which helped iran about the earthquake .

by the way!! ***HAPPY NEW YEAR*** to those who are starting a new year. ( in iran, new year starts at first of spring )