Today we will hear from 21-year-old Sina Sabet Sarvestani, first cousin to Raha Sabet. Sina’s story is one of bravery in the midst of great difficulty, and the ability to peel darkness away from light. Please read and pass along the following account: 

Personal Statement:
My name is Sina Sabet Sarvestani and I spend most of my week working with other Dallas youth, trying to make a difference in the lives of younger youth in our neighborhoods. Raha Sabet, my first cousin, is imprisoned for doing the exact same thing in Iran.

I serve as a coordinator for the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program in Dallas, Texas, a Bahá’í-inspired program that empowers junior youth (ages12-15) to take charge of their own spiritual and intellectual growth and to contribute to the betterment of their communities. Currently, we have 16 junior youth groups in different neighborhoods of Dallas; consisting of more than 135 diverse participants. The program has provided an environment of mutual support for the group members and an opportunity for the Dallas youth to take part in social action. Our work has gained the support of Dallas Police and the Dallas Independent School District.

When we fled Iran in 2005, my family and I traveled by train to Turkey and went to the United Nations office in Ankara. After a series of interviews, the U.N. decided to send us to the United States, which was already accepting Iranian Bahá’í religious refugees. I was not fluent in English when we arrived in New York City on September 8, 2006. The next day, we flew to Dallas to take a shot at the American dream and, for the first time, experienced religious freedom.

After my intense culture shock subsided, I immediately got involved with soccer, the yearbook committee, track and field, cross country, Link Crew leadership program and student government at Emmet J. Conrad High School, in addition to academic achievements. I even ran for junior class president. I just wanted to try every opportunity possible. I was like a caged bird, who had just gained his freedom. After a year and a half at Emmet J. Conrad High School, I transferred to Plano West High School. I’m currently studying to be a middle school teacher at Richland College, an opportunity that would not be available to me if I had stayed in Iran. 

I was born in January 1990 in Shiraz, Iran. I grew up in a Bahá’í home. Very soon, I learned about my family members, who were imprisoned and killed in 1983, a few years after the revolution in Iran. Ahmad Ali Sabet, my grandfather, and Akhtar Sabet, my second cousin, were among hundreds of Bahá’í martyrs after the revolution. Their crime was simply being Bahá’ís and serving their fellow countrymen. I grew up knowing that I was being persecuted.

In first grade, my parents had to explain to me why I should stop teaching my classmates Bahá’í songs and prayers. I also had to be careful about revealing my Bahá’í identity to teachers, students, officials, etc… In 5th grade, my opportunity to enroll in a special talented and gifted middle school was taken away simply because my mom refused to recant our Bahá’í Faith. In middle school, I was making the highest grades in all my classes including the “Islamic Religious Teachings” and “Quran” courses. But opportunities for academic leadership were always denied to me and given, instead, to the Muslim students.

Often in school, certain teachers would talk about how nasty, unclean, and evil the Bahá’í people are. In 8th grade, once again I was denied the opportunity to enroll in a special talented and gifted high school. When I told my friend, on the last day of school, that I would not join him in the new school next year, he asked me why. He was shocked to hear that I was a Bahá’í. His best friend all year long had been a Bahá’í. How is that possible? He left me with a “Good Luck!” and a confused face. My non-Bahá’í, Iranian classmates would tease me and ask why I even bothered coming to class since I knew that I could not continue my education after high school.

Relationship with my cousin, Raha Sabet:

While we have the freedom to promote the junior youth spiritual empowerment program here in the United States, the story is different for my cousin. Raha Sabet was arrested in 2006 for putting together a similar program in a few deprived neighborhoods of Shiraz. Even though Raha’s group became integrated with a local non-governmental organization and had the support of a number of Muslim residents, the Iranian government eventually caught wind of the group and arrested everyone involved. After the arrests, the government decided to release the Muslim participants, but detained the Bahá’ís, convicting them of “indirect teaching of the Bahá’í Faith.” Raha and two other Bahá’í colleagues were sentenced to four years in prison. Haleh Rouhi and Sasan Taqva were released from the temporary detention center where they had been held for the duration of their incarceration, on December 8, 2010.

I’ve had a few opportunities to talk to Raha. Since the government monitors these phone calls, we have to be careful about what we talk about. She wishes that she was free to continue her social work and be of service to her country.

Update: On February 2, the Bahá’í World News Service reported that Raha Sabet is on temporary release until the receipt of her official pardon.

 ——– 

Thank you Sina for sharing this inspiring account. What a fantastic method of honoring your mentor, family member, or hero: take their persecution/imprisonment and use their so-called “crime” to build your own social movement. This is a classic case of turning lemons into lemonade that we could all learn from. Baha’u’llah and his son, Abdu’l’Baha, made a great example of this whereby the founding of the Baha’i Faith was in essence founded by two men who spent most of their lives in prison. 

What can you do today to draw light from darkness? How can you take a bad situation and transform it into a blessing to others? The opportunity to do great good doesn’t always come at the most convenient times, but often in the blackest of night, when nothing seems possible. I encourage you today to be the light that scatters the night and brings forth a new day.