By Graeme Morton, Calgary HeraldJuly 26, 2009
You won't often find Mahmood Jafari in a Calgary mosque or church.
He estimates he's been in a house of worship perhaps a dozen times in the 12 years he's lived here.
Jafari clearly prefers to practise his faith, his spirituality of personal advocacy, on the streets of his adopted Canadian home and in his native Iran.
"I believe the whole world is the house of God," says Jafari, 41, over a morning cup of tea at a Kensington coffee house. "I thank God every day. He took part of my life away, from the chest down. But I think God did it to help me better understand other people's pain. We should have appreciation for what we have."
The hand that life has dealt Jafari is not one many of us would choose. The youngest of a large Iranian family, he served as a soldier during the final years of the brutal Iran-Iraq War that raged from 1980-1988.
Jafari survived that ordeal, only to be shot during a civilian incident in 1989. His severe spinal cord injury landed him in a Tehran hospital for two years and confined him to a wheelchair for life.
"The doctors told me 'you can't survive', but I believe I am still here for a reason," he says. "God gave me a second chance."
Since moving to Calgary in June, 1997, Jafari has done everything in his power to become a productive, model citizen. He's a glass half-full type of person, speaking in terms about all people having unique abilities, instead of dwelling on their disabilities.
Jafari has taken part in fundraising wheelchair journeys from Calgary to Banff, then Calgary to Edmonton. He's volunteered tirelessly for the Red Cross in a number of capacities. On Friday nights, you'll often find him at the YMCA, working with kids during Teen Night.
Bow Valley College has asked Jafari to talk with incoming international students about the untapped potential they possess and what it will take to overcome the hurdles in a new land.
He often hands out candies to both strangers and neighbours he meets as he wheels around his beloved Kensington.
"Some of my friends think I'm a little crazy, but it's the way I am," says Jafari with a smile and a shrug. "All the energy I have, it comes from God."
As a veteran of the battlefield, Jafari knows better than most the fierce toll conflict can take, losing many friends in the Iran-Iraq War. That's why the never-ending parade of global violence continues to spur him into working for peace as best he can.
In recent years, Jafari, a Shiite Muslim, has contacted scores of religious groups and churches across western Canada, hoping to organize some form of a conference, or even an ambitious handbike trip, to promote a broad, interfaith call for global peace. While his dreams are still to find final form, he refuses to let frustration subdue his passion.
"Religion and politics often are hard to separate in today's world. Religion can be used to justify some terrible things, killing and oppressing people," says Jafari. "But I still think the basic role of religion is to educate us about God, not to divide us."
In the last two years, Jafari has been travelling back to Shahroud, a city of about 135,000, east of Tehran. There, he's been working with non-governmental organizations which encourage people with mental and physical challenges to take a more active role in Iranian society. He's also helping city officials there look at ways they can make public streets, sidewalks and buildings more accessible to those with mobility issues.
"It's a different culture there. I'm trying to encourage families and people who may be confined to houses to come out into the community," says Jafari. "I want to help those people get job and computer education, to have access to fitness, to bring them out of the shadows of society."
Jafari is collaborating with Calgary's House of Persian Rugs, who will donate a percentage of a product's price to his Iranian project if his name is mentioned.
More information on Jafari's work is available by calling 403-270-3400.
gmorton@tHeHerald. Canwest.Com
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Mahmood Jafari, supporting women weavers in Semnan Province, Iran (2009)
