Picture being born into a place where being a woman makes you worthless. Where you live in constant fear of being raped or abused, and collegiettes — like the ones that walk this campus so full of life and potential — are hard to come by.
Imagine screaming at the top of your lungs for help in a crowded room, and no one cares to hear or help.
That is what it’s like to be an underprivileged woman in Iran.
But there is one TCNJ student who hears the cries of the Persian women. Working in relation with the Omid Foundation, a privately-funded charity that supports disadvantaged girls in Iran, Ryan Pilarski is determined to give these women back their voices and ensure their story is told.
Through four separate screenings of the 2009 documentary “A Glass House,” Pilarski hopes to open the eyes of TCNJ students and come together as a community to help support these disadvantaged women.
The screenings of “A Glass House” are going on right now. The documentary was shown last night, April 29 in the Library Auditorium, but you still have three more chances to become aware of the very different and very dark lives Persian women are forced to endure every day. The screening is free, but those who attend are encouraged to make a donation to the Omid Foundation so they can continue giving these women opportunities, but perhaps more importantly, so they can continue giving them hope.
Here is your chance, collegiettes, to help bring light to the lives of Persian women.
The Glass House will be shown in the Library Auditorium Saturday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m.,
Sunday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m., and Monday, May 2, at 7:30.
A Glass House and The Omid Foundation
“A Glass House” tells the stories of four Persian women and how the Omid Foundation provided them the resources to rediscover their self-worth. Through education, self-empowerment and opportunity, the foundation cast light on new possibilities and life options.
The Omid-e-Mehr Foundation was established in 2004 in Tehran, Iran, with two satellite Omid Foundations in the UK and US established in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Their mission lies in strengthening “the social, emotional, and economic competencies of disadvanteged young women (aged from 15-25) in Iran,” according to the Omid Foundation website.
These girls are just like you and me. They dream, they wish, they have aspirations, but the world they live in — a world of oppression and fear — thrusts a burden of impossibility upon them.
And that’s where the Omid Foundations and people like Ryan Pilarski come in.
Ryan’s Connection
Pilarski came across A Glass House flipping through Netflix in November and was instantly struck by the way the Omid Foundation was able to guide these underprivileged women toward a route to success.
He contacted the organization the very next day.
Throughout November, Pilarski was in contact with the Omid Foundation, and the more he spoke to the people behind the organization — learning about their stories and involvement — the more inspired Pilarski became.
“I like people who put one foot in front of the other, and keep putting one foot in front of the other, even when they don’t have shoes,” Pilarski said.
Pilarski explained that many of the women that pass through the Omid Foundation choose to come back and help others on their journey to success.
“One women I spoke with was able to get a passport to the UK where she received formal education in London,” Pilarski said. “She’s now a psychologist and spends one weekend every two months going back to Tehran and counseling women.”
Pilarski said that he believes a retention of interest is the real test of a foundation. According to him, the Omid Foundation is set apart from other nonprofits for its real, genuine interest in the clients it helps.
“There is so much personal interaction,” Pilarski said. “Everyone who worked in the center had a personal investment in each person. The organization itself doesn’t have more than 9 clients at a time so there is a focus on quality.”
The TCNJ-Persia Connection
VOX, Res-Ed, OAVI and the Bonner Program are also standing behind Pilarski’s efforts. The screenings will serve as the capstone event for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. They also tie into OAVI’s Domestic Abuse Awareness Month.
As a Bonner student, SAVE peer educator and CA in Decker, Pilarski is involved with many service programs on campus, but this project in particular served as a personal test for the TCNJ sophomore.
“I had a moment where I vocalized the idea out loud. I felt like we could get people to watch the documentary here as a fundraiser and as soon as I said it I realized it was something I could really be interested in,” Pilarski said. “I wanted to prove to myself I could do it.“
Pilarski has a vision of sending an anonymous donation as an entire school to the Omid Foundations, not as a Bonner Program or OAVI, but as a whole campus community.
“I want to show that we stand behind these kind of things. I don’t always feel like we are the tightest community. It would be a nice act of solidarity.”
So take a break from studying, get off Facebook, stop tweeting and turn off the E! News coverage of the Royal Wedding and be a part of something bigger. Come out and support collegiettes across the world and be a part of the movement that is helping give these women back their voices, so that they too can stand up and be heard.
Peace, Love and Persia.