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Shouts erupted behind Mahtab Eskandari and her husband Kourosh. The couple, who were waiting for the bus on their way home from a dinner celebration, began to worry. It was getting late and they were the only ones standing on the street.

As the shouting became louder and more aggressive, Mahtab and Kourosh turned their backs on the noise and headed for the nearest crosswalk.

“We tried to get out of the scene,” said Mahtab. “When we heard shouting, we thought we should get out of this place, just to stay out of trouble. We didn’t want to take any chances.”

Before the couple could cross the intersection at Seymour and West Hastings, the street light changed. With nowhere to go, Kourosh turned around.

Standing a few feet away were the shadowy figures of two men. Advancing towards Mahtab and Kourosh, they began throwing beer cans and shouting what she called “coloured words.”

Seconds later, one of the men leaped towards Kourosh, hit him across the face and tried to drag him to the ground. Mahtab watched on in horror.

Screaming at the sight of her husband being assaulted, Mahtab was struck down by the second attacker. While Kourosh struggled to defend himself, Mahtab struggled to stay standing and, after being punched repeatedly in the head and right side of her face, she fell to the pavement, bleeding.

Luckily for Kourosh and Mahtab a taxi pulled up beside them, scaring the two men away and giving the couple a chance to catch their breath.

“We would never even guess or imagine that physical attacks would be something that would happen, within a few miles of the police station, at that location, with no background and no reason,” said Mahtab.

With the help of the taxi driver, the pair, still in disbelief, called the police. They were instructed, because of the ambulance strike, to take a cab to the emergency room at Lion’s Gate Hospital.

At the hospital that Mahtab and Kourosh learned the extent of their injuries. Kourosh was bruised and cut, but not badly. Mahtab, despite being “lucky” to have had no serious brain trauma, was in more critical condition. Besides thes crapes and cuts from the asphalt, Mahtab’s knee was severely injured, and she had multiple facial injuries from attack.

“My nose cartilage was cracked so there was a lot of bleeding, and a little dislocation from being hit in the face and from being punched at close range,” she said, running her index finger gently over her nose and cheek.

The Aftermath

It’s been scarcely five months since the incident, and the couple is still recovering. Mahtab, an unclassified Anthropology and Education student at UBC, has undergone what she described as a “dramatic shift in thinking.”

“It was a very shocking experience. I had a huge wall of trust and I would have never expected to experience such a thing [in Canada].”

Only a few years earlier, all Mahtab knew about Canada she had learned through the internet and television. While living in Iran and working at Iran Daily, Mahtab planned her move.

“I was really excited. I wanted to live in a multicultural community and I was really excited to find out that there was a nation that was building a new generation of multiculturalism together, shoulder by shoulder and side by side.”

Though enthusiastic about the thought of moving, Mahtab didn’t make any quick decisions. It was only after years of research and deliberation that she decided to relocate to Vancouver in 2006 as a professional landed immigrant working in the field of microbiology.

Without a social network or any family living in Canada, moving from Iran was a bold move, but Mahtab was determined. After returning home to marry her long-time friend and fiancé Kourosh, the couple decided to make Canada their home for good in 2008.
Facing underemployment, language barriers and loneliness, Mahtab remained positive. She joined clubs on campus such as UBC’s CiTR radio station and AMS Equity, and became involved with multicultural organizations such as Immigrant Women of Science and Technology (IWIS).

After the incident, her optimism disappeared. She said she felt as if she was fighting inside to remain her old self, and failing.

“That event really had an impact on me….I couldn’t look at people the same way I used to, knowing that there were a lot of people around me at the time of the incident and no one approached to help,” she said.

Mahtab was distrustful of others and insecure with herself. Once outgoing and confident, she became frightened, scared and ashamed. She gave up the things she loved, such as volunteering with children, because she was embarrassed about the scars on her face. She also shut out friends and family back home in Iran. To this day, her mother Effat doesn’t know about the assault.

“I haven’t told [my parents]. I can’t,” she said. “I am the only daughter. They are already really concerned. What would they think? I don’t want to destroy the image that they have [about Canada].”

Serendipity

With one of the suspects under arrest and a Vancouver Community Court date set in 2011, Mahtab and her husband are doing the best they can to move on with their lives. One of the ways Mahtab has begun to heal is through art. Looking for a way to transform her anger into something constructive, she began creating large scale canvas paintings, which depict the incident and Iranian mythological images.

Mahtab is also organizing an art exhibit, currently entitled Mahtab’s Project. It is a collaboration between thirteen local artists that have been affected by voilence, including painters, dancers, sculptors, actors and poets.

Mahtab wants a street gallery to showcase the artists’ work, talents and stories. She’d like to avoid hosting the gallery indoors, because she wants it to be accessible for everyone, especially to children.

“Whatever we have bitter in our minds has to be transformed into something sweet for children to hear, to experience and to learn, because they imitate and then they are going to perform,” said Mahtab.

Thanks in part to the artists who have already reached out to her, she is slowly regaining her faith and trust in others, and in herself, although she admits she is still fighting for “the old Mahtab.”

“I am happy that I was the one who experienced this, because I know I can change the outcome,” she said.

Mahtab said that having experienced violence first hand, she realizes that it can happen anywhere, to anyone, at any time. Mahtab feels she has a responsibility to tell her story and raise awareness about the effect of violence on the victims who experience it.

“I feel I am responsible to voice their thoughts, their experiences and their messages,” she explained. “These people really, really need people fighting for them. The people around us, the person sitting on the bus next to us, he or she might be a person who has experienced violence. We just never know.”

Taking inspiration from an Iranian proverb, Mahtab clarified what she hopes others learn from hearing her story. “All human beings are members of one ensemble, all playing different melodies in the world,” she recited, first in Farsi and then in English. “We are all created, evolved and emerged from one unique value. Rising from the same soul and descending to the same soul.” U

To contribute to Mahtab’s Project or share your story, e-mail mahtabproject@yahoo.ca.

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