A symbol of friendship

BASYA LAYE

Teh Scarf is a redesign of the traditional kaffiyah worn in the Middle East. Red and white, it features a maple leaf motif, paying homage to the adopted homeland of its creators: Noam Dehan, Mehrdad Hoda and Hossein Irani.

The scarf’s Facebook page reads: “We are three Vancouver-based artists from Middle Eastern countries currently in conflict: Israel and Iran. We grew up with very little knowledge about each other’s cultures, however, Canada provided us the opportunity to meet and discover unforeseen similarities.”

Always interested in art and design, Dehan was born in Israel but came to Canada four years ago, after his military service. “I was born in a tiny village in Israel called Clil,” he said. “My mother grew up in Canada when she was young, so, I thought, I would give it a try as well. Currently, I work part time in a coffee shop and also pursue my photography and design passion.”

Soon after Dehan arrived here, he met Irani, his coworker at the café. “A year later, I met Mehrdad through Hossein.”

Hoda has been in Vancouver for three years and is in his final year of the business marketing program at SFU, where Irani is also a student and where they first met. Born in Iran, he moved to Eastern Canada nine years ago but said, “The East Coast was too cold for me, so I decided to come to the warmest place in Canada – Vancouver.”

Hoda and Irani attended the same university and, eventually, Hoda became friends with Dehan, too. “What was really surprising for me was that Farsi and Hebrew have quite a lot of similar words, which further points out the similarities between the two nations.”

Irani spent his first 21 years in Tehran. “I emigrated to Canada a few years ago with my parents to join my sister here.... Basically, it was both work and school that led me to a friendship with Noam and Mehrdad.... After working with Noam for a while, I started to realize how much we have in common. We understood each other’s jokes and found that we like same songs that are both in Hebrew and Farsi.”

Many will associate the kaffiyah with Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and others still as a symbol of revolution and resistance, but, “The kaffiyah is well rooted in both Iranian and Israeli cultures, and all of us were familiar with it,” Irani said. “Also, in recent years, there was a fashion trend with this clothing item, which we noticed as well.”

Dehan said the project “symbolizes our unique friendship” and, explained Hoda, “As immigrants, we thought to joke with the stereotype that immigrants do not speak good English or are not aware of Canadian slang and customs. The name seems grammatically wrong but it actually conveys the ‘eh’ expression in Canadian language.... When people talk to us they soon realize the meaning, and also our logo, through different font colors, demonstrates it as well.”

About the symbolism, Hoda continued, “Honestly, as I was growing up, I always heard negative stereotypes about Jewish people, such as that they are hard to deal with or scam you in business. And I am not alone. Many Iranians or non-Iranian Muslims are fed with the same type of stereotypes and they actually believe it. But this stereotype is now history for me, thanks to this experience. Teh Scarf aims to deliver the same lesson to others who have these negative stereotypes.”

“In Israel, you constantly hear the saying that ‘Persians are cheap,’” added Dehan, “but I can argue against that now. We have earned each other’s trust through our friendship and this trust is reflected on how we handle the finances of the project, which is very transparent and open. Also, through my friendship with Hossein, Mehrdad and other Iranians I met in Vancouver, I found Iranians generous and hospitable. Also, religion is a personal matter and everyone should be free in their choice and practices as long as it doesn’t obstruct others’ rights or freedom.”

Irani said, “Muslims and Jews are mostly not on good terms with each other, especially in recent decades, however, that is on a very macro level. If you actually look closer, you see lasting friendship and partners from two different religions around the world. Teh Scarf is only one of the many examples. I guess these kinds of stories don’t get publicized, as they don’t have the action and thrill a conflict would have.”

Response to the scarf has been good. Explained Dehan, “The very little misunderstanding was addressed by referring them to sources showing that a kaffiyah is not to identify a religion, rather ... to [provide protection] from the desert sun, also as a filter for the mouth and nose from sand storms. Moreover, it has been used through the Middle East regardless of the religious affiliation (including the Jews and the pioneers that built Israel) by different tribes throughout the region, as well as Canadian forces who serve at deserts countries.

“It gave me a good feeling when I saw that even people from the Jewish community here ‘liked’ us on Facebook and also to see that Israel is among the top three countries that our Facebook fans are from,” he said.

Hoda and Irani “attend Persian events around town” and, they said, “Even though we are not involved in any specific Persian organization, we received a lot of support and encouragement from our fellow Persian friends and family here...”

Irani added, “People constantly hear in the news about Israel-Iran conflict and believe that all Israelis and Iranians are enemies of each other. So they get surprised when they see the opposite holds true. Also, people get very inspired when they realize that Canadian multiculturalism and [its] harmonized society have facilitated such an extraordinary friendship.”

The scarf is “firstly a fashion-clothing accessory that is suitable for Canadians and Canadian culture,” they stressed, and “a great souvenir and gift for visitors to Canada. However, we didn’t want Teh Scarf to only be a simple scarf because it has an inspiring background,” which is why they include the story with every scarf, “to not only satisfy our consumers’ fashion needs, but also to educate them about the possibilities that seem to be nonexistent.”

“Through reading our story, people will reflect on the conflict they have in their own lives,” said Dehan. “Living in Israel, I know there is conflict even between different streams of Judaism ... but, as seen from our story, with the right attitude and a bit of optimism, most of the issues can be resolved.”

For more information, visit tehscarf.ca.

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