Former Iranian Rotary Exchange Student Shares Her Experience

 

To be a teenager living in Iran in 1963, the United States must have seemed a far off place, both socially and geographically. Dr. Vida Davoudi came to the U.S. that year as a Rotary- sponsored foreign exchange student and Jan. 25 she shared her story with the Rotary Club of Humble Intercontinental.

 

“I barely knew the language, but loved the United States, like every other teenager. For the first three months in the U.S., I went to school but could barely understand a word being said. After two to three months, many words began to come alive,” she said.

Overall, Davoudi recalls her experience as an exchange student as a very positive one.

“Travel gives you humility when you learn people can be so different from you, but no less worthy,” said Davoudi.

Davoudi delivered her remarks to the Rotary Club of Humble Intercontinental Jan. 25. Davoudi has taught poltical science through Lone Star College-Kingwood for more than 20 years.

She noted that for students who come here, the Rotary exchange program is the best kind of advertising for the American culture and that she became a goodwill ambassador of the U.S. after her exchange year ended.

After returning to Iran, she won a scholarship and attended the American University of Beirut. She later returned to the United States and received her Master’s and Ph.D. in political science from Southern Illinois University. In 1975, Davoudi embarked on a campaign to run for the Iranian Parliament. Using western campaign tactics, such as posters and car loudspeakers, she managed to become the youngest and one of only 20 female members of parliament, of 268 total members. At the time, only 10 to 20 percent of the members were formally elected, the majority of the members were appointed by the Shah. While in the parliament, Davoudi became an active proponent of women’s issues.

“I just wanted women to be free and equal. I wanted women to have custody of their children after divorce. I wanted women to have to consent to divorce. I was just a normal woman wanting normal things,” she said.

Women did not obtain the right to vote in Iran until 1963.

Davoudi fled Iran one night in early 1979 due to the impending Iranian Revolution, and fear for her safety as a member of parliament. The U. S. Embassy in Paris gave Davoudi a visa to return to the U. S.

Davoudi recalled, “Everything changed in one night. The only thing I took with me was my education and my capabilities and that’s what saved me.”

Photo: Dr. Vida Davoudi shares Iranian experience with Humble Rotary. Photo by Susan McFarland