While caring for their own, Zoroastrians in the diaspora have also been assisting their local populace and others
Parinaz Gandhi
When congregation became impossible, connectivity proved crucial. For Zoroastrians in the diaspora, the lockdown period necessitated the use of electronic gadgets and softwear to stay globally connected and informed. From North America to Australia, associations and individuals rallied to assist the less fortunate. An appeal for help from community members in Iran resulted in co-religionists from across the globe coordinating to rush them supplies. Initiatives by thoughtful associations ensured there was a steady supply of food/medicines for the elderly members living alone. Sustained efforts were also made by Zoroastrians in India, Pakistan, the UK, North America, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore to render aid to their local populace.
Solace was additionally offered through religion. Jashan prayers were recited by priests in isolation at the local dar-e-mehers. Prayers for Ava and Adar paravs as also rituals for other important days in the Zoroastrian calendar were either relayed on Zoom or via YouTube to encourage the community to pray together. Religion classes, annual general meetings (AGM), as also committee meetings over Zoom became routine.
After writing to associations in March/April and seeking updates in the second week of June, Parsiana has been able to collate a global account:
Pakistan
"We have advised all the colonies which are under the control of the Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund (KPATF) to follow social distancing but somehow the residents don’t understand the gravity,” regretted chairman Byram Avari who was concerned that some positive cases are emerging in the community.
A circular from the chairman and trustees of the KPATF sent to every apartment to accentuate this mandatory distancing stated, "Please refrain from getting together either in each other’s homes or on the benches or staircases of the Parsi Anjuman Baugh, Jamshed Baugh and Ghari Khata for a quick get-together or to share a drink/meal. Please also restrict your kids from doing the same. Social distancing is of utmost importance as we do not know if we are carriers of Covid-19… You are putting others at risk apart from yourself. We care also for our senior citizens hence we look forward to your serious cooperation.”
Expecting the situation in Pakistan to take a long time to resolve "unless we as a country and our political leadership take drastic actions,” Avari stated that five of their Avari group of hotels (two in Multan, one in Faisalabad, one in Islamabad and another 210-room hotel in Lahore) "have been closed down by us for lack of business and to reduce energy and other costs. As done by us during the 9/11 days… and the last worldwide downturn, we have sent 3,000 staff home but with full pay. This is an unbelievable burden for us which will continue till this pandemic is resolved.”
Iran
Currently the Iranian government has cautiously permitted the reopening of most government offices, religious places and public businesses although the health ministry continues to stress on strict social distancing, quarantine rules, etc, responded Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary on June 8, 2020 when Parsiana sought to ascertain the global impact of the coronavirus on the community. The Federation of Zarthoshty Anjumans of Iran, obeying the edicts of the Council of Iranian Mobeds, "stopped some recent attempts to reopen sports grounds attached to prayer halls and even the pilgrimage to our popular Pir e Chak Chak, the annual season for which is approaching,” he added.
"During March and April, our community in Iran lost nine behdins,” stated the senior priest. While nearly 50 Zoroastrians were afflicted by the virus, "mainly from close-knit families and those who had attended sports events… almost all have recovered or are convalescing thanks to the medical assistance from our Parsi brethren,” appreciated Firouzgary.
Trying to resume their activities, the website Berasad.com invited Zoroastrian children aged five to 12 to participate in the Zoroastrian Virtual Music Festival by sending in video entries until July 26.
United Kingdom
"The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) Zartoshty Brothers Fund played a vital role, together with Dr Shernaz Cama of UNESCO PARZOR, our honorary life member Dr Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India, Dr Yousuf Hamied of Cipla, our patron Lord Karan Bilimoria, Homa Zartoshty and the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) president Homi Gandhi, in donating ventilators, accessories and medicine, which were airlifted in the last week of March from Delhi to Tehran for the Shahid Sadoughi University Medical Hospital, Yazd, to help Iranians, including Zoroastrians, infected by Covid-19,” reported ZTFE president Malcolm Deboo.
Prof Zubin Sethna volunteers for food delivery in the UK
Keen to help their co-religionists, the ZTFE initiated a fund-raising venture realizing, "We in the UK are blessed with the NHS (National Health Service), sadly Iran isn’t and Covid-19 has hit our Zoroastrian community disproportionately in Yazd,” pointed out Deboo.
Yet another fund-raising drive was initiated by ZTFE and FEZANA for the Masina Hospital that had appealed for funds to treat Covid-19 patients in specially erected Porta Cabins as these units are called, to be used by patients and the medical personnel attending to them.
"Sadly self-isolation has also left many of our senior citizens worried about how to cope,” pointed out Deboo. The Care in the Zoroastrian Community (CZC) core team with its motto "No one should feel alone!” is determined to encompass all those in need. "For older people without family in the vicinity (some no family at all), this means that they find themselves without provisions or food. The CZC team (in partnership with Rangrez — an Indian restaurant run by Harman Singh Kapoor, as well as other such providers in the UK) has mobilized a "fresh food drop” service to those who truly need it. So far, 20 vulnerable people across the whole of the UK (not just in London) have had freshly cooked food delivered, free of charge, to their homes every two days by a small team of volunteer ‘delivery’ drivers,” reported CZC volunteer Prof Zubin Sethna who along with other community members has been working with Kapoor to deliver meals to individuals, care homes and hospitals. The CZC core team appreciates the donations (financial as well as uncooked food) that have also come in from the wider Zoroastrian community to support this cause.
Fortunately, the CZC team with volunteers from the Zoroastrian Senior Citizens Care Home subcommittee, Z Club, Young Zoroastrians and Fun Club has built up a social network to assist senior citizens who may need to talk, keep in touch or help with their groceries. Contact was established with more than 300 ZTFE members, over 65 years old, to ensure that they were safe and well, and to enquire if they needed assistance with collection of medication, delivery of food parcels, or if they’d appreciate a weekly ‘check-in’ telephone call. "The demand is growing as is the appreciation from those we reach out to,” conveyed Sethna. Unable to convene their annual "Together Old and Young Zoroastrians” event this year, ZTFE initiated "Penpal Zoros” — where pairs of inter-generational Zoroastrians (one above 60, the other below 12) will be matched and invited to write to each other.
"Places of worship in the UK will be open for private worship from June 15, but not for ceremonial worship until July 7,” clarified Deboo, adding, "The ZTFE managing committee is in discussion about community activities in the coming months.” Meanwhile, "Our resident priest Ervad Yazad Bhadha at the Zoroastrian Centre daily invokes names of those who are unwell, while reciting the Doa Tandorasti benedictory prayers.” On important hamkaras, they arranged for the boi ritual followed by a hambandagi to be screened live on YouTube. "Some volunteers have managed to use technology to enable our older people to listen to the recent live prayer broadcasts by Ervads Bhadha, Jimmy and Fali Madon which brought a lot of much-needed calm and solace,” added Sethna.
While fund-raising efforts for deserving causes will continue, realizing that "as a charitable organization we need to consider and preserve our finances and trust monies carefully,” the managing committee decided to place some of their staff on furlough leave from June 1, 2020. "The office of the ZTFE secretariat will remain closed for the foreseeable future,” they announced.
North America
The FEZANA AGM 2020 that was to be hosted by the Sacramento Zoroastrian Association from May 1 to 3, 2020 was rescheduled as an online event on June 20, conveyed president elect Arzan Wadia. The 18th North American Zoroastrian Congress that was to be held in Houston in December 2020 will now be held in 2024. The 17th Zoroastrian Games that were to be held in Washington in the summer of 2020 have been deferred to the summer of 2021.
"At times like these, it is important for our community members to come together in prayers to draw strength and courage, to bring hope and light and to stand in solidarity with the world population; specially the ones that are affected by the virus, their care-givers and medical professionals who provide selfless service to our communities,” noted a communiqué from the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC) assuring help to "anyone who needs our services.” Zoroastrians were urged to unite in prayers at the change of each gah.
Following the change of FEZANA office bearers in end June, they will initiate a series of monthly talks and discussion forums online with a focus on the youth. "FEZANA member associations have been hosting a lot of collaborative events” like their religion classes to get a bigger turnout and to benefit from different teachers, noted Wadia.
The Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) initiated its annual general meeting online. "We had over 70 members who all joined in for the 90-minute meeting that we did over gotomeeting.com and it turned out very well,” Wadia had conveyed earlier.
Religion class teachers in New York coordinate on Zoom
Further, the ZAGNY board has been meeting over video conferencing calls, has been continuing its Gatha classes live on Zoom every alternate Sunday, the ZGoldies group has their monthly meeting on Zoom with virtual Bingo games. The funds raised from those games will be donated to ZAGNY.
"Personally I know of at least four or five Zarathushtis in the Greater New York area who have been affected by coronavirus. Two of them had to be hospitalized, but are back on their way to full recovery. They are all young adults, so the recovery was quicker,” stated Wadia. "The only person who I have heard about, who passed away from coronavirus (as yet) is Viraf Darukhanawala of Chicago.”
ZAGNY members were part of a live event, "Soothe The Soul,” organized by FEZANA, where Ervads Pervez Patel, Cyrus Pavri and Porus Pavri recited prayers with translations while Mani Rao sang monajats. Over 360 people tuned in from all over the world to watch the event.
Since visits to dar-e-mehers are not permitted, devotees can now Zoom in at the assigned time for prayers, maachis, Sunday School sessions. The Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Washington, Inc (ZAMWI) has introduced a weekly "Community Chat” beginning March 30 when every Monday between 8-8:40 p.m. members are welcome to interact with the ZAMWI board and share ideas to make the "community stronger and more connected.”
The Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago has formed a special Covid-19 Task Force aimed at supporting "the most vulnerable members of our community with the help they need, and ultimately reducing the risk of exposure within our small but resilient community.” Besides conducting telephonic wellness checks, volunteers will assist those who do not have the facilities by carting provisions and medications. "Sometimes just a 15-minute conversation can bring joy to someone’s life! Now is the time to show you care, to be a Zarathushti, and call on your fellow community members who you think may be in need,” advised their newsletter.
Team Masketeers in Houston have been busy stitching and supplying home-made masks to hospitals. Others have been participating in 24-hour prayer vigils. "To accommodate the spiritual needs of our community, we are accepting maachi requests, which will be conducted remotely via Audio or FaceTime,” notes their newsletter. Boi ceremony and humbandagi were streamed via Zoom from the Bhandara Atash Kadeh.
The Zoroastrian Association of Houston CARES (Crisis Action Response) team has assured support realizing that "lifestyles are changing and depression can set in even before you realize it.” Members are reminded that "self-help books on how to be happy flourish, and products to reduce anxiety and sadness are constantly marketed. And no wonder that Google has a ‘Chief Happiness Officer,’ and Yale University’s most popular course is ‘The Science of Being Happy’ taken by a million students so far and even offered online. Instead of working hard at being happy, let us just be grateful for the many blessings we still have.”
Houston real estate developer Feroze Bhandara offered the hospital premises that he owns for use in these times of Covid-19 isolation. Originally the Westbury Community Hospital, it functioned as the Hopebridge Mental Hospital from 2010-2017 until Hurricane Harvey caused the building to be flooded.
Convinced that laughter is the best medicine, the Toronto Parsi Drama Group of the Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation planned "mastimaja (fun) without corona,” by arranging for a viewing of the 2018 recorded version of the play Madan Ni Mansik Hospital for 24 hours starting 7 p.m. on April 18 on YouTube. On April 21, using YouTube Livestream they broadcast Atash nu parav prayers from their Darbe Mehr. The Zoroastrian Society of Ontario hosted an online Quiz Night on April 12 using the Zoom platform.
Australia
The current pandemic resulted in the Business Association of Western Australian Zoroastrians (BAWAZ) to hold their first monthly meeting on Zoom in April. They decided "to meet every Wednesday now on Zoom, just to keep in touch with our committee and other members also,” reported president Firoz Pestonji. "By keeping communication lines open and supporting them morally,” BAWAZ repeatedly coaxed members not to move out of their homes and to keep in touch on phone and WhatsApp instead.
BAWAZ would have liked to send funds for the Zoroastrians in Iran but could not do so "due to the delay in news reaching us. By the time we got in touch, material had been dispatched to Yazd,” stated Pestonji. But locally, they extended financial support to the Federation of Indian Associations of West Australia, an umbrella body of almost 60 Indian centric associations that has been daily providing over 100 free vegetarian meals to international students, mainly Asian, who were stranded in Perth plus over 50 meals to elderly people in lockdown. Earlier the Zoroastrian Association of Western Australia had provided financial assistance to the Red Cross in its work for Covid-19.
The heads of Australian and New Zealand associations convened a Zoom meeting on April 13 "to discuss points for finalizing the constitution by-laws, etc” for the proposed Federation of Australian Zoroastrian Associations, added Pestonji.
Although inter-state movement was not permitted even in mid June, most states were permitting gatherings of up to 100 individuals while maintaining social distancing and other norms. Restaurants, pubs and travel sites are gradually opening but international travel is expected to resume only end of the year unless there is an emergency, noted Pestonji.
Hong Kong and Singapore
After discontinuing all activities of the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao from February to May due to Government guidelines on social distancing, the trustees have announced a couple of gahanbars in June. Convinced that "strict social distancing” is the need of the hour "as one just doesn’t know who is going to be the next victim,” president Neville Shroff stated, they were "fully committed to the health, safety and well-being of all our members here.
"We trustees wear several hats and are responsible for the well-being of our Parsi/Zoroastrian community, our staff, our tenants in our building. Hence, we have had to make decisions and judgments very carefully even at the risk of being unpopular,” added Shroff whose "philosophy is to be proactive rather than reactive… If we fail in our duty to do the right thing, it reflects on our leadership.”
Relief efforts undertaken in Singapore
Online attendance (above) for the jashan conducted by Ervad Percy Khambatta in Singapore
Rather than risk a fatality within the community, in compliance with the social distancing measures recommended by the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) government and health authorities, the Jamshedi Navroz celebrations and all events thereafter at the Zoroastrian Building were postponed although some felt that the community should pray together for Ahura Mazda’s blessings in these difficult times. Finally the jashan was held but the trustees recommended members not to attend. "Fortunately, nearly all members respected the decision and did not attend.”
Of the strong opinion that members should stay indoors till the situation subsides, the president recommended, "Whilst we should not panic, we should exercise caution and vigilance in ensuring the safety and well-being of ourselves, our families and loved ones… We should be able to help one another; not be selfish and self-centered as we have a bigger duty to our frontline and health workers. By doing what we feel like doing we are posing a great risk to their life and destroying their families.”
A YouTube recording and news clipping of the travails of Hong Kong based journalist Rhea Mogul being compelled to spend a week in quarantine at Chun Yeung Estate beginning March 21 as a precautionary measure reflected on the government’s efforts to contain possible infection by isolating individuals who had come in contact with Covid-19 cases.
The Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Singapore (PZAS) held its AGM on March 15 and members who could not attend in person called in over a telecon number provided, stated PZAS secretary Natasha Karanjia. Since the last three months, committee meetings are now conducted on Zoom as are the weekly prayers and monthly get-togethers. The annual jashan on May 1 was led by Ervad Percy Khambatta from his residence instead of the Parsi Burial Ground in earlier years. Over 35 families joined on Zoom to seek blessings.
In February, "four members from the Association joined the interfaith community in Singapore to pack medical supplies to be sent to Hubei, China. If and whenever manpower support will be needed, our association will provide,” assured Karanjia.
In April, the Association sent a consignment of fruits for the migrant workers affected by Covid-19 in Singapore. "We just donated $ 1,000 collected over a Bingo evening to Foodbank Singapore in May 2020. Our committee has decided that whatever we collect from our monthly activities will be donated towards a Covid-19 cause in Singapore,” added Karanjia.