Three youngsters from three countries bagged the top honors in the essay contest for 11 to 14-year-olds organized by the Religious Education Committee of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA). As announced on the FEZANA Facebook Page on July 22, 2021, Ferzeen Kavarana and Minoo Noruziaan shared the first prize while Ethan Sethna was announced as the runner-up. The topic for the essay was "The importance of taking care of the environment in Zoroastrianism.”
Lovji Cama, chair of the Religious Education Committee and contest organizer Artemis Javanshir said they declared Kavarana and Noruziaan joint winners as only two points separated them and they "did not consider the difference to be significant.” The essays were judged by Anahita Khadem, Shazneen Gandhi and Rebecca DesPerez, with the final total score ranging from 112 points to 81 points. The essays sent to the judges did not have the writer’s names and only had an identifying number, they added. The minimum word count for the essays that had to be submitted by June 1 was 100, with the first prize carrying $ 100 (Rs 7,400) and the runner-up, $ 50 (Rs 3,700).
Above Ferzeen Kavarana (l) and Ethan Sethna: ecological awareness
Eleven-year-old Ferzeen of Michigan, US, says she made use of the essay structure she learnt in school to prepare for the write-up, with the content coming from her religion class. "Most of the details included in my essay were from my religion class where we had learnt about the Amesha Spentas and the Bundahishn, better known as the Zoroastrian story of creation. I combined this knowledge with our modern-day environmental problems.” Mother Anahita chipped in with a few helpful hints. The subject of the essay also partly mirrored the seventh grader’s concerns as she says she is "very passionate about keeping the environment clean and safe for the future generations.” Ferzeen’s hobbies include playing the ukulele and cooking/baking.
Fourteen-year-old Minoo from Manitoba, Canada, came to know about the competition from her Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) monthly online religion classes. Both her parents spurred her to write the essay with dad Bahman giving her "some basic information… I may not be following all the dos and don’ts of the religion but there are little things I do in line with Zoroastrianism: neither wasting clean water nor paper in my drawings,” stated Minoo who takes violin and dance classes and loves to draw and paint. She prefers to go without a photograph in this column.
"In this day and age being (physically) away from the community should not be a reason to stay away from the community at large. There are no Zarathushtis living near us,” said Bahman adding that theirs is the only Zoroastrian family in Winnipeg, with the closest community members being in Calgary, some 1,200 km away! "We keep the flame of our religion alive by always having a candle burning by the side of our Khordeh Avesta and by setting the Navruz table every year. We have even performed a ‘jashan’ ceremony in our home a couple of times — I led the three of us in reciting a few prayers even though I am not a mobed,” he added.
Twelve-year-old Ethan of London, UK, was told about the contest by his grandmother Gulshen Dinshaw and his parents encouraged him to take part in the competition. Mother Ferhiz credits the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe resident priest Ervad Yazad Bhadha for "giving him some pointers.” Eighth-grader Ethan, who is a keen eco representative at his school, attends the monthly Zoroastrian Fun Club and enjoys playing tennis, piano and the animation game Dragon Ball Super.
Roxanne Kavarana Vakharia