Baquer’s Gleam and his Vocation
For many people there is a wide difference between the work they do to earn a living (a job) and the work they hope to pursue throughout their lifetime (a vocation). For a few others their jobs fit perfectly with their vocations.
I have in mind here the case of a friend and a colleague of ours who worked on behalf of children before coming to UNICEF and continued working for them long after he retired. His name is Baquer Namazi. Baquer always knew he had a vocation, one he lived and kept - before, during and after UNICEF.
Baquer has been sitting in prison since February and has now been sentenced to spend the next 10 years of his life there. He is 80 years old and has a heart condition. I doubt he can survive 10 more years of prison.
I first met Baquer in 1987. I was the incoming Rep in Mogadishu, and he was the departing one. We had a few days together to meet the Ministers, counterparts, and UN colleagues. There were the usual issues to sort out -- staffing, budgets, and, of course, security amidst the growing conflict in the country. Yet it was the children that Baquer cared about, particularly the children of nomadic families. There was always a gleam in his eyes when he talked about the opportunities Somalia’s children offered for the future. Baquer’s enthusiasm inspired everyone, from Ministers to drivers.
After Somalia Baquer moved on to serve as Representative in Kenya and then in Egypt. He did outstanding work in both. While visiting health centers in Egypt he and Hanaa Singer were wounded and barely escaped death in an attack that killed a UNICEF photographer and their escort.
After UNICEF he and his family returned to Tehran, but for Baquer there was no such thing as retirement. He established an NGO resource center to continue the work he knew and loved.
Baquer promoted new employment opportunities for destitute women, advocated for sensible MCH and pressed for better education for girls. He went to government to argue that Afghan refugee children should be allowed free entry to government schools - something long denied them. His persistence paid off and the policy was finally changed.
When Baquer noted the disarray among NGOs, he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and arranged a national conference - a first opportunity for government and civil society to sit together and talk out issues - how could both sides avoid crossed wires? What were the legal limits of NGO work? Could they cooperate with and receive funding from international bodies?
His horizons extended far beyond Iran. He continued to advocate action for children in countries like Syria, South Sudan, Nepal and the Philippines. Wherever armed conflicts broke out, he pressed his fellow retirees to join in his advocacy initiative for “Children as Zones of Peace”.
Excerpts from his emails to other retired colleagues make clear that his heart remained in UNICEF:
“..(our efforts) will have more impact if our focus is on our noble cause: children and their well-being. And UNICEF comes in as the world agency mandated to keep the world’s conscience alive and alert to the risks a huge proportion of the young are exposed to at the present time. “
“Through its knowledge development and sharing work UNICEF can play a great role in shaping public opinion. And this potential can be used ... to carry hope and build confidence in the future ….”
For his efforts, Baquer’s NGO work earned him scorn from some Iranian expatriates in the US, who labeled his work as a phoney ‘front’ for government, masking the reality facing civil society. Remarkably, others in Iran saw his work as fronting for hostile foreign governments and international agencies.
His elder son, Siamak, while studying at Tufts and later at the Wilson Center had advocated publicly for a relaxation of western sanctions on Iran, in particular on the supply of medicines and health products. Like his father, Siamak’s efforts were read in the expatriate community in the US as fronting for Iran, while in Iran he was considered a front for the West. Last summer while on a family visit to Tehran, his passport was seized, and in October he was arrested. Like his father, Siamak now faces a 10-year sentence for alleged cooperation with hostile powers.
In Iranian press reports that followed the joint convictions, Baquer and Siamak were described as master spies who ran a vast mafia operation. Baquer’s supposed ‘crimes’ were said to include infiltrating poorer segments of the population’ to find opportunities for potential unrest. His former work for international agencies was described only as preparations for future spying.
All of us in UNICEF must be accustomed to others describing us as naive optimists, ‘head in the clouds’ folks. Others may see our work as disruptive and, occasionally, even subversive. And yet, if we believe what we say, what we publish, what we preach, we have to be optimists and we have to push on. That optimism goes hand-in-hand with our vocation, with our belief in the opportunities children provide for a better future.
So let me return here to the subject of this column - the difference between a job and a vocation. It took me quite a few years of managing field offices and later DHR to understand that you recognize the best candidates (and the best staff) when they talk not about their job but about the value of what they do, their vision, their mission - in short, their vocation. Is there a ‘gleam’ in their eyes when they talk about the value and outcome of their work? Are they excited by what they do? Do they see a value, a connection of their work with benefits for others?
We do not suddenly acquire our vocations when we join UNICEF. Nor do we leave them when we turn in our ID and UNLP. Baquer didn’t.
You see, Baquer had a special ‘gleam’ in his eyes when he talked about kids. I hope we all do.
Since early March more than a hundred former colleagues have been working in parallel with UNICEF itself for Baquer’s freedom. The many efforts of Tony Lake and other staff along with UNICEF’s three public statements of concern have made an important impression globally. So too will your own efforts.
We ask you to keep Baquer, Siamak, his dear wife, Effie, and the rest of his family in your thoughts and prayers.
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