Children of Mine

My sons, Ali and Arash, now 14 and 11 years old, have been kidnapped to Iran in June 1996, after I divorced their father Mohammad S. R. Since then my life has not been the same. I have spent nights going to their empty rooms to check on them, realizing they were gone, sitting by their bed till the next morning crying.

I have held their shoes and clothing in my arms and hugged so many times and dry my eyes with them. I have lost jobs after they left, just because I could not perform as a normal individual, until one day I realized I had to live my life despite the odds, and fight back the evils.

Negotiations

This picture was taken in 1997 in Tehran, Iran with my in-laws and my ex-husband, as I was visiting. I was there to negotiate the return of my boys to United States. In my visit, which was for three weeks, I was only allowed to see my children under supervision. I was with them for four days, and when I asked for my boys return back to U.S., my ex mother- in-law (the woman in the middle) threatened me with jail. I left in pain and tears; I did not want to jeopardize my children and my own future.

Ali and Arash at school My dear friends, I am not alone. There are hundreds of us who are the victims of INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL KIDNAPPING, and more and more every day. There are fathers and mothers who cry every night or lose their health and everything else besides, and even kill themselves since they can not take it any more, and there is not a law to protect this from happening. Can you help us???

God may bless us all,
Thanks,

Susan A.

Children come from skies,
Children come from stars,
When they play, when they cry,
Give them love, keep them safe.

Feel their pain, feel their fears,
When they are away from their dears,
See them cry, see their tears,
When you pull them every where.

Children are mine,
They are yours,
They are ours,
They belong to the world.

They need peace, not the fears,
They need mom, they need dad,
Give them love, give them care,
Give them mom, give them dad.

Give them choice, give them chance,
Let them know their mom and dads,
Tell them truth, not the lies,
Let them hear what they deserve.

Give them all, all you can,
Let them have what they should have in life,
Both mom and dad,
Children of mine.

This song is dedicated to Mauris Elfeke, whose children were kidnapped by his wife to Germany. For him to get his children back, he went to Germany last summer and to fight back the odds, he fasted for almost a month in German prisons, and this song is for all of the mothers and fathers and to our children all over the world.

c. 2002 Susan A.

This is the face of women living under control of their husbands and in-laws. It is the bitter reality of oppression in Iran and wearing the veils and living under restriction was something I refused to do. To be trapped in a web of others desires with no regard toward your individuality can damage the soul of a person. I chose to live free and I would fight for the freedom of my boys and mine till the end of my life. To pay the price for freedom I have lost living with my sons and more. Every year, through out the U.S. man and women lose their children to International Parental Kidnapping, mostly women are the victims to Middle Eastern countries and it continues