Immigration, Exile and Motherland! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Since the 1979 revolution millions of Iranian for various reasons have left Iran and started a new life somewhere else on this planet. Several university educated bloggers share their reasons why they left the country.
More helpful in Iran but…
Afkar, a US-based blogger, says when she came to USA, her life experience in Iran was limited to her university and its dormitory. The blogger says she can not pretend to be really in touch with Iranian society (Persian). In one year she is going to get her PhD. She says one of the things which makes her afraid of going back to Iran is this fact that the society is more religious and less prosper than western ones. She says
USA does not need me but I need the USA. Iran and I need each other mutually. I know I can be more helpful in Iran rather than other place such as Africa and so on. Iranian would have more confidence in me than foreigners.
Afkar adds that she  can not be involved with second-generation Iranian-Americans. She says
I think they don’t really have an identity even though they think they have one.
Fighting Poverty
Hamed Ghodsei, a blogger based in Austria, still wants to go back to Iran after finishing  his studies, to make a difference. The blogger says
Poverty is a constant nightmare for millions of people there. The country needs lots of real changes to get rid of such poverty. Some part of the changes has to happen in the minds of the people themselves. Although I am only one average man without any affiliation to the power system I think there is still room for improvement and I can do a little bit even as somebody outside the government.
Different motivations
Khanoumhana, a Japan-based blogger, says each person has their own reason and motivation to leave Iran (Persian). The blogger writes
Our motivation to stay in a foreign land depends on our problems in Iran. If  I belonged to a religious minority group or if I had problem with my family my motivation might be different than now. I just left the country to see a new world and my mother really encouraged me to get new experiences abroad.
MIT Study!
In the ISG blog we learn that a recent qualitative study by the Iranian Studies Group at MIT looks at the motivations, success, and satisfaction of Iranians who have returned to Iran.
According to this blog the results suggest that returning to Iran is a decision often motivated by emotional and patriotic connections to Iran rather than rational calculations. Moreover, levels of satisfaction differed across participants and correlated with their success in achieving their career and social goals in Iran.
This report adds people who tried to build institutions or their own businesses had a higher chance of feeling satisfied with their success. The study also suggests that cultural and structural barriers to working effectively have been the biggest challenges to most while emotional ties and outstanding students have contributed positively to the experience of these individuals.
Free Woman!
Depth talks about freedom that she feels in the west. She says  I left Iran because I wanted a minimum social respect as a woman and I was disgusted by traditional society (Persian). She says either she should adapt herself to the society and environment or become a social activist. She is  disgusted by politics and doesn’t want to become Mother Teresa and cry for the poor! She adds:
I came out Iran to raise the quality of my life and not be hopeless. Here is not paradise, nowhere is paradise… but here I can walk with freedom while my hair moves in the wind.