Iranian homes
Iranian homes, the home of all Iranian, are the places for succor services to children and women in the deprived and marginalized neighborhoods of Iran.
Iranian home is a protection place to everyone suffered from oppression and poverty; a hope for any human beings whose poor living condition has made life hard for them; a home with an Iranian identity, an identity that is all about hope, serenity, and kindness.
Iranian home is the center of most social works of IAPSRS activities where a direct connection between social workers and help seekers can occur. Therefore, with a proper education and a deep connection between a problem and its solutions, great steps can be accomplished to improve the situation of the unprotected children and women in Iran. An Iranian home is a center for psychological exercises, individual and group counseling, educational, artistic, sport and cultural classes for children, self-employed skills training for bread-winning women, and family treatment issues, among others.
The purposes and functions of these centers are divided into three types: short, medium and long term. In the short term purposes, the goal is to solve the critical conditions of the families associated with the basic needs of food, clothing, housing, and etc. Then in the medium term, educational aspects are added with very precise planning. Finally, in the third stage, the promotion of activities and increasing the number of Iranian homes are pursued.
In the long-term purposes, each supported area will have an Iranian home which is an intermediate for relief services to the marginalized areas. These services maintain continuously throughout the year and monitor constantly the educational and social conditions of help seekers. The cost of renting or buying all Iranian homes along with the cost of maintaining these homes and their relief activities have been provided by donors. The people in charge of these homes are mostly students who work in the homes voluntarily.
Each of these Iranian homes, depending on its purpose and its work schedule, has different executive groups, in which in addition to their commitment, volunteers are supposed to have an expertise in the field they are working on. Meanwhile, IAPSRS organizes various training programs to enhance the knowledge of the volunteers.
Currently IAPSRS has eleven centers in Tehran, Kermanshah, Alborz, Zanjan, Khorasan Razavi, Golestan, Mazandaran, Fars, Qom, Bushehr and Isfahan. Iranian homes include science home, employment home, medical care home and Iranian art home. In total, 33 Iranian homes are operating around the country.
Science home
In every Iranian science home, educational programs are scheduled considering the problems that children are facing in each region. For instance, in some Iranian homes, the importance of life skills is much higher than literacy classes due to the high rate of social harm that threatens children. In addition, due to the high level of social problems, the educational programs for children are also different in these particular areas from other centers.
Each center cooperates usually with the social work, psychology, education, and the art units to prepare the localized curriculum. Although the teaching methods in each center and for each student group may vary, the literacy curriculum follows the official educational books in all centers.
Extracurricular courses are usually based on the examination of similar examples and the advice of social specialists, psychologists, and mentors. Such curriculums are always approved by the center director of and the educational committee of IAPSRS.
Employment home
At present, various entrepreneurial activities at centers of IAPSRS are aimed at generating income for the supported clients. IAPSRS’s products are now categorized into three categories: food, clothing, and decorative/artistic products where the producers are usually women and supported help seekers.
IAPSRS has always tried to help the supported families stand on their own through an empowerment approach. Therefore, they can take care of themselves and be no longer dependent on the care-cycle after a while. In recent years, IAPSRS has continued the entrepreneurial activities with the approach of empowering help seekers and covered families.
Household products made by bread-wining women include: knitwear, handmade custom (on demand), pickles, jams, cooked and packaged vegetables, samosa, and Afghan bread. IAPSRS’s Iranian home products also include: environmental friendly bags, dolls, decorative and art items, children’s drawings, custom postcards, prints on clothes, glass, ceramic and wood, artificial flowers, leather bags and bracelets.
Some of these products are produced by the supported help seekers and the profits from the sale are entirely up to them. Others are produced with the help of Iranian homes and the profits from the sale will be spent on the maintenance of these homes.
A large part of products are made by street children, who have been provided with an opportunity to participate in the IAPSRS’s cultural/entrepreneurship programs. Therefore, besides providing living expenses for these children, they can participate in studies and educational programs of Iranian homes and bring a better future to their eyes.
There are currently 6 Iranian employment homes across the country.
Medical care home
The health center of IAPSRS is working to address the health problems with the aim of developing fair health treatment and social care for individuals, especially children with no health case. Given unmet public needs, IAPSRS has established a center called ‘’Iranian medical care home’’ to provide health treatment for deprived children. The goal of this Iranian home is to achieve fair health treatment thorough a inclusive approach.
The Iranian medical care home has a variety of sections, including: dental room, clinic room, speech therapy room, playroom and educational classes for children and volunteers. At the moment the activity description of Iranian medical care home is as follow:
- Free visit of supported children and their families
- Screening
- Free dental services for children
- Speech therapy and occupational therapy services
- Organizing training courses on the physical and mental health of covered families and volunteer members
- Collaborating with medical schools to form research projects
- Conducting social work for families and specially children who cannot afford health treatment
- Sending medical teams to deprived and marginalized areas.
It should be noted that all members, doctors, and dentists in the Iranian medical care home are volunteers. All medical and paramedical community members are also invited to participate at this volunteer work.
Dentistry center
With a monthly medical screening in Iranian homes, it was observed that children’s dental problems should have a high priority among services of Iranian medical care home.
At present, the dental room is equipped with two dental units, along with all the necessary equipment in accordance with the health standards. The examination room is also equipped with the necessary equipment for the general examination of children and mothers.
Volunteer doctors and dentists have started an effective collaboration with this center and provided the medical and dental services to children on a weekly basis.
Medical center
The examination room includes the necessary equipment for the initial examination of children and their families. Volunteer doctors attend weekly at Iranian home to visit children and mothers.
Training center
The followings are among the activities of this center:
Various training workshops (including primary health care, AIDS prevention, child abuse prevention, puberty health, among others), speech therapy for children, familiarization with common diseases in deprived and marginalized areas, the need for self-care of members, and first aid relief classes for active volunteers in Iranian homes