Human rights advocate and Seattle dentist Mahvash Khajavi-Harvey is the author of Daylight Forever, a debut memoir about her heroic and lonely escape from a terror-filled childhood as a Baha’i in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iraq-Iran War.
Her memoir illuminates the effects of revolution, war, religious persecution, women’s oppression and the denial of education and basic human rights — and the lengths to which refugees will go to find a new life. Her daring journey is the only possible option for a frightened teenager who seeks safety, hope, freedom, education and a place to call home.
Dr. Khajavi-Harvey, now an American citizen with a physician husband and three beautiful children, lives in Seattle, Washington. She currently serves as a part-time affiliate faculty at University of Washington School of Dentistry. She has been serving the Seattle area for 25 years.
She was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. In her first 15 years of life at home, she experienced the Islamic revolution of 1978 and 9 years of the Iran/Iraq war, which brought countless days and nights of bombing -- and horrific nightmares that continued for years afterward.
Being a member of the Baha’i Faith after the 1978 revolution meant the loss of all legal rights. Therefore, the teenager left her homeland for a better life. She escaped her country to Pakistan and received asylum with the United Nations, eventually arriving in the United States as a refugee in 1989.
A firm believer in the power of community, both far and wide, she has volunteered dentistry services overseas in third-world communities and also provides free dental care in Seattle at homeless clinics every year.
Dr. Khajavi-Harvey supports numerous nonprofits working on human rights issues, including the Mona Foundation, the Tahirih Justice Center and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which receive a portion of the proceeds from this book.
She has also served on the board of “Journey with an Afghan School,” a nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO) founded after the 9/11 attack to build schools for girls in Afghanistan.
Sadly, girls‘ education in Afghanistan, as in Iran, has been eliminated.
Woman. Life. Freedom
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