People seem to rarely adjust quickly, to new surroundings without difficulty. Yet when changes are required, the common response is to hide or to face the changes head on.
Mojgan DeMore?s story began in Iran where, at the age of seven, she became a Christian after her older brother brought a Bible home. She began reading in the book of John, and made the decision to accept Jesus as her savior.
?I wanted students to hear a good story about faith and perseverance, as well as hear about a culture from a different world view,? Michael Fuller, English teacher, said.
While her parents remained Muslim throughout, DeMore did not defy them. When her father asked when she would begin the prayer regimen to Allah, she politely declined saying she was not ready.
?At no point did I defy my father,? Mojgan said. ?I would simply not begin the task of prayer to Allah. I only prayed to God.?
At the age of nine, her family was caught in the Iranian revolution and the war changed her life. Suddenly, her advanced placement history books were re-written, and the new history was taught as truth. Freedom of speech became an illusion and any speech with a possibility of being interpreted as anti-government would result in imprisonment.
The new government instituted changes, such as the gender segregation of schools. Make-up, fingernail polish lipstick became illegal to wear.
As the fighting increased, her parents decided to send her to America, away from the revolution. They sent her to Fresno, California, in 1986, at the age of 15 to live with her sister. She came to America alone and knew fewer than 200 words in English.
Her sister enrolled Mojgan into this campus during the second half of the 1985-86 school year, knowing that she would get a education, founded upon Christian beliefs.
She spent many hours translating homework into proper English and devoted much time to learning a foreign language. By her second year at the school, she was holding fluent conversations in English and was in the drama class.
“I thought her story was awesome,” Scott Orcutt, ’09, said. “Hearing a story from a different perspective in the world was really interesting.”
“I liked that she had a unique story,” Ellie Mullins, ’09, said. “The story of how she came from a hard core Muslim family to becoming a Christian and moving to the United States.”
?No matter what you learn, we?re here to love Him,? DeMore said. ?He can take care of his people. Our job is to pray, because that?s what he wants us to do.?
After graduating in the top percentile of the class of 1987, she went to college at UC Davis and received her BA. She now works for an aerospace company in the San Diego area.
