Today’s Good People, Good Works will be presented in Assyrian and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Assyrian people are very open. If you come to their village, they insisted that you come to their home and stay there, stay with them and eat, constantly drink tea, and they’ll just open their home to you as if they’ve known you forever. It’s all Assyrians all over, it’s not just in the home country.

Greetings, elegant viewers, to Good People, Good Works. Today we continue with part 2 of our two-part series featuring the Assyrian Aid Society of America and its sister chapter in Iraq, which work to improve and enhance the lives of the kindhearted Assyrian people. The organization also strives to preserve and promote the ancient Assyrian culture and heritage.

Since its establishment in 1991, the Assyrian Aid Society has been at the forefront of Assyrian refugee relief work, providing services to those displaced from their homeland.

Within Iraq. We try to help as much as much as we can. We try to help when we have other Assyrians in the neighborhood countries like Syria and Jordan, Armenia as well. There were a lot of people that had to move from there areas that they normally lived in, to the north and had no access to services. So it was a village rebuilding to provide them shelter.

And when people of need come to our pharmacies or come to dorms to ask to stay there, we never ask them where you’re from, what village you’re from, what church you’re from, or any of those things. All we know is that we help all our Assyrians, our Assyrian brothers and sisters, and that’s really important to us.

All the refugees need to be attended to. And they should be helped so they can live a normal life like you and I, at the place of their choosing, whether it be United States, whether it be Australia, whether be Canada, whether be any country in Europe. The whole idea is to live peacefully, among other peoples in a place.

Assyrian Aid Society funds reconstruction programs, education programs from pre-school through college, as well as medical projects that have included shipments of medicines and supplies, free medical clinics, and facilitating life-saving surgeries.

A lot of times when we are doing work in a certain village, you’ll find people say, “I’m from there,” or “I still have relatives there.” And so they have this passion to give more for that particular project.

When I was there, immediately I felt like I had been there all along, and I knew these people all my life. But I had just met them, right there. And so when we’d go to all these villages it was the same thing, we were just so welcomed with open arms. They’re all very happy with their lives. They just, it’s just rough, they don’t have the means to live comfortably. And so we hope that we make some dent in their life to make it better for them.

But as we were leaving one day, one of these old women who was just hugging me the whole time said “You’ll just go and forget us, just like everybody else does when they come here.” It was really hard for me to leave. I actually have come back and I’ve tried working really hard to not forget those words and to do more.

I hope that every Assyrian would be able to go back at least one time in their lifetime, to go see that area in the north and to be around our people, and I think that would be a great experience for them, just like it was for me.

Assyrian Aid Society not only provides humanitarian assistance, it also actively works to preserve the ancient Assyrian culture and its rich heritage.

The base of our language is Aramaic. It’s a Semitic language and it’s very similar to the Hebrew language, it’s read right to left. Our organization, Assyrian Aid Society helps all Assyrians. Sometimes Assyrians are also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs.

As you know, every nation’s voice and every nation’s sign is indicated by their artists - their musicians, their poets, the writers, the singers and the artists because they are the ones that they display the history and the custom of that nation by introducing the nation through their art.

It’s music that has been passed down through generations. Some of it actually has been just through word of mouth and hearing it, let’s say, at family gatherings and things like that. And so some of these composers had then tried to put that in more of a formal setting, where it’s written so that it could be preserved.

One of our chapters in the central valley, in the Medassa Turlock area, the president of that chapter there is very much into the arts and our musical heritage. And so in the past 4 years, he’s been very involved in promoting and bringing out the past composers and musicians, so it’s been really wonderful.

Through various events and fundraisers, the Assyrian Aid Society is able to introduce various aspects of the Assyrian culture to the public as well as reinforce the bond within the Assyrian community.

There’s a great center there called the Gallo Center and they have 2 auditoriums that are just beautiful and so we have been doing our fundraisers, our events in the Gallo Center, and it’s been really successful. So in those events we represent not only the music but also our art. There’s a lot of artists that depict our heritage as well as our traditional clothing. A lot of times we are either wearing it in the events or represented somehow.

This scarf was actually designed and made by our LA chapter organization, and you’ll see the Assyrian Aid Society on the side there. But this is Assyrian writing, and it’s by well-known poet named Ninos Aho, and you read it this way. And it comes in different colors. And so they use this as part of their fundraiser that they had, it was called “Art and Artists,” it was a night of poetry, painting, and this was one of the poems that was read that night.

Part of its efforts toward cultural preservation is through the production of a documentary, which tells the fascinating history of the advanced Assyrian people and their important contributions and inventions which are still applied in modern day society.

“The Assyrian Legacy” narrated by George Kennedy who is an Academy award winner, actor in Hollywood, plus Mr. Henri Charr who is a professional director, filmmaker for the last 30 years. So we got together in order to display the identity of the Assyrians and all the humanitarian, and art, and scientific displays and the inventions that they had to show that who Assyrian were and what kind of contribution they make to our civilization and mankind.

For example, the wheel, the building of the city, irrigation, navigation, merchandising, merchants, trade, the music, jewelry, that they start working with precious metals like gold and silver. And so they make quite a bit of contribution to our civilization.

Numeric, the clock, the 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week. Astronomy and many scientific discoveries that they were made to our civilization and to mankind that we are even using it today.

What we are trying to do is save, really, a civilization from becoming extinct. And this is a civilization that is really the history of all mankind, it’s called the cradle of civilization. It’s where most of our modern day mathematics and science comes from. So I think it is really important to get the word out to the international community that you’re not just saving our history. It’s really the whole world history.

The Assyrian people living in Iraq as well as abroad are harmonious people who share the same high-minded aspirations and sincere wishes as all of humankind.

We hope to live in peace among our neighbors and to be able to practice our own way of life, to practice our religion, our traditions, our culture and we’re hoping that the outside, the international community will be able to help us to do that. And really, that’s all we ask for. There’s nothing else we’d like more. A democratic, free Iraq for all, not just for us but for all.

I am grateful to you, for your interview, and to your television station to give us this opportunity of explaining who the Assyrian Society are and what the Assyrian people are.

To my brothers and sisters, I bid you goodbye with a happy heart. Thank you.

We thank Ms. Mona Malik and Mr. Pierre Toulakany for sharing your deep knowledge about the gentle Assyrian people. May the noble work of the Assyrian Aid Society continue in evermore success.

For more information about the Assyrian Aid Society, please visit: assyrianaid.org

Considerate viewers, we enjoyed having your presence today for Good People, Good Works. Coming up next is The World Around Us after Noteworthy News. May your life be filled with goodness, nobility and peace.