Samee Dowlatshahi Part 1
God Has a Plan
Samee Dowlatshahi's Journey
from Tehran to Texas
Part 1
SD I really really encourage you to realize God has a plan and he’ll give you what you want he’ll never give you when you want it or how you want it you just Gotta be patient
KELLY
To some of our American listeners, this statement might sound like a well-worn cliche. We have heard all of our lives that God has a plan and we just simply have to wait on him. But Samee Dowlatshahi, whose voice you just heard, has a very different perspective. From the day he came to the United States at age 15, Samee had to build his life on that reality.
Samee’s life began in Tehran, the capital of Iran. So when he talks about waiting on God for what he wants, he means waiting on God for friends, money to buy food, and the ability to speak a brand new language in a foreign country. Waiting on God meant working 80 to 90 hours a week when Samee first arrived in the U.S., doing everything he could to make ends meet for himself and his family. Because even then, as strangers in a new land, they had to trust God to make a way.
You see, Samee was never a quitter.
SD I was never picked to succeed. When I was younger I used to get in trouble all the time so my family even pegged me not to make it past age 25. I would get in fights all the time when I was a kid yeah I was not I was not I was you know I wouldn’t be told what to do; I didn’t wanna be told what to do so therefore I was not, I tell my parents all the time I apologize all the time for what kind a kid I was because I was not the greatest kid but that came from where I was from
I was brought up in a rough neighborhood I was you know with my 5 foot nothing I had to be that way so I didn’t get bullied so at a very very tough exterior so throughout Ok he’ll never make it and then I get older I was like well I remember one of my biggest conversations probably thanksgivings or whatever it was always that question like so what are you gonna do with your life you know are you always gonna wait on tables are you always going to bartend? I used to take offense to that because I really loved doing what I’m doing so like you know to me it was all about money. So I was like what do you make?
And I remember you know we had a this guy he was an architect whatever so everybody’s like always you know waiting on him whatever he’s just like he’s the guy that’s got a masters he’s an architect making all that whatever. So he’s always asking me so Samee what are you gonna do with your life are you always gonna be a bartender are you always going to wait tables? And I used to I was asking what do you make man what do you make? What are you bring home? that’s what I want to know. And he told me and I go out and make that three days and I remember that and light to me it was always that OK we come from nothing the money that you make and how hard you work, what you make that’s that it was never for me about budgeting for what I make it was always about OK what do I want I’m gonna work for it to get it and that’s what’s gonna happen so what kept me through
KELLY
Waiting for Samee was anything but sitting on the sidelines. Even if his beginnings were humble, and even if his dream looked different from what some people expected, he knew what he wanted. He went after it, and expected God to clear his path.
Welcome to Qavah.
WHAT IS TEHRAN KNOWN FOR?
KA What is your first memory?
SD Oh goodness very first memory is back in Iran I was born a Tehran and you know I grew up in a house where you know my dad was a drunk and a drug addict so it was fun you know I for gave him for everything you did but here he loved a party so I think that’s part of why I became a Bar tender that’s why I had success had a lot to do with it watching him work the room I guess it we have get good memories bad memories it’s rough childhood you know grew up really poor my grandfather was a pretty well-off my dad to spent it all the way on drugs and alcohol so he liked to party
KA So who was in your family of origin
SD My dad my older brother two years older brother is like my best friend person I rely on so and then my younger brother which is nine years younger than me and that was our family of five
KELLY
Samee had no say in how his life started. He couldn’t control his humble beginnings in a rough neighborhood of Tehran, without a lot of money to go around. Unfortunately, those choices were made by his father, who spent their money on his addictions.
Samee also had no control over what happened to his country when he was a teenager.
KA So you lived in Tehrán but was that like?
SD you know it was a busy city it was you know a lot of people they see the media you know version of Iran and they see all the camels and there’s nothing like that. It’s like New York it’s like you know people driving cities just like anybody else there you know they are well off people and their poor people you know there it’s just like any other city the economy was went through the revolution so as a teenager when that happened
KA So what was that that was there overtaking
SD You know it was a overtaking and it was became a religious government
WHAT WAS THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION?
KELLY
The Iranian Revolution also known as the Islamic Revolution was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khomeini
SD and you know it’s it was no freedom there’s no freedom of speech there’s no freedom basically whatever the government wants that’s what you need to say and if you don’t say it they basically you get reprimanded for it you’re against the government and pretty much they come in your house and take everything and all that kind of stuff but so you pretty much you know there is no freedom
KA So is your family of the faith that took over the government
SD Yeah actually my mom still a Muslim you know I’m a Christian so it’s all good we all have our own personal religious beliefs you know
KA Right right so that was for your family that persecution religious persecution maybe didn’t happen
KELLY
In the midst of all of this chaos, Samee’s dad did make one very important choice for what he could control. He chose to take all of their remaining money and spend it on a radical hope for something better.
A HOPE FOR A BETTER LIFE
SD You know it didn’t happen so what happened was there was no future so my dad looked at it you know point, universities were closed, schools were closed so there’s no future, as a father you know how we looked at it yeah there’s no future so he basically sold everything and got us out of the country
KA Wow
SD Me and my mom my little brother we escaped the country
KA OK so how old were you
SD I was 14 or 15
KA so how do you attended school up to that point
SD Yes yes I’ve been in school at I was really good in soccer at a soccer scholarship but it all went away because of the religion and soccer scholarship to Europe yeah I was playing I was one of the 12 people that played soccer for us the city of Tehran at the age of 15
KA Oh my goodness
SD 10th grade
KA That’s amazing
SD Yeah yeah that’s one of those things so that’s one of my good memories that I have
KA Yeah that’s....so then you left the country and what was that like were are you scared?
SD Yeah we had to escape the country in the middle of the night with my six-year-old brother trying to tell him to be quiet at 1o’clock in the morning in the middle of the desert you know it was not you know
KA Are you in a car are are you OK
SD Yeah there are people there in the country that they get paid to get you across they live in that area by the border of Pakistan and Iran so they get paid so basically my dad sold everything to get us across
So once we got across we flew to France we had a cousin that lived there then we applied for a visa to come here my brother was already here as an exchange student so he was already studying you know he was university already so we joined him here took a while there’s a lot of uncertainty because you can’t go back
KA No
SD You know and if you get caught when you’re leaving there’s no there’s no due process like it is in the US so a lot of times it’s like I think here we take her freedom very lightly we take it we don’t take it for what it is so anyway so there’s no core there’s nothing basically they see you escaping the country and they shoot you on the spot. So when we left the country it was in the middle of the night my mom was it was my mom me and my little brother my dad had to stay behind because you couldn’t give any kind of thing that you’re escaping the country
KA OK so your dad stayed in Tehran
SD Yes he stayed behind
KA So it’s just the three of you
SD yes
KA AAAHH Oh my goodness your poor mom that’s so scary.
SD It was it was because when you get to Pakistan nothing against the people that live there but I remember the drive from there to their capital city was there any pitstops and every step you had a bribe people because they knew there was a exit stamp on your thing so they knew that if they sent you back they kill you so they know that you know that so you have to pay a bribe you know and to just get through it and I remember getting their armor flying out of there to France and I was never so relieved in my life so I want to get to France we stay with my cousin for about a month until we were able to apply for a visa to US and try to come here and start a new life
KA Wow so how do you travel much before then
SD No that was my first time on an airplane
KA That’s what I was thinking oh my goodness
SD No cause we grew up pretty poor we didn’t fly anywhere we drove everywhere we took a bus everywhere
KA Wow yes so that is flying kind of scary anyway and then your
SD We couldn’t afford to fly so we could and for flying so that’s why my first first airplane you got into that was it
KA so you’re what 15 or so and you fly from France to
SD From Pakistan to France and France to here
KA OK so what part of the United States
SD I remember when we got here I told my mom I was like if anything happens like we’re leaving I’m not going back the same way because it was horrible it was probably two months yeah but you know all these things that you go through builds character it builds up and builds immune system to hard hardship so to me you know it as a scary as it was it kind a taught me not to be scared I mean things don’t scare me much anymore because I went through that does that make sense so yeah when we came here you know we lived in Fremont California for about eight months that’s where my brother was
A NEW LIFE IN AMERICA
KELLY
Samee’s family had laid a foundation of faith for a new life, but it required everything they could possibly give. Even when no one around them believed they could do it, Samee rose to the challenge.
SD that’s what got me through what got me through is being told I couldn’t all my life like you can’t speak English you’re not gonna make it
KA Yeah where did you learn English?
SD Here I never forget the first day I went to school all I could say the people asked me a question I would tell him I don’t speak English and I just sat there watching hear what happens you hear the language and spirit the first thing you start understanding it once you start understanding it then you start speaking it when you start speaking out you cannot speak I call it broken English and then after a while you know like I’ve been here since 1982 so you know after a while you start speaking it I got here I can speak English we have no money I remember we used to live in a apartment where kids were in allowed yeah because it was like that’s all we could afford so I remember every time the manager and the landlord will knock on the door I had to go hide in the closet because I wasn’t supposed to be there
KA Oh my goodness
SD Yeah
KA. Wow so you didn’t have any help from the UN or anybody like that you just were on your own
SD Nobody nobody we left the country with $5000 and that was for everything pay for the airplane everything to get here and all the bribery in Pakistan and all that so when we got here we are living with my brother and my brother was working at Jack in the box he was a shift manager and he got me a job there
KA In California
SD Yeah in California so I will go to school from like 8 to 12 and then I’d run guess we didn’t have a car I had to be at work out I would get off at three and I have to be at work at four and it was like 5 miles away so the minute that bell rang I was running not jogging running because I had no friends I couldn’t speak English I can get a rise so I would run like to work every single day at work all night then come home then go the next day the same thing. So after while after I start speaking English to start making friends so my friends would give me a ride to work you know that kind of thing but at the beginning it was all about run to work then work seven days a week and my income and my mom was an accountant so she started getting a job and so we would put all our income together pay rent and pay for the food and everything else so my mom probably one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met so from her you know the amount of forgiveness she has is amazing especially when she went through with my dad. So I definitely admire I are for that
KA. Wow that’s amazing
SD. Yeah she said she’s definitely amazing so some I remember at the beginning when they kinda broke up I was mad at her I was like because my dad my dad come here and the families back together and you break it up and I’m thinking what she’s been through so as you grow and you realize OK you now she yeah I told you I got a lot
KELLY
Once Samee’s family got their footing in the United States, Samee took an opportunity to move from California to Texas. Once he was there, he started to really hone in on the kind of work he enjoyed.
HOW TO GET IN THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS
SD and then my cousins lives here so they were like come to Texas so I came to Texas I got to the restaurant business early on unit right in tables washing dishes never took I remember I even baked I was a baker overnight this summer because my family owned a little French bakery so I work there an overnight I’ll be making like black forest cakes are croissants and things like that but we get to the waiting part of it that’s what I found I really love to wait on people I really did I don’t know if it’s because of my childhood right now my dad and all of his friends over or what but yeah I really like the restaurant business I really dig that and you know my brothers went to university you know I kind of took the restaurant path so I worked in restaurants in you know I remember basically 10 meeting here I realize I’m in a place where you know there is no obstacle to get what you want you just got to work for it which is different from where I came from no matter how hard you work for it there’s always obstacles you know there’s like there’s a stop what you can do it’s not you can get what you want as long as you work hard for it doesn’t exist everywhere just here in the United States
I realized if I want some thing I got to work for it so pretty much worth 80,90 hrs. a week on my life and work in the restaurant business
KA So you came from California to the Metroplex and then you started whatever job you could get
SD North Dallas yes so we worked it I worked in lotta places I worked in pastry café café Capri there’s a lot of restaurants in North Dallas that I work for Applebee’s for a long time I was a corporate trainer it’s a train people and all that kind of stuff I was really good at what I did so you know
KA You found your sweet spot
SD I did and I was making good money my tips are always good and but mainly to me it wasn’t about my approach wasn’t about waiting on people it was making friends so throughout the years a lot of my customers became like family whatever restaurant I went into they follow me whenever I came to, they follow me
so so it’s a lot of the stuff happened throughout the years you look back at it now before you’re like oh OK well this is what happened because this would happen so I believe that everything happens for a reason I believe there is a bigger plan in place now that I’m where I’m at
KELLY
And he was just getting started. In the next episode of Qavah, Samee goes on to build even greater things and witness God move powerfully in his life. His life shows that no matter where you start from or the things that are out of your control, God will make a way if you do the hard work of waiting.
