Our Director of Operations, Stephanie Lester, recently traveled to Iran and answered questions about her trip for curious Redditors.  See excerpts from her AMA below.

Click here to see the full conversation on Reddit.

Q:  Would you want to live in Iran and what do the people really think of the USA?

A:  Re: Perceptions of the US -- Americans are treated like rock stars in Iran. With my first visit in 1999 I was constantly asked for my autograph. On my last two visits, the request was for selfies. People love America; I cannot emphasize that enough. With something like 70% of the population having been born after 1979, the population is young; they love American culture and many have family who emigrated to America after the revolution. Many want rapprochement with the West; they want to study here and live here. And while the revolutionary line is officially anti-American, I can say that the viewpoint doesn’t even seem to touch the military. I met a member of the notorious “Basij” on my latest trip, and when I told him where I was from – he was so excited he gave me a free jar of honey (which he was selling), to express his affection for the United States and hope that I would view Iran more positively.