On Saturday, October 22, a meet and greet with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo was held in San Jose and hosted by ADBA President, Tony Khoshaba, and Dr. Nahrin Khoshaba. The event was organized by the Assyrian Democrats of the Bay Area and co-sponsored by two other local Democratic Clubs, Bay Area Iranian American Democrats and the Jewish Democratic Club of Silicon Valley. This was the first where the three Democratic clubs collaborated for such an event. It was a real success in honoring Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and bringing everyone closer to our shared goal of re-electing her.

The event started with ADBA member, Bani Tamraz who warmly received the Congresswoman on behalf of the three Democratic clubs and the audience. An introduction by Tony Khoshaba followed this. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo then discussed a wide array of subjects related to local issues, global events, and her experiences of spending almost 30 years in the United States Congress. Congresswoman spoke warmly of her Assyrian and Armenian roots and traced her father to the Village of Ardeshai in the plains of Urmia in Northwestern Iran. Her speech was peppered with Assyrian expressions and anecdotes and as Walter Varda, ADBA executive board member commented, she was current, genuine, knowledgeable, and utterly charming.

Assyrian Global Network representatives were present in the meeting and they did ask questions in regard to various issues of interest to Assyrians. The audience had also a chance to ask questions and various topics were discussed including the people’s struggle and women’s movement in Iran and many other issues.

At the end of the program, Tony Khoshaba, Dr. Maryam Ghazvini, and Dorene Kastelman on behalf of the three Democratic clubs presented Congresswoman Eshoo with a multilingual appreciation plaque in English, Assyrian, Hebrew, and Persian to honor her public service of over 40 years.