Homelessness of women affected by addiction; "Sun House" closed

Leila Arshad, one of the founders of "Khane Khorshid," the first center that provided shelter to homeless and addicted women in Tehran's "Darvazeh Ghar" neighborhood, announced the closure of the NGO in the new year. The center covered 2,500 affected women.

Yella Arshad, a senior social worker and one of the founders of the Land of the Sun Women's Institute, known as "House of the Sun," announced the center's closure in the new year in an interview with Hamshahri newspaper on Monday, March 29. Referring to the pressures to stop the activities of non-governmental organizations, she said: "Our restrictions are increasing every day. Decisions in the field of social harm have become very different. As is clear from the comments of the officials, they want to hand over social work to more formal institutions, meaning that the associations will no longer operate as they used to."

The Sun House was established in February 2006 with the aim of helping “homeless women affected by addiction” by Leila Arshad and Sarwar Monshizadeh in the Darvaze-e-Ghar neighborhood of Tehran. Until 2014, the house welcomed 100 affected women and 25 children daily, but in the winter of 2014, it focused on improving the lives of women who had quit addiction and had children by providing social and job skills.

As Leila Arshad stated in an interview with Hamshahri, in the past 17 years, 2,500 people have been covered by this institution, 600 of whom have recovered. But now, with the announcement of the closure of this home, these people will become “more homeless” than before.

According to Arshad, one of the special services of the Sun House was the establishment of a “dental site” a few years ago. Now, with the closure of the Sun House, this center will also be closed; “because the authorities have not given assurances that this center is going to be managed by another public institution.” This experienced social worker, who has worked with the affected women of Darwaza Ghar since the 1970s, says: “Providing dental services was one of our dreams from the beginning of our work; because the ugly appearance, oral problems, and toothache were one of the obstacles for these women to enter society, which could lead to stigma and a return to their abuse. This long-standing dream of ours was realized in 2016, and about 15 volunteer dentists were providing valuable services to women recovering from addiction and HIV and their children. The closure of this dental site will make it difficult for women to receive dental services.”

In the last Instagram post of the House of the Sun, published on Wednesday, March 25, Sarwar Monshizadeh, another founder of the center, announced the closure of the institution and wrote: "In these years, what we have seen, heard, and experienced cannot be put into words."

The news of the closure of this NGO was met with widespread reactions from social media users. Journalist Ehsan Badaghi wrote on Twitter: "The Shush Women's Harm Reduction Center is also on the verge of closure. The reason is simple; a camp has been decided to replace the centers and NGOs."

Reza Shafakhah, a lawyer and member of the Imam Ali Association, also reacted to the news of the closure of the Sun House in a tweet, writing: "Yesterday, the Imam Ali Association and today, the Sun House. Whose turn is it tomorrow?"

It seems that the Islamic Republic is serious about “stopping the activities of NGOs.” Previously, in March 2020, the “Imam Ali Society,” one of the most well-known NGOs with more than ten thousand volunteers and, according to the official website of the society, covering 6,137 children across Iran, was dissolved following a complaint from the Ministry of Interior and a court order.

A video was recently posted on social media showing employees of the Kerman Endowment Department going to the “Kerman Sun Children” school, kicking them out of class, and evacuating the school while the students were crying. This school was a place where working and street children were educated.

Apparently, by increasing pressure on charitable associations and non-governmental organizations, government officials of the Islamic Republic and security institutions have sought to narrow the field for the activities of "outsiders" and make it "difficult and impossible" to continue their work.

Source: DW