AFRICAN STREAM VISITS IRAN DURING HELICOPTER TRAGEDY

At African Stream, we try not to let our impressions of a country be determined by Western mainstream media depictions. Instead, we like to make up our own minds - preferably, by going and seeing things for ourselves. Luckily, we had the opportunity to do just that for the case of Iran: this time last year, we were invited to its SOBH festival (@Sobh_festival). We attended several events and visited landmarks, and even won an award for African Stream's role in showcasing local and regional narratives from Africa. It was a momentous time to be in Iran, as three days into our trip, the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and his foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, as well as other senior officials, all died in a helicopter crash. African Stream's editor-in-chief, Ahmed Kaballo (@ahmedkaballo), attended his funeral alongside many thousands of mourning Iranians and gave a first-hand account of the historic event.

Check out our vlog from Tehran, and let us know where you would like us to visit next.