The fifth session of the 84th round of Congress 60 workshops in the Academy branch of Congress 60 was administered on February 26th, 2025 at 10 a.m. by Mr. Hossein Dezhakam as the Master and Guardian of the meeting and Traveler Mohsen as the secretary. The agenda was “Tree Planting”.
Hope you're all doing well. I'm doing fine, thanks to God. Today is February 26, 2025, and we are quickly approaching the Persian New Year (Nowruz) and the holy month of Ramadan. Hopefully, it will bring good things. Fortunately, there's snow and rain everywhere, which is a blessing. It's 10 AM, and we're at the Academy building in Tehran, reading the report of the Didebans’ (Watchmen) meeting.
The second Watchmen meeting of 2025 was held on Monday, February 24, at 2 p.m. in the Simorgh building, led by Mr. Dezhakam as the master of meeting and Mr. Ali Khodami as the secretary. The following topics were discussed and approved:
1. Congress 60 Sessions Start Time has changed in Ramadan: Congress 60 meetings during Ramadan will begin about two hours before Iftar (the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset). The exact time may vary as Iftar time differs from place to place, so each branch will start their sessions two hours before Iftar.
2. **Ramadan Iftar Menu:** The Iftar menu for Congress 60 during Ramadan includes lentil rice, Gheimeh stew, Ghormeh Sabzi stew, chicken with rice (where the chicken is finely chopped), bean stew, lentil soup, Ash Reshteh (Persian noodle soup), bread with cheese and walnuts, and one local dish. It's up to each branch to decide their local dish, for example, Baghali Ghatogh for the northern or southern regions or Ghalie Mahi [a kind of Fish Stew] for the southern regions. The goal is to maintain balance, neither excessive nor insufficient.
3. Assistant Selection: In the group of male travelers, assistants are chosen from those who have completed their guidance period and handed over their legion. This policy will later extend to the female travelers' group as well. Mr. Shirzad from the Hassani branch was selected as the Dideban Assistant for sports parks, he will be Mr. Aashkezari’s assistant.
4. Card Reader Policy: The Congress 60’s 11th law [this law states that to afford the costs of Congress 60, in every session, the money basket is handed over to collect money] must be carried out before and after sessions. During the session, the card reader should circulate along with the donation basket. There's a misunderstanding about this policy, so it is clarified that the card reader must be used before, during, and after the sessions.
5. Appearance Standards: Those serving in Congress 60 must maintain a neat and orderly appearance, similar to the military. This includes clean clothes, polished shoes, tidy beards, and overall neatness. For men, beard styles should be standard and not messy. The same applies to haircuts. For women, specific guidelines will be provided later, but the principle is the same: simplicity and neatness are key.
6. Branch Naming: The Bagher Shahr branch in Tehran will be renamed to Kamal-ol-Molk branch.
7. Service Term Limits: In Congress 60, each individual can serve only once as a secretary and once as a session guardian. This ensures that service opportunities are distributed among all members.
8. Nowruz Holidays: Congress 60 will be closed for Nowruz holidays from Tuesday, March 18, to Wednesday, April 2. The first working day in the new year will be Thursday, April 3, and activities in the parks will resume on Friday.
The above mentioned laws were endorsed by Didebans: Mr. Amin, Mrs. Ani Kamandar, Mr. Ali Ashkezari, Mr. Babak, Mr. Mehdi, Mr. Ali Majdian, Mr. Reza, Mr. Mehdi Sedighi, Mr. Mohammad Sadegh, Mr. Alireza, Mr. Asghar, Mr. Ahmad, Mr. Majid, and Mr. Ali. Three female assistant travelers also attended the meeting as guests.
Women's Council Meeting:
The following issues were discussed at the Family Assistants Council meeting on Saturday, February 22, 2025:
The model must be flawless. Anyone who undergoes major weight loss surgeries like abdominoplasty, liposuction, body sculpting, or drastic facial changes cannot become a guide, border guard, or agent. So, ladies who get their lips done and end up with lips like a camel (sorry, but it's true) need to make sure everything matches—lips, nose, and eyebrows must go together. Some people think thick lips make them very attractive, but often, it just makes them look bad or unkempt. Or they think prominent cheekbones will make them look handsome, but some end up looking like witches! It has to suit their appearance. If we appoint someone as a guide who has made drastic changes to their face, their students will follow suit. While people are free to do whatever they want with their own bodies, if they wish to become guides or border guards, that's a different story. Honestly, sometimes I'm shocked when someone who's been with us for five years and has seen our weight loss treatments, still goes for abdominoplasty. Cutting the skin below the navel, pulling it up, removing the fat, and stitching it back together—such drastic measures. Then there are those who decide before the New Year to lose 40 kilos in just one month—this leads to disasters. Congress 60 is like the military: individuals must be clean and orderly. Military personnel have neat belts, tidy clothes, and impeccable appearances. This is a policy for us too.
Another point I want to make is about some places being behind the times. In the old days, people in Kerman used to be quite miserly, even though it's my hometown. Fortunately, men have improved, but I was shocked to see the situation with the women travelers in Kerman. We have weekly sessions there for women travelers, with guides coming from Tehran. Each round-trip flight costs 6 million tomans, and at least two or three people go. If they drove, it would take 24 hours, making it impossible to manage other tasks. Sending two people costs 12 million tomans, three people 18 million tomans, including travel from Isfahan. Every session in Kerman costs us at least 30 million tomans in travel expenses alone. During the Golrizan ceremony [Congress 60’s Money Donation Ceremony], they pledged 289 million tomans but only managed to pay 29 million tomans. Over the past six months, the women travelers in Kerman have only paid 29 million tomans out of the 289 million tomans they owed. While the amount is very low, they've only managed to pay a fraction of it in six months! They need to wake up a bit. We spend significantly in certain cities, especially for women travelers. For example, we're planning to set up a branch in Yazd, but we don't have local guides there, so they'll have to come from Tehran. The same applies to Kerman, where guides come from Tehran and Isfahan. We have to consider these points. Usually, it’s women who tell men how much they should or shouldn’t pay, but now the roles have reversed, and some are acting so stingy! (laughs) I hope my message reaches the people of Kerman, and that the men who have sent their beloved wives to Congress 60 to cure their addiction also think about these things—so that at the very least, they can support themselves there, and in the future, they can have her own branch, their own land, and their own building. Take this very, very seriously.
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This Friday, the Legion of Doctors will be closed, and there will be no session because it’s close to the New Year and the holy month of Ramadan.
Now, about the next topic—anyone interested in cooking should definitely get the "Cooking" CD and use it. Just as we've introduced innovations in treating diseases, addiction recovery, smoking cessation, and weight loss, we've also made significant innovations in cooking. The cooking I did in Congress 60 was completely different. One of the most important things is to get the "Cooking" CD and use it. Traveler women should also listen to this CD, which is from about 6 to 10 years ago, and apply its cooking methods at home.
One of the key things that many chefs across the country didn’t know or hadn’t experienced was how to properly thicken dishes. For example, when making Ash Reshteh, some would add bulgur or flour to make it thicker, or when preparing Ghormeh Sabzi stew, the ingredients would remain separate—the beans, the broth, and the herbs wouldn’t fully come together, requiring a lot of extra work to achieve the right consistency. One of the key ingredients that helps thicken and give a good texture to food is onion.
How should you use it? You need to grind the onions. For instance, when making Ash Reshteh for ten people, you should finely grate about one kilogram of onions. Add them to the boiling water at the start, and it will quickly turn into a well-thickened Ash Reshteh. You’ll need to keep adding water to adjust the consistency because the onion creates such a rich texture.
For Ghormeh Sabzi, if you're cooking 10 kilograms of herbs, you should grind five kilograms of onions with a fine grater and add them to boiling water. This makes the stew delicious, gives it a fantastic flavor, and helps it thicken properly. Onions are also highly nutritious, antibacterial, and extremely beneficial for the body. Your stew will be rich, flavorful, and thick, but you’ll need to keep adding water as it thickens. The same applies to Abgoosht (Persian broth), Ash Sholeh Ghalamkar, Gheimeh, and even Fesenjan, Ghormeh Sabzi, and Khoresht Karafs [celery stew]—grinding onions and boiling them in water gives dishes a great consistency and enhances their taste.
I’ve explained all of this in the Cooking CD. Additionally, we use four key elements in cooking, which we call the Four Essential Elements:
1. Salt
2. Turmeric
3. Black Pepper
4. Cinnamon
These ingredients balance flavors, eliminate the strong smell of meat, make food taste amazing, and regulate the warm and cold nature of food [based on Persian medicine, whatever we eat is either warm or cold]. Make sure to get the "Cooking" CD, and for those cooking during Ramadan, try to use the Congress 60 cooking methods. Also, try to cook for yourself [do not buy prepared foods]!
Then Master Dezhakam invited Mr. Amin to talk about tree planting week and how it will be carried out in different cities of Iran.After Mr. Amin's speech, all Didebans of Congress 60 came to the stage and to appreciate Mr. Dezhakam's efforts, celebrated Engineer's day together [Mr. Hossein Dezhakam has been an electronic Engineer, with whose precious experiences, he finally discovered the solution to addiction and incurable diseases.]
So today, since the topic is tree planting, Amin should come and speak for about 15 to 20 minutes about tree planting, because Amin is the guard of the camps and also the guard of tree planting. I can see that some of the Didebans are sitting at the end of the session; what is their plan? What should I do? Amin should come and tell us the program, [the Didebans of Congress 60 celebrated Engineer’s Day for Mr. Hossein Dezhakam].
Translated by Elahe
https://congress60.org/News/392718/%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%B4%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86%E2%80%8C%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%AE%D8%AA%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C