TRURO - Flora Riyahi's face brightens and she smiles warmly when asked about the favourite part of her adopted home.
"Victoria Park," she responds immediately in her pleasant, soft voice. "I think it is the most beautiful place in the world. And I've been to over 20 countries."
"Every season it's beautiful," she continues, adding that not only does she love to hike there, she also runs, skis and bikes through the park at every opportunity.
"The park is a place that truly brings a smile to my face."
A native of Iran, Riyahi settled in Truro with her husband and two sons in 1990, after spending the previous year in Newfoundland.
Prior to that, they had lived for stints in both Winnipeg and Edmonton, but it was not until they had settled down in Truro that Riyahi realized she had found a place away from her native country that she could truly call home.
"Definitely Truro. It's home. It's definitely become home," she says, during an interview in her Prince Street office.
"The other places were nice too, it's just that Truro is nicer," she says.
"I love the idea of a small community. I love the idea of everyone knowing everyone. I like how friendly people are. I love the nature around here. And I made many, many friends around here. We were able to raise two very successful children in this community."
That success and the sense of home she has been able to achieve has not been forgotten.
Riyahi is involved in various volunteer capacities, including as a five-year board member with the Colchester Regional Hospital Foundation.
But she is also a financial contributor to the foundation's capital campaign for a new regional hospital, having contributed $10,000 in personal funds in recent years to the effort.
As a financial advisor with Sun Life Financial, Riyahi discovered yesterday that she was recognized at the corporate level as a 2010 volunteer finalist, a recognition that comes with a $3,000 prize that she can donate to a charity of choice.
And that money will also be going to the foundation, she said.
"Because I think it's a great cause and, let's face it, sooner or later, we all are going to use that hospital," she says. "We need that and a lot of people are going to need that."
It has been nine years since she last visited her homeland and Riyahi expects it will be a long time before she returns. And while she misses the two sisters who remain there, Riyahi is happy and content where her life's direction has taken her, thanks, she says, to the people who make Truro work.
"I'm so grateful to live in Truro and I'm so grateful that we came to Truro because after we left Iran I never thought I would live somewhere else that I would have so much sense of belonging and to feel at home the way I feel here," she says.
"I like to give back to the community that gave me so much, my family and I, because we were able to become who we are today. This is the community where we were able to raise two successful boys. And I enjoy helping people, I really do."
Flora facts
Married to Hussain Farid, a professor at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College
Two sons: Soharb Farid, 34 and Amir Farid, 28. Both are diplomats for Canada, with Soharb stationed in Sudan and Amir in Pakistan
Other volunteer affiliations include
Vice-chairwoman of the Colchester Regional Development Association
Chairwoman of chair of immigration advisory committee
Board member of the Colchester Regional Hospital Foundation
Board member of the Iranian Cultural Society (Halifax)
Board member Onelight Theatre (Halifax)
