Ali Zabei is a 30-year-old former racketeer who turned his life around by turning to Islam. Hiding his tattoo-covered body with long-sleeved shirts, he is a volunteer caretaker at a hoseiniye (a Shia gathering hall, similar to a mosque) in Sari, Iran. We met him on our Iran adventure in Sari, on the Caspian Sea, this morning on our latest escape from Tehran.

Meeting interesting characters on an Iran adventure is common. Iranians are curious about foreign visitors and usually reciprocate by talking about their own lives.

Our Iran road trip through north Iran's Caspian Coast region included plenty of sightings of shepherds and their herds.

I romanticize the job of a shepherd. What could be better than spending the entire day outdoors? I’ve photographed dozens of Iranian shepherds I’ve encountered on the roads in Iran.

The shepherds, though, don’t see the job anywhere near as romantic. Seyyed Mahmud Abolghasemi of the village of Ghaleh Sar owns a herd of 200 sheep and goats in southeastern Mazandaran Province. He is on the village’s governing body. We met him on the sixth day of our escape from Tehran, near the Badap Soort Springs.

In his own words:

“The price of the sheep remains still while everything else goes up. Even for this land I pay ever-increasing rent.

“The good money is with the brokers. If I sell a sheep for 500,000, he sells it for 1M. But he makes his money in a single day. I have to suffer in the sun and the cold for a whole year for my share.

“There are wolves everywhere and the bears are in the mountains. The dogs do a good job of keeping them away.

Our Iran Road Trip > "The job that makes you old quick"

“This job makes you old quick. It’s tough. Your skin turns into leather in the sun. I inherited this work from my father. But I don’t want any of it for my kids. And for myself, I’m wishing for the opportunity to cash and in and move into the city.

“I have three sons. One is the military. He’s gone. Thank God. The youngest is in the seventh grade. He wants to be a teacher. I’m happy about that.

“But the middle son likes this lifestyle. He wants to be outdoors. He worries me.

Our Iran Road Trip > The effects of global warming in rural Iran

“The land is changing quickly. My father told me all these hills used to be covered with green. Not anymore. Now rivers and springs are drying up one after another. Right here used to be a flowing river.

“In the summer, the entire family moves to the yehlāgh (highland pasture) in the Alborz Mountains over there, in the clouds, where it is cooler. We walk the entire way.

In his own words:

“I didn’t even have to ask for protection money. Shopkeepers just came out in the street and gave it to me because they knew what I would do to them if they didn’t.

“But I have asked forgiveness from every one of them.

“I repented all of a sudden because someone I cared about told me to stop doing it. He didn’t say anything special. Just said stop throwing your life away. Also my mother influenced me.

God was my reason for change

“But God was really the reason I changed, not a human being. Before you couldn’t even look me in the eye, let alone tell me what to do. Now people yell at me all the time. But I stay quiet, keep my peace. And in silence, I actually feel powerful.

“When I repented six years ago, I had everything. But since then, I’ve lost my wife, my child, my money. I lost everything. It’s God’s test. He wants to know if my repentance is real or not.

“I’m still paying for my past. People still haven’t changed their minds. I can see it in their eyes, in the way they move around me. But for me, it’s not important. Why? Because my owner, my creator, my elder is someone else. So because I have Him, then what people think is not important to me. Actually, they are also being tested.

“God pulled Joseph out of the well and made him the beloved of Egypt. My God is the same God. So if I choose to, I too can go the same route.

My volunteer work

“I work here at the hoseiniye as a volunteer servant. I don’t receive a salary like the other servants here. People give me handouts. Sometimes I do roze khani (form of preaching). I have to pay 1.5M tomans a month [about $50 USD] for my wife’s mehriyeh (form of dowry).

“My entire body is covered with tattoos. When I go home at night, I try to stay covered so my mother doesn’t see the tattoos. The only way to get rid of them is by laser. That’s going to cost a pretty penny too.

“Here, it’s a cross and here it’s a gun. Here it says, ‘Mortician, wash my dead body calmly.’

“The tattoos serve a purpose, too. They remind me of my past. I remember who I was. So the tattoos, in a way, straighten my path.”