A Day in the Life of the World's Shortest Man

This is option.

>> He's 23 years old and stands at just 2 feet tall.

>> Despite his positive attitude,

even the smallest of tasks can be a big

>> He's been bullied by his peers,

rejected by schools, and denied job opportunities

because of his height.

So, what is life really like in a world designed for people three times his size? to find out.

I'm heading to Options Village in western Iran to spend a day in his shoes.

We've been driving for two whole days across

Irani Kurdistan, and we have finally arrived

in the small town of Bukan, where no tourists ever come.

And the world's shortest man lives in a small village about 20 minutes away from here.

So, right now, we're buying some gifts in the shop for him and his

family, and we're about to roll up.

And this is for sure going to be one of the most emotional

and interesting stories that I've ever told.

Kurdistan is an unofficial

region that stretches across parts of Turkey,

Iraq, Syria, and right here in Iran.

The Kurds are actually the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own.

And as it turns out, the world's shortest man is one of them.

I don't know his exact address, so my friend Amin and I are hitting

the streets to ask around and hopefully

someone can point us in the right direction.

We've just entered the village.

Now we got to find his house. You must ask.

We can't find the house, so we're asking

>> Little bit of chaos here trying to find the house. See, she knows. That's the dad. >> That's the dad. Salam. >> Okay.

A little bit of a chaotic

entrance to find his house, but I think we found it.

We forgot his dad. Salam. Salam. Salam. Kobe. Salam. >> Yeah. Yeah. Hi. Hi.

>> Nice to meet you.

>> I can just say that this gentleman is very very kind. Very genuine. Hello.

>> Why do they touch their face?

You actually put uh the hand on the the eyes.

We have an expression

in some parts of Iran.

Literally, it means that we are happy that you step on our eyes. Yeah. Interesting.

Which means that you're most welcome to our place. >> Nice.

We got like half the village following us.

It's so beautiful out here. It's like mountainous.

We got the town of Buhan right there where we just came from.

But it's beautiful up here. >> Salamkum. Ya. Salam. >> Salam. Salam. >> Hey buddy. >> Salam. Salam. How are you? >> How are you? >> Thank you. Thank you.

>> So I I came here.

I just want to meet you and hang out and spend a day in your life.

So, whatever you want to do, I'm interested in. >> Mercy. Thank you.

He says that I'm okay.

>> You like you like the Los Angeles Lakers. Basketball. >> Basketball. Cute.

>> Ashin, your village is really, really beautiful.

Like the views of the mountains and you can see Bukhan.

It's like really nice.

He says that Cordestan

is beautiful, but unfortunately

the facilities and equipment is not that much here.

>> All right, Option is going to give me a little tour inside of his house.

>> It's really, really nice in here. It's very white.

A lot of rugs.

What does a day in your life look like?

>> He has a friend.

Sometimes they do some videos together for their page.

Most of the time he plays with the

neighbors and friends around.

>> He love to marry,

but his dad doesn't agree with that.

>> Let the man get married.

>> His dad saying that he needs to have a house first and then marry,

you know, >> have his own house.

>> They receive lots of guests here, but their house is small.

He would like to get the bigger house in town.

So more people can come and visit him.

>> We're just chilling in his living room. Mom's walking by.

Ladies are cooking in the back.

And uh Oh, cool.

>> It's out of charge.

One guy, he's I mean, fixing motorbikes

in Bhukan made it for him.

>> It's out of charge. Cute. >> And he's off.

He's giggling so much.

Just cruising around the house.

It's cool that they made it. It's >> Let's go.

He says, "Let's go." >> Okay, I'm coming. >> Let's go.

>> He waits for me to get up. See that?

He doesn't move till I get up.

Okay, let's What I love about the culture out here is like everyone just

sits on a rug

and just hangs out. It's really chill.

>> In Turkish Kurdistan, I met Sultan Kosan, who's the world's tallest man. >> You know him? >> He Yeah.

And he likes to meet him as >> Yeah. Yeah.

He's 2.3 or 4 meters.

So option has two Guinness World Records.

The first one here, it was awarded in Dubai

for being the shortest living

man alive, measured at 2'1 in.

And the other one, it's the smallest hands on a human.

>> Could you tell me a little bit about Kurdish

culture and what does being Kurdish mean to you?

>> It says that we are all Iranian.

Doesn't matter that they are sect in religion they are following.

We are just like brothers and we are human.

>> So it sounds like they're not nationalistic for Kurdistan.

>> Ashen, what does it mean for you to be

>> Courts are really nice and it's an honor for him to be a court.

>> I think Kurdish people are some of the nicest in the world. >> He's insisting now.

Yeah, he's insisting >> what's going on here is they offered to cook us dinner

and we were like, "No, no, we can take you out somewhere."

And then now they're insisting that we stay here and eat.

Then I said, "Why don't we go to the market and buy food?" >> Yeah.

And the gentleman said, "No way.

That everything is available at home.

You don't need to do that and we will prepare everything for you."

>> That's just a hospitality here.

You know, Ashin, if you could say any message to

Americans and anybody watching this video, what would you tell

As the family gets ready to cook, we have some free time.

So, Offshin wants to take me around his neighborhood where everybody knows him.

>> He's showing me the town.

Oh, there he >> Hello.

Option's dad's driving and we're rolling around town. He keeps giggling.

>> All right, we just made it to the main part of town.

>> They know him and they follow him on >> Oh, so cute. I'm from America.

>> Here, look at this.

Look at >> Look at this. Shoots a ball. >> That a boy.

>> I'm sure he's better than you. >> Yeah. I suck.

>> American doesn't know anything about >> Good job, buddy. >> Ah, Ronaldo. >> Chris Ronaldo.

You know that when he scores goals,

he does like this. >> You like Ronaldo?

>> Tell me about option.

You live in the same village.

So, what's he like?

>> They think that he's really cute and he's really fun and he's a very

nice >> It's a nice seat you got there.

Best seat in the house.

>> Can you tell me what it was like when AI was born and you

realized that he had a >> I got ashim.

>> So, when he was born,

he was only 100 g. >> 100 g. >> 100 g.

They did lots of tests and things like that.

Finally, after 17 years,

he could grow to almost 64

cm and 6.5 kg. He's weighing now.

>> It must have been very difficult when he was born for you and your family.

So, tell me about

how you felt and maybe some of the struggles that you had growing up.

>> The main difficulty was that when they

understood the situation, the way to cure him was really expensive.

They spend 10 months out of 12 months of a year mostly

in hospitals and clinics.

And the problem was that they used to live in a village far from everywhere.

So they didn't receive any supports from the organization.

They have to pay everything from their own pocket.

>> But did they ever find out the reason why that he was born so small?

>> The doctors told them that's the main problem was because of genetic problems because

he and Ashin's mother, they were close relatives married. >> Oh, really?

So yeah, >> so he married his cousin. >> Yeah, cousin.

>> When you were growing up, some of the schools here in town, I heard

didn't allow you to go there and you had a lot of difficulties

like kind of mingling with the other people.

So tell me about some of the hardships you had growing

Uh they took him to a school but unfortunately

they didn't accept you know that actually.

But now when they move to this village the teachers at the school here they teach him.

So now he has graduated from second grade and this year in September he

goes to the third

>> His classroom mates are like 10.

>> The teacher takes him to the office and teaches him privately.

>> Often what are your some of your hopes and dreams and goals as you get older?

>> He says that he wish that he could start earlier

to learn his lessons

and he's um sad that he couldn't start earlier his

She says that he's really talented.

He he you know that immediately

remembers and memorize the phone number for example. Yeah.

>> Tell me about she says that

um he regularly goes and visits

his place his family.

She says that most of the people of the village they really love him.

The people of the village call him Muhammad

>> because he's like the prophet.

>> Yeah probably just gay.

>> Can I call you Muhammad?

Muhammad >> Muhammad he likes Muhammad. This is amazing. Look at this.

We just random random house in in the village.

Thank >> And she says that he's very good in memorizing things.

He always happy smiles to people and everybody loves him >> It's really nice to

see how wellreceived he is among the community.

Everybody that sees him really likes him, says really speaks really highly of him

and it's a really amazing village that he lives in. Everyone's super friendly.

It's difficult for Ashin to walk more than a few steps.

So he kind of just latches on.

That's what he's used to.

And we're cruising around village right now.

There's not a whole lot going on.

It's kind of a sleepy town, but nice people everywhere. Friendly faces. >> Salam. Salam.

>> They're calling him They call him

>> They really do call him Muhammad. >> I need help.

They said that uh they asked where you are from

and he said you are from

United States of America

and they said that tell him welcome to our

>> behind us is one of the only shops

in the whole town.

Pick out some things that we can get we can bring to home. >> He likes watermelon. >> Watermelon. Let's go.

How is this a

>> This is a different types of watermelon.

>> I've never seen a watermelon that looks like this.

We're going to bring this one to your house. All right.

Tell him what whatever he likes.

What do you want?

What do you want?

Choose whatever you want. >> That one. Okay.

>> He is a typical Iranian man. >> Yeah. He's just small. That's it. >> How are you? >> I'm great. Thank you. >> You know Option? >> Yes, I know.

Tell me about him.

>> He's just small, but he's so smart.

He's a singer and he play football. >> He's a singer.

>> How long do you know him?

How many >> Uh for 2 years. >> Two years.

>> You can see Ashin just in his element hanging out with the kids in

town and they love him

and he loves them.

It's really really special to witness.

Option wants to take me to Bukhan,

the nearby town just 20 minutes away.

And I'm curious to see what life is like beyond his village.

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All right, now let's head back to the story.

We are racing through the bazaar

following Muhammad and his father.

It's funny how when they're walking in public, you see people make eye contact

and they recognize them, but they're too shy to ask for a picture.

We're taking Muhammad to get a fresh haircut here, looking nice and clean.

What do you think about this?

>> Words cannot describe the feeling.

He's cute, but at the same time, then you follow his life.

You feel sorry at the same time because he

misses lots of I mean things that normal people can do.

But uh look at his face. He's happy. He's smiling.

>> Muhammad, how do you feel?

>> It feels very good.

and he's happy with his barber.

>> How do you always stay so happy?

You're always giggling and smiling.

>> He says that I'm always happy. I'm always happy.

>> He's happy because people love Simangu.

>> His father just picked up a a buzzer and just starts shaving in the

corner over The Kurdish man has a very nice mustache.

All of them like very thick.

You got to keep it nicely groomed.

What's amazing about Muhammad is everything about him is normal.

As if he's one of your friends, he just happens to be really small.

Good >> He doesn't accept me to pay because he says that he never get

money from Got to be careful crossing the street because he's really fragile clearly.

So, just got to protect him a little bit.

What is the best and the worst part about being small?

>> The difficult part for him is he's not able to get a job.

He's not able to work have his own income.

He likes to be just like a normal guy can work and you know

that actually earn money but it's impossible for >> now.

What's the best part?

He's well known right now, but he would like that everywhere

in the world knows him.

Not only in Bukan and inaba,

the towns around here,

everywhere in Iran and also in other countries.

>> Hopefully through this video, you'll get more wellknown.

What kind of job would you like to have?

>> He likes uh football and movies a lot.

So he would uh like to be a ideally a football player or an

actor especially you know that play a role in

international movies or an engineer.

>> Engineer you're very smart.

I can see that happening. >> Everybody knows him.

Muhammad you're a >> He's a superstar.

>> See everyone's taking pictures as well.

>> There's about 15 people like all to take pictures with him right here.

This guy's carrying an actual baby

and this is 23year-old option.

You can see the perspective here.

This this baby's 10 months >> and he's 23.

Just cruising around town. >> Yep. Pukan.

It's actually a bustling place.

There's a lot going on here.

>> Muhammad, how does it feel to be the most famous person in town? He's happy.

>> Which one do you like?

I mean, those would probably fit in better, but >> too big.

>> Let's get a smaller one.

>> All right, let's get them for him.

>> 1 million real for the sunglasses,

which is about a dollar. About $2.

This is 500,000 real

and this is 500,000 real.

So 1 million together. >> Thank you.

>> It's been a pretty incredible day so far hanging around Bukan with Muhammad and his father.

But now it is time to eat.

It is about noon and if there's one thing that I love about Iran,

it is the kebabs.

And Muhammad has taken me to his favorite kebab restaurant. Here we go. Follow me. >> All right.

So, we got his Zam Zam. What is that?

>> Zam Zam is Iranian Coke.

>> Imagine getting a Coke bottle served to you when you're sitting down and it's

like up to your head. Crazy.

Can you eat all this, buddy?

That's a big portion. All right.

So, we got minced

lamb kebab here, which is just the classic

Iranian food with grilled tomatoes and flatbread.

How does he eat?

Does he do it himself or his father does it?

>> His father has kebabs.

Yeah, >> this is one of the best.

>> He's asking what kind of food

you have in US.

>> We have really unhealthy food. Yeah.

Burgers, sandwiches, cheese steaks, and then like steak.

We really like our

>> We would like to visit you.

>> We would love to have you.

He says that if he goes there, he won't come back to you.

>> He may be small, but one thing's for sure, Ashen can eat.

After a delicious kebab,

we're heading to the tailor to see how the world's shortest man finds his clothes.

>> Right now, Muhammad is getting fit for a traditional Kurdish outfit.

They're taking all of his measurements.

Muhammad, what color do you want? >> This one.

>> He wants the white one.

Yeah, he he says which model he likes to get.

>> We are going to measure

Muhammad >> stepping on it.

63 cm with shoes on.

>> Let me see your hands. >> 6.5 cm.

The gentleman is joking with him and he says that

you have to have your wife eat yourself because they're filming you

and I said that we are arranging to arrange a marriage for him.

He really likes to get married >> someday. Inshallah. >> Muhammad.

I I see that you know in order to get around you're mostly carried by your father.

Is it difficult to walk?

>> says that after walking for a while then he feels tired >> after walking for a while.

And his dad also

he likes to you know that have it in his heart. >> Yeah.

It's almost like it's so natural for the father just to carry him around everywhere.

Isma, how do you feel that your son gets so much attention in

>> He's uh really delighted when people

comes to him and they love him and he has a special you know that feeling.

He says that it's because of Muhammad that everybody pay attention to him and his >> Wonderful.

Just getting surrounded by people here as we stand.

It's been a full day of exploring Bukan,

and I got to admit, Option is not the only one who's tired.

We're heading back to his place to rest and enjoy a home-cooked meal.

And apparently, I'm in for a treat because Option is going to sing me a song. >> Very handsome. That was amazing.

>> Can hear now is the call to prayer.

It's a beautiful time of the evening.

It's prayer time right now and Ashin is washing his hands and feet and

he's about to go inside the mosque and pray with his father.

Across the remote areas of Iran,

daily life is deeply rooted in Islam with people praying five times a day.

But here in Irani Kurdistan,

the majority of Kurds practice Sunni Islam, which differs from Shia Islam that is

dominant in the rest of the country.

It's such a complex religion, but it's obvious that for often these practices aren't just religious. They're deeply personal.

>> How long have you known Ashen?

>> First of all, he would like to welcome you to their place.

The gentleman is here for about 2 years.

He knows Muhammad as a nice gentleman

but he says that he's just

here for two years.

So to the extent that he know Muhammad is a very nice people

and everybody in the village

this gentleman >> that was a really nice prayer.

Thank you he's delighted to hear what you said about

you enjoy listening to his prayers.

He he also likes you know that your behavior.

says that when you

come in if you

have not started to speak you wouldn't distinguish that you are not from here

always have to be you're not foreigners

it's important to be respectful when

visiting new places and

>> and that's the way that it should be like this everybody has to respect

you know that whatever

other people all around the world you know that they believe alhamdulillah

>> as I told you the people of the village they love afin

Muhammad and the gentleman

was just saying that it's because of him we can see someone from far

away United States has come here to

our village to our small village. >> That's awesome.

I It brings people >> Yes. Exactly.

>> And I'm also really happy that I get to be introduced to your culture

because without him I wouldn't even know about this place.

What do you think about that that

>> I've been traveling all around this country for

about 16 17 years

and in last few days we've been in

Cordish region in Iran, Cordistan of Iran.

I think they are among the most

hospitable people in this country.

They are really friendly.

Every single place that we go,

they insist to invite us to their place.

They bring us tea.

They bring us water. It's incredible. It's unbelievable. >> I love that. It's true. >> Good night.

>> After the mosque, the sun is already set and we're heading back home to

see what Ashin's mother has prepared for dinner. >> I know her.

Joti, the world's shortest. >> I know her.

>> Make you know that.

arrange it in a way >> I'm going to set them up so they can get

>> At least they can meet because he

his dad says that he likes a girl in Arabil in Iraq.

>> for the son of Iraq.

>> Yeah, I know Joti. She's awesome.

Let's send Joti a picture of us.

>> Okay, send it to Joti. Bona petit.

>> Oh, he's he's going at it.

>> This is a an amazing experience

just in the middle of the village.

Everyone's super friendly and they cooked us dinner and she keeps bringing out more dishes.

I thought that that was all.

All of a sudden there's a lot of commotion.

Everybody came over here to eat and it's a full like street long dinner. >> Tomato sauce. It's fantastic.

It's It's like a soup.

You can't even believe how friendly these people are.

I keep saying that in Iran, but this family >> I love that.

Muhammad, what's your favorite food? >> Kebab. Kebab.

>> He likes most of food, especially kebab and pizza.

>> How about Italian food when you were in Italy?

Did you like it?

>> He says that they brought some food, but when he look at the food,

he couldn't eat it and said, "I cannot eat."

>> It's funny that he doesn't like Italy.

>> I think it's hilarious.

>> Muhammad, if you could visit any country in the world, which country would you go almost everywhere.

United States of America,

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Amara, >> Dubai, Dubai. >> He likes Dubai.

>> What do you like about America?

The governments don't like each other, but the people are wonderful. >> Yeah, agree.

Everybody is good to each >> You done? No more. >> You're full.

She just gives me a nice hug after the

>> Thank you for inviting me over.

For me, this was an incredible experience

to meet your family and to enjoy it. Ramadan. Thank you. >> Thank you.

>> It's been a humbling 24 hours with Offshin in his hometown of Bukan.

I came here to see how he navigates his tiny world.

But he taught me something much bigger.

That joy and purpose aren't limited by size or circumstance.

And sometimes the smallest voices leave the biggest impact.

I really enjoyed his family's hospitality.

From the second we arrived, they treated us like family.

No country in the world does hospitality like Iran.

In the end, we are all just humans who want to be seen,

heard, and >> No, he gives me