Episodes
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Welcome to the FINAL episode of The Journey!
Today’s episode is designed to speak to that rhetoric that refugees or asylum seekers might be a burden... that they take from us, economically, culturally, or whatever that fear might be. I’m honoured to be able to share multiple examples of how much we have to gain from welcoming refugees and asylum seekers with open arms.
This episode came to be because along this journey we met many people working in grassroots refugee response, who have lived experience of migration themselves. By this I mean, refugees, people who have been displaced themselves, going on to support others in their same situation.
So this episode is about those inspirational people turning their struggle into something incredible, going full circle and using their knowledge, expertise and depth of understanding through personal experience, to give back to their community.
This episode is in honour of them.
We first hear from Nour and James, founders of The Great Oven. They build giant community ovens and donate them to those in need.
Next we hear from my lovely friend Danika who works unaccompanied minors in Paris. Her approach to humanitarian work has always inspired me.
Finally, we finish with some inportant words from Mustafa of Velos Youth.
To find out more about the organisations featured in this episode:https://www.greatoven.org/https://velosyouth.org/
To support this podcast:
https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To buy our merch:https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
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Many of the people we spoke to along this journey are being supported by projects funded by Comic Relief. Thanks to donations from the UK public, Comic Relief's Across Borders programme has invested over £7 million in organisations supporting refugees and people seeking asylum along these routes. Find out more about Comic Relief’s work and how to support it at comicrelief.com.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome back to Episode FIVE of The Journey - a 6-part podcast series following migration routes from Africa, The Middle East and Ukraine, to northern Europe.
Today’s episode is about what life looks like for people once they make it to their final destination. What is life like in their host country? What’s new and difficult? What does integration look like or even mean? What can we, as listeners do to help with this process?
We begin this episode in Athens where we hear from the wonderful Murtaza from Afghanistan. We also hear from Anneke - founder of UK-bassed befriending service Host Nation, and two people who have benefitted from her service - Henry and Afeworki.
We finish with some final words from Susie in Cairo and Dalal in Lebanon talking about life in your new country.
To find out more about the organisations featured in this episode:https://www.hostnation.org.uk/https://velosyouth.org/
To support this podcast:
https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To buy our merch:https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
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Many of the people we spoke to along this journey are being supported by projects funded by Comic Relief. Thanks to donations from the UK public, Comic Relief's Across Borders programme has invested over £7 million in organisations supporting refugees and people seeking asylum along these routes. Find out more about Comic Relief’s work and how to support it at comicrelief.com.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Missing episodes?
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In his memoir about leaving Syria to life in the UK, my friend Hassan (also a previous podcast guest), shared the terrifying experience he had when attempting to reach Greece by boat. His rubber dinghy was approached by three masked men on a bigger boat, who stole their petrol tank and violently pushed them away from the shore.
What Hassan experienced was a pushback.
What are pushbacks you might ask, well…in short, a pushback is when refugees and migrants are forced back over a border, generally immediately after they have crossed it. It is not just illegal to send someone back without consideration or assessment of their individual circumstances, but the violence with which these pushbacks are often carried out is costing lives.
Welcome back to Episode FOUR of The Journey - a 6-part podcast series following migration routes from Africa, The Middle East and Ukraine, to northern Europe.
So far this season we’ve explored the reasons why people are leaving their countries, we’ve taken a look at what life looks like in the first countries they arrive to and we’ve delved into the risks they face along their journey’s.
Today’s episode is a very important one. Before we went on this trip we had a rough idea of what the themes of these episodes might be…. But this one was unexpected. Pretty much every person we spoke to, and definitely in every country along the way we heard stories about pushbacks.
In this episode we hear from academics, aid workers and also the testimony of someone who has actually lived the experience of being pushed back.
This is a shocking topic and episode, but one I truly believe we all need to know about, as the first step to stopping these pushbacks from happening at our borders.
To support this podcast:
https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To buy our merch:https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome to Episode THREE of The Journey - a 6-part podcast series following migration routes from Africa, The Middle East and Ukraine, to northern Europe.
So far this season we’ve explored the reasons why people are leaving their countries, and taken a look at what life looks like in the first countries they arrive to. As a result of how difficult things can be in that first country, we also know that many people are forced to continue their journey until they find a country where they can live in safety…
But what do these journey’s look like? How do people cross borders, often without passports, visas or documentation? Do they use smugglers? Whats it like crossing the desert or the mountains or the sea?
We might have seen the newspaper articles about how dangerous these journey’s can be, but let’s hear it directly from the people with lived experience…
In this episode we hear from a young Afghan friend of mine, Shikhali, about how he crossed land and sea to make it to safety in France. We also hear some familiar voices such as Anne O'Rorke in Turkey, and Susie and Rashid in Egypt.
To find out more about the organisations featured in this episode:https://tiafi.org/https://www.syrianeyes.org/
https://stars-egypt.org/To support this podcast:
https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To buy our merch:https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
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Many of the people we spoke to along this journey are being supported by projects funded by Comic Relief. Thanks to donations from the UK public, Comic Relief's Across Borders programme has invested over £7 million in organisations supporting refugees and people seeking asylum along these routes. Find out more about Comic Relief’s work and how to support it at comicrelief.com.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome back to Episode TWO of The Journey - a 6-part podcast series following migration routes from Africa, The Middle East and Ukraine, to northern Europe.
People often ask me ‘Why don’t refugees stay in the first safe country they land in? It’s a comment I see a lot on social media and one I feel there is a lot of judgment and misinformation around. This episode is designed to answer exactly that. I’d like everyone who genuinely wonders about this question, to be able to listen to this and fully understand why a person’s journey can go on to span many countries.
We’ll be hearing from six incredible women... both refugees and people working in the humanitarian space in countries like Turkey and Lebanon, that border Syria and other conflict zones….
Our first stop in Turkey, the country which hosts the most refugees in the world. Here we visit Anne O'Rorke, an retired entrepreneur who left her home in Ireland to set up a community centre for Syrians in Turkey called Tiafi.
Next up we head to Beirut where we hear from Dalal, who works for UNHCR, and my lovely friend Dara from Syrian eyes.
The final stop is Egypt where you will hear from another four incredible women from Eritrea, South Sudan, Egypt and America about what life looks like for refugees here.
It's a big and important episode. Remember to let me know your thoughts!
To find out more about the organisations featured in this episode:https://tiafi.org/https://www.syrianeyes.org/
https://stars-egypt.org/To support this podcast:
https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To buy our merch:https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
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Many of the people we spoke to along this journey are being supported by projects funded by Comic Relief. Thanks to donations from the UK public, Comic Relief's Across Borders programme has invested over £7 million in organisations supporting refugees and people seeking asylum along these routes. Find out more about Comic Relief’s work and how to support it at comicrelief.com.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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I’m so happy to be bringing you episode 1 of The Journey - a 6-part podcast series following migration routes from Africa, The Middle East and Ukraine, to northern Europe.
In this episode we’re starting from the beginning and exploring why people first embark on their journey.
Why do people leave their countries and everything they ever knew behind?
What are the push factors?
We’ll be hearing from people from all over the world about the circumstances that forced them to first become a refugee.
Our journey begins in North Africa, in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, where we spent a week meeting many young people who have fled countries all over Africa, such as Eritrea, South Sudan, Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia and more, and are now living in Egypt. You will hear from Ahmad from Nigeria, Albino from South Sudan and Radhid from Somalia.
We then head to Lebanon and hear from ‘M’ who shares a different reason for leaving his country - his sexuality.
Next we head to Greece to hear from Mustafa, who runs Velos Youth - a wonderful organisation supporting young asylum seekers in Athens.
Finally we hear a short poem from a young Syrian named Mohamed in Istanbul, Turkey.
To find out more about the organisations featured in this episode:
https://stars-egypt.org/https://velosyouth.org/
To buy our merch:https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/To support this podcast:
https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
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Many of the people we spoke to along this journey are being supported by projects funded by Comic Relief. Thanks to donations from the UK public, Comic Relief's Across Borders programme has invested over £7millon in organisations supporting refugees and people seeking asylum along these routes. Find out more about Comic Relief’s work and how to support it at comicrelief.com.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Since Russia invaded Ukraine on the 24th February, I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been thinking about the Ukrainian people. This week I’ve been in neighboring Poland, (which, at the time of recording this is now estimated to be home to 4 million Ukrainian refugees). I’ve been honoured to speak to some incredible people both leaving Ukraine and volunteers and NGO’s on the ground supporting those leaving Ukraine. In this episode you will hear from Iryna - who fled Ukraine after finding out she was on the Russian kill list, Cat and James, both volunteers from California, and Elmi Abdi, a Somali refugee in Poland, supporting non-Ukrainian’s leaving Ukraine.
To directly support Elmi Abdi’s incredible work:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/nonukrainiansinukraine
To check out Love Welcomes, our wonderful sponsor:
https://www.lovewelcomes.org/
(remember to use the discount code WWT at check out for 10% off)
To buy our merch:
https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
To support this podcast:
https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Period Poverty. You might no know what this term means yet, but this episode will tell you everything you need to know.
In it we hear from six incredible women from five organisations working to tackle period poverty from the ground up. If you would like to find out more about their wonderful work, check them out here:
Ella Lambert - founder of The Pachamamma Project
Melissa Robel - founder of Pads 4 Refugees
Dara Foi'Elle - Syrian Eyes Team
Dalal - The Free Shop Lebanon
Meelie Pemberton - founder of Wing Woman Lebanon
Abir - employee of Wing Woman Lebanon
To support our podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To check out our amazing sponsor Love Welcomes: https://www.lovewelcomes.org/
To buy some merch: https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This International Women's Day, It's only right that I bring you the story of one of the most incredible women that I know... Khalida Popal.
Khalida grew up playing football with her brothers in Afghanistan, and even though she faced serious discrimination from her community as a result, she went on to form the Afghan women’s football league with her friends. Despite death threats at the hands of extremist and anti-women's-rights groups, she went on to be the first woman on the board of the Afghan football federation, the first female employee of the federation, and the captain of the Women’s National Team after being the driving force behind it’s growth.
But as Khalida’s profile grew, so too did the threat to her safety, and Khalida was forced to leave Afghanistan and begin her journey as a refugee. After living in various refugee camps she has been granted asylum in Denmark, but has never lost ties with her homeland.
Last year, when the Taliban seized power of Afghanistan, Khalida worked tirelessly to campaign for the safe evacuation of the Afghan women’s football teams, who had become targets to the Taliban (who do not allow women to participate in or even attend sporting events). Khalida rallied the international community and was eventually successful in safely evacuating over 300 people - the players and their familes, to both Australia and the UK.
Khalida continues to advocate for the rights of women and girls through her organisation Girl Power, which uses sport as a tool to empower, connect and unify women and girls from all cultures and social backgrounds.
This episode is brought to you by Love Welcomes: https://www.lovewelcomes.org/
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Today’s podcast episode is about a country very close to my heart - Sudan.
Like most people in the UK, I grew up without any knowledge of what was happening in Sudan. In my history lessons at school I learnt about the Holocaust and the ethnic cleansing that happened during the second world war, but I learnt nothing about the current genocide in Sudan that continues to this day.
It wasn’t until I went to uni and I somehow blagged my way onto a scholarship programme to study Mandarin in Beijing, (a story for another time), but I was sharing a room with a now good friend of mine Anna, who was studying the genocide in Darfur (a region in Sudan) for her degree. She was my first introduction to the situation there. She gave me the context, she told me stories about what she was reading, and I remember lying in bed one night in our room in Beijing, watching a film together called ‘Attack on Darfur’ - a hollywoodised, but pretty accurate depiction of what is happening there.
That film still haunts me honestly. This is a warning for anyone who watches it - it was the most heartbreaking film I’ve ever seen, but it served a very important purpose for me.
Fast forward about 5 years or so and I found myself in the Calais Jungle refugee camp for the first time, chatting to a guy there who told me he was from Darfur. As he talked about how his village had been burnt to the ground and he showed me the scars on his legs from where bullets had hit him, I thought back to that film and those conversations with Anna, and I was grateful that I knew even just a little bit about what he was telling me. I realised though that I still had a lot to learn.
Since then, I’ve met many wonderful Sudanese people along my journey. I’m happy to call some of them my best friends, you guys might remember my conversation with Awad in Episode 2, and I also have a Sudanese foster brother.
This episode comes after many conversations with them about the best way to encourage understanding and awareness for the people of Sudan. It aims to be a comprehensive introduction into the history, but through personal stories that make this information accessible to everyone.
In it we hear from three wonderful women sharing their knowledge and stories about Sudan. First, Sonja and Maddy, from an amazing organisation called Waging Peace who support the Sudanese community in the UK, then Marwa, who shares her personal experience of living in and leaving Sudan. Her testimony is an honour to be able to include and share with you.
To learn more about Waging Peace: https://wagingpeace.info/
To check out the products made by our lovely sponsor: https://www.lovewelcomes.org/ (use the code WWT for 10% off at checkout)
To support Asylum Speakers by buying a t-shirt or a hoodie: https://theworldwidetribeshop.com/
To support Asylum Speakers by donating: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To get in touch: https://www.instagram.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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I’m so excited to introduce you to our guest for this episode... Syrian filmmaker, activist and most recently, author, Hassan Akkad!
Hassan is the very first person I ever heard speak about their experience leaving Syria first hand, and it’s safe to say that it had a huge impact on me. Not only has Hassan shared his incredible story through talks and at events, he actually first became known for filming his journey from Syria to the UK - and his iconic footage was shown on the BBC documentary, Exodus back in 2016 for which he won a BAFTA. Since then, Hassan’s passion and dedication to telling his and other important stories has taken him all over the world, including to his local hospital where he worked as a cleaner during the pandemic.
In September last year, Hassan published his incredible memoir, Hope not Fear. I read it in a couple of days and even though I thought I knew his story, it absolutely blew me away.
In today’s episode we talk about his journey, his book, how candid he was in it, who he didn’t want to read it and why, and at the end he tells the story of the beautiful reunion he recently had with his family after many years of not being together.
You can find Hassan's book here
This episode is sponsored by the incredible Love Welcomes (Remember to use the code WWT at checkout for 10% off.)
To support this show and keep us sharing these stories, you can donate here: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This is an extra special bonus episode in which I ask some of my amazing previous podcast guests - 'What does Freedom mean to you?'
As we come to the end of Season 5, it felt good to touch base with a few old friends of the show, as well as to explore a theme I have been discussing with the team at Amnesty UK - human rights.
We all know we have rights, no matter where we come from, but not everyone (including myself) is super clear on what their human rights actually are.
@AmnestyUK have come up with a campaign called #KnowYourFreedoms, to help raise awareness about the four essential freedoms that belong to all of us. As part of this campaign I have put together a very special bonus episode of the podcast to explore the concept of freedom and what it actually means.
The freedom to be whoever you were born to be is a fundamental human right <3
#CreativeCommission #FreedomToImagine
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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I’ve got a bit of a different episode from normal in store for you today as I’m going to take you with me on a really fun experience I had recently.... a Lebanese cookery class.
Let me explain... My guest this week is Ahmad Sinnu. We met through one of my all time favourite organisations Migrateful. Migrateful run cookery classes led by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who are otherwise struggling to integrate or access employment. These cookery classes are absolutely amazing. They not only provide the teachers with ideal conditions for learning English and building confidence, but also promoting connection and cultural exchange with their new community - and as a participant, you learn something new and you get to eat it which is a win-win for me.
I’ve been to a couple of these classes in person now, and also done one online, and they’re awesome. Anything that revolves around food makes me happy and these classes bring together everything I love - cooking, eating and meeting new and interesting people from all over the world.
So a couple of weeks ago i went to Ahmad’s Lebanese cooking class to learn how to make vegan moussaka and tabbouleh. Ahmad is an asylum seeker. He left Lebanon 6 years ago after being shot on two separate occasions, leaving him in a wheelchair. He worked for the Lebanese red cross and learnt to cook when his parents passed away when he was young.
So the first part of this episode is the cookery itself, and the second half if a beautiful conversation I had with Ahmad the following day. I hope you enjoy it!
To find out more or book your own cookery class: https://www.migrateful.org/
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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For anyone who doesn’t remember the incredible story of the Stansted 15 - they are a group of human rights activists who organised a non-violent action to stop a deportation flight leaving from Stansted on the night of the 28 March 2017.
The plane they stopped from leaving the UK was chartered by the UK Home Office to deport 60 people to Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Amongst these people were several victims of human trafficking.
Most deportations in the UK take place on normal scheduled flights with other passengers not being deported, but up to 2,000 people a year are deported on these secretive mass deportation flights, specifically chartered by the Home Office. They take place at night, and the passengers are often shackled in chains and waist restraint belts or leg restraints.This is what the Stansted 15 wanted to expose. Their aim was to stop these charter flights from happening altogether.
What actually happened after that day, was the group were arrested, and instead of being charged with aggravated trespassing, the usual charge for a non-violent action like this at an airport, they were charged with terrorism charges carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison. Almost two years after the action they endured a 10-week-trial and were initially found guilty, but this conviction was eventually overturned in January of this year and their names were cleared.
Very importantly, as a result of their action, 11 of those 60 people due to be deported that night, now legally live in the UK. To me, thats a huge success.
I closely followed this story as it was unfolding and have always wanted to talk to a member of this group. I’ve just always thought it was an absolutely incredible thing to do. So I reached out to a few of them for this episode and got the general sense that this whole process had taken a huge emotional toll on them all, and they were busy trying to rebuild a sense of normality.
But one member of the group, Mel, was happy to meet me and invited me to her house. I was immediately totally enamoured by her as soon we met and we spent the afternoon together chatting, she made us sandwiches and we went for a walk in the forest. Mel has a real sense of calm and a sweetness and strength about her that hopefully comes through in this conversation. This story is so inspiring to me and I hope you enjoy it .
Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/prism-worldwidetribe)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This episode of The Worldwide Tribe podcast is dedicated to the people of Afghanistan. It was recorded in response to the devastating events we have seen unfold there over the last few weeks as the Taliban has taken over the country.
My guest this week is Rustam Wahab - a 19 year old British Afghan who has single-handedly become the go to source on Instagram, for up to date information on the situation on the ground. Rustam has been running a popular British politics page on Instagram for a while, called UK Fact Check Politics but this last week, his personal instagram page has grown from just a few thousand followers, to a quarter of a million followers as he tirelessly updates us there on what is happening in Afghanistan. Rustam is incredible and if he’s doing this at 19, who knows where he’ll be at 29, 39 or 49. I know I’m excited to find out.This conversation blew me away. It's both informative and emotional and I hope it's helpful.
Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/prism-worldwidetribe)Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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I LOVED recording this episode!
My guest this week is the most requested guest on this podcast ever - Holly Penalvar, founder of Indigo Volunteers.
Holly is an absolute ray of sunshine and known in this sector, not just for her amazing work coordinating thousands of volunteers, but for always doing so with a smile on her face so I think you guys probably knew that she would bring some joy and good vibes to the podcast.
Indigo volunteers is where I direct anyone wanting to volunteer within the refugee space. They directly connect volunteers with one of the 48 grassroots humanitarian projects and organisations that they partner with. They do so ethically, for free (unlike lots of other money making organisations that profit from placing volunteers), and they also carefully place people based on their skills and preferences.
On a personal level, Holly and I have always connected over our similar journeys working in this sector, from plunging head first into the grassroots response to the European refugee crisis back in 2016, and being on a steep learning curve ever since.
A recent headline about Holly in the metro read:
“I quit my job and ended my marriage to volunteer in greece with refugees. I helped thousands, met a new love and had a baby” - we talk about this journey that she’s been on today, from leaving everything behind in England, to 8 weeks ago, giving birth in Holland to baby Matteo with her Dutch partner Stijn who she met whilst volunteering in Thessaloniki.
To find out more about Indigo Volunteers:
https://www.indigovolunteers.org/
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In 2015, two young men called Carlito and Justin, hid inside the wheel well of a plane flying from Johannesburg in South Africa, to London. As the wheels of the plane were lowered for landing, Carlito fell from the sky, to his death on the roof of an office building in West London. Against all odds, his best friend Justin survived, and was found on the runway at Heathrow airport.
Today I speak to Rich Bentley, a filmmaker from London who spent five years looking for Justin and making a film about Justin and Carlito’s story called The Man who fell from The Sky. Rich’s film aims to show the human story behind making such a desperate and dangerous decision.
There have only been 128 people ever recorded to have attempted a journey like this… and only 24 of them have survived. This is not surprising because at every stage you are brought close to death. You can fall from the plane as it takes off, be crushed by the wheels as they retract back into the plane, or die from the temperate during the flight which reaches as low as -81 degrees. You will without a doubt at least lose consciousness in these conditions, which means you are then likely to fall from the plane as the wheels are lowered for landing.
In this episode Rich tells us about meeting a few miraculous survivors including Baswee - the first person to ever attempt doing this in 1946 when he was just 12 years old. He was fleeing Indonesia after the death of his parents. We also talk about when he met Osama, a 27-year-old palestinian from Gaza who hid beneath a plane from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.
But for the most part we talk about Carlito and Justin, who attempted this feat just a few years ago. It feels close to home because they were heading for London, which is actually the most popular destination for wheel well stowaways, with 16 in the last 25 years.
Carlito was raised in an orphanage in Mozambique and Justin was from a township in Johannesburg, This is where the two of them met, became friends and lived in a tent together whilst trying to survive.
And that’s the common thread in all these stories right. Behind every headline about migrants trying to make it to the UK, lies an individual story of someone driven by the dream of a better life.
I hope you enjoy our conversation today. Not only do we cover this important story, but we also talk storytelling with social purpose, we talk bias, privilege and using Rich’s film as a journalistic tribute to all those in search of safety.
Watch Rich's film here: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-man-who-fell-from-the-sky
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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I’m bringing you this special episode of The Worldwide Tribe in response to what has been happening in recent weeks in Israel and Palestine.
When I asked on social media what you wanted to hear about this topic , you said personal stories and also the history of the region so that’s what I’m bringing you.
My guest today is the amazing Yara Eid… a 20-year-old from Gaza. Yara left Gaza 5 years ago, after winning a scholarship to a boarding school in Wales. She now studies International relations at the University of Edinburgh and travels across the UK raising awareness about Palestine.
I first learnt about Yara after seeing a viral video of her on Instagram last week. It was a raw, heartbreaking moment of her crying after hearing the news that her neighbours house in Gaza had been bombed, and not knowing whether her own family had survived the attack. The video stuck with me through all the posts, noise and outrage about the most recent developments in the region, as it was such a personal account of the human impact of what is happening.
In this interview Yara brought me to tears about 8 times. The stories about her little brother, the death of her pet tortoise, what she witnessed at 14 years old, and the way she articulates her experience in her second language, just absolutely blew my mind.
I truly feel that Yara’s personal account, as a human being, regardless of politics, nationality or your beliefs, needs to be heard and I hope that recording this podcast is the beginning of a friendship between us because I think she’s amazing. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
To find out more, follow Yara at @eid_yara on Instagram.
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Today’s Episode of the podcast brings you the stories of two incredible young women, Nujeen Mustafa and Marwa Mbayed.
I was introduced to Nujeen and Marwa by Humanity and Inclusion, a charity who support people with disabilities, who are also affected by poverty, conflict and disaster. Unfortunately, this is the reality for both my guests today.
Nujeen was born with cerebral palsy. After leaving Syria aged 16 to escape ISIS, she made the 3500 mile journey to Germany in her wheelchair. She has since gone on to give a ted talk, co-write two books and become the first disabled person to brief the United Nations Security Council.
Marwa was 24 years old when she was in a car accident in Syria as a result of weapons being shot on the highway. She was immediately paralysed from the waist down. She too now lives in Germany.
These two stories are a strong reminder that anything can happen at any moment, to change the course of our lives forever, and that much is out of our control… but what is within our control is how we deal with it, and these two women set a shining example to us all.
To hear more from them:
Marwa's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marwa_mbayed/?hl=en
Nujeen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nujeenmustafa/?hl=en
To find out more about Humanity and Inclusion and the incredible work they do to support people with disabilities:
https://www.instagram.com/humanityinclusionuk/
https://humanity-inclusion.org.uk/en/index?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpdqDBhCSARIsAEUJ0hOoNfmW3Yg7L4mtLZ2e3DPr-33DkINRpBcEb0O2znjAvj_BIcKTIvsaAs4sEALw_wcB
To support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/theworldwidetribe
To buy a tshirt or hoodie:
https://theworldwidetribe.teemill.com/
Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/prism-worldwidetribe)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This week I’m talking to Karina and Katie from an organisation called United Stateless - the only organisation in the United States of America to be advocating for stateless people.
This is another topic that I had no idea about before Karina and Katie opened my eyes to what it means to be stateless.
Turns out there are around 200,000 people in America alone who fall into the category of stateless, and millions of people worldwide - a number that is difficult to estimate as half of the countries in the world don’t count these people...
One of these people is Karina herself, who was born in Soviet Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. She left there when she was 4 to try and seek asylum in Canada or the US - both of which rejected her claims. Meanwhile the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, leaving her without a country. She currently lives stateless in the US.
To find out more about United Stateless: www.unitedstateless.org.
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