Our Immigrant Stories
By Raudhah Rahman
Podcast Edited by Jihan Fakhirah (https://www.instagram.com/hanhirah/)
Music by Warisan Gamelan Melayu (https://youtu.be/J9Skrt_rxI8)
Podcast Art by Bentuk Studio
Our Immigrant StoriesMar 18, 2022
ADHD, divorce stigma, fear-based teachings and healing on your own time with Lamees Alwasabi
Lamees Alwasabi is a cisgender female healthcare provider who was born in Yemen and have spent most of her life as an immigrant in the United States, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and now residing in Canada.
She talks about her experience working as a doctor in Yemen until the war broke out. In this podcast, she talks about the different situations she faced in life forcing her to start a journey of self-reflection which rippled into embracing spirituality and healing. By sharing this, she hopes it resonates with people and make them feel seen, providing hope that life is not so linear and that things always get better.
Enjoy!
Episode 3 with Aleksander Berezkin
Aleksander V Berezkin (he/they), a white intersex queer (47xxy), was born in the South of Siberia (Russia) in 1984. In 2013, they founded the Association of the Russian Speaking Intersex People. However, in 2014 due to gay propaganda law and the risk of arrest, they had to escape Russia and seek political asylum in the USA. Aleksander got his asylum in 2017 in NYC.
Currently, Aleksander lives with his partner in San Francisco. Aleksander is studying LGBTQI lived experience in the context of personal transformations at the Ph.D. program in East-West Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies.
In 2019 Aleksander published their first stories, "Flies" (about refugees) in the online journal "The Pocket Samovar" for underrepresented Eurasian, post-Soviet writers in the USA.
This is an episode you do not want to skip over.
We talk about many things like:
- The relationship between spirituality and social justice.
- Using dreams to navigate our immigration story.
- Their story of forced immigration.
- Colonial Language when it comes to communicating social justice with immigrants that speak English as a second language or none at all.
Connect with Aleksander through:
Website: https://www.danceofpolychrome.com/
Read 'Flies', a story about underrepresented Eurasian, post-Soviet writers in the USA.
Instagram: @dance_of_polychrome
Episode 2 with Crunch Ranjani (she/her)
In this episode, we talked about how she embraced the name Crunch, bridged cultures through food and how she migrated from Singapore and now lives in Mexico.
Crunch is a conversion copywriter + content creator for change makers and entrepreneurs who want to make an impact with the money and influence they have in their business.
A firm believer that we need more diversity, equity, and inclusion in our communities, Crunch helps like-minded business owners harness the power of words to get their message heard by more than just their 213 Instagram followers and create a bigger impact in the world.
Crunch’s superpower is writing snazzy blogs and articles, and turning the monologues you’ve been doing on Facebook/Instagram Live into a summoning spell that magically conjures up your ideal clients + appeases the Google gods.
Visit Crunch's website: https://crunchranjani.com/
Follow Crunch on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crunchtini/
Read Crunch's article on race issues in Singapore: What's race got to do with anything?
Hui Li Seong | Our Immigrant Story | Episode 1
Hui Li (she/her) joins us from Gopeng Riverstones in Perak, Malaysia. Hui Li moved around as a child while her parents were studying abroad and later she immigrated to California from Malaysia as a student. Listen to the rich story of her name, ancestral practices and what "home" means to her.