Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Stories of Ourselves

In today's episode, my mom shares more about her journey out of Iraq to New Zealand and ultimately to Michigan. She walks us through the many goodbyes she had to say and what kept her going when she was forced to leave her loved ones behind.

In today's episode, we get to hear a different side of the same story as we sit down with my mom. We start with her early life in Baghdad, including where she grew up, how she chose her career path, and if she ever expected to leave the country permanently. We also get to compare her account of meeting my Baba, learning more along the way about how our perspectives and experiences may vastly differ even when our stories are incredibly intertwined.

In this final episode with my Baba, he tells us more about what ultimately drove him to uproot his family just three short years after settling in New Zealand. He also walks us through his experiences navigating xenophobia in both New Zealand and the United States, what it was like to live in rural Michigan during the American occupation of Iraq, before ending the episode with some parting advice we can all apply to our lives.

When we last heard from my Baba, he was walking us through his decision to leave Iraq. Today, we finally learn how it happened. Throughout this episode, my Baba shares how and why he finally left Iraq, detailing his risky (and lengthy) journey to Jordan and then ultimately New Zealand.

In today's conversation, Baba shares his backstory, including what it was like growing up in Iraq and how he met my mother while working in a hospital. Over the course of the episode, he shares shares how the demise of safety and security in Iraq forced him to rethink his place in the country - setting us up to learn more in the next episode about why and how he ultimately left. Also, it's his birthday today, so everyone wish him a happy birthday!

Join me on a journey in discovering and documenting our histories. I’ll begin with my own family’s story before I ask other migrants (a broad category I envision to include immigrants, refugees, and people still on the move) to join me in discovering parts of their lost histories so that, together, we can discover one of the most important stories – the stories of ourselves.