Asylum Speakers Podcast with Jaz O'Hara: Stories of Migration and Displacement – Details, episodes & analysis

In the second episode of FATMATA, we travel to Greece, where Fatmata and Abu first arrive in Europe.

Through conversations with the volunteers who came to know them during their time there, we begin to understand life inside Greek refugee camps, the friendships they formed, and the moments of joy they found during these ten months of waiting.

But after several rejections of their asylum claims, it because clear that they would not be able to stay in Greece. In this episode, we follow the decisions that would lead them to leave Greece, and continue their journey north.

To support the show: https://www.patreon.com/asylumspeakers

Instagram: www.instagram.com/asylum_speakers

www.asylumspeakers.com

To find out more about Second Tree: https://secondtree.org/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first episode of FATMATA, we travel to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to meet the couple at the heart of this story.

Through conversations with her husband, Abu Bakar, her sisters, her mother, and those who knew her best, we begin to get to know the remarkable Fatmata Kamara - or Fatima, as she was known to her family and friends.

Fatmata left a lasting impression on everyone she met, so what led a young woman with so much love around her to leave everything she knew behind?

In this episode, we begin to understand the decisions that would take her thousands of miles from home, on a journey from which she would never return.

To support the show: https://www.patreon.com/asylumspeakers

Instagram: www.instagram.com/asylum_speakers

www.asylumspeakers.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

https://www.syrianeyes.org/

To support this podcast:

https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

https://www.syrianeyes.org/

To support this podcast:

https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To support this podcast:

https://patreon.com/theworldwidetribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

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.

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.

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.