This month, we’re celebrating Immigrant Heritage and World Refugee Day, and we have compiled a list of podcast episodes that discuss the highs and lows of immigrants all over the world to help you get prepared. These podcasts give a first-hand account of life as an immigrant, the circumstances that drove them to seek a better life in another country and how the immigration policies can affect the success of immigrants all over the world.
Listen to the story of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected immigrant life in the United States through the eyes of Joy, an immigrant from China who finds herself in an abusive relationship. Her decision to flee from the situation causes her to rebuild a life with her daughter with little to no help.
Is it ever too late to start over? Learn a new way of life in a new country? Misha is a 24-year-old Pakistani American that moved to the United States in 2003. In this series, she learns to do all the things she never did as an immigrant child. She also learns to find her place in this new world.
Modern Immigrant: Walking from Honduras
Luis migrated to the United States in 1997 at the age of 8. He opens up about the language barrier that he soon overcame, since he was eight years old at the time. In this episode, Luis says that being an immigrant allowed him to be a risk taker, which means that he survived all the battles that he has had to face. He also talks about some of the issues and challenges that are still plaguing the immigrant society such as the hard immigration process, which gives limited freedoms to immigrants due to certain laws.
The Immigrant Show: Joseph from Kenya
You can call this another immigrant success story as Joseph talks about his education and professional journey as an immigrant. Joseph tells how circumstances led him to make the decision to study overseas as it was his only choice. He ventured into STEM and completed his degree, but it wasn’t very easy after that. He lets us know that he was no stranger to failure as many of his attempts to build the future of his dreams proved futile. Listen to learn all about how he achieves his American dream and conquers the biotechnology field.
Modern Immigrant: Craving for Healing – Latinx Therapy
It is not uncommon to hear of people ignoring their emotions and mental health because they cannot afford to share with professionals. The founder of the Latinx Therapy podcast shares her experiences with people who could not afford her services, as they felt that therapy was out of their reach. She also shares her struggles with her own mental health and shares resources for anyone who might need to talk to someone or a support group.
How does one resettle in a different land and keep their culture intact? Listen as Noori shares his journey from Afghanistan to the United States, the conditions that drove him to seek refuge in another country, and how he overcame the obstacles that were thrown his way, and how he has been able to stay connected to his culture.
Neighbors: The Language Learner
Gin Thawng is forced to flee his home country Myanmar, also known as Burma, and seek refuge in the United States due to the civil war. Although he was safe from the war, he was plagued with new problems including medical debt and unemployment. His son was their only source of income. It is not an uncommon occurrence to hear of the language barrier, which caused Gin to sign up for an ESOL class on wheels that was founded by a woman driven to help refugees. He talks about the power of language and the human connection that extends past any language barriers.
Life Across Borders: A World Relief Mini-Series on Apple Podcasts
Last but not least, our own mini-series discusses some of the pressing immigration issues going on the United States today and the steps that the government is taking to address them. There is also a Biblical discussion of immigration and how the church should respond.
Following World Refugee Day, we understand that you may questions around refugees and immigrants, so these are just a few of the podcasts available to help you learn more. This year, we expect to welcome hundreds of neighbors to the Memphis area, but we can’t do it without your help as you’ve seen in the podcast episodes above. If you want to get involved and help welcome our neighbors, head to our volunteer page to see what options are available! Or, consider making a gift towards a new horizon, one where our neighbors our welcome.