Youth UnMuted: Now You Hear Us Podcast Episode 1

[Music] [Music] now you hear us is a podcast that shares the voices of young people who have experienced displacement from refugee camps to host communities we'll be sharing our views inside and thoughts on displacement migration politics mental health identity friendship art and love some content discussed in our show may include references to traumatic experiences including war violence abuse sexism and mental health issues including depression and anxiety hello and welcome to our first ever now you hear us podcast now you hear us is a project created by youth unmuted an organization that uses creative storytelling to

elevate the voices of youth who have experienced displacement today you'll hear from our four amazing youth advisory board members including me paui as we introduce ourselves and share a bit about our lives and perspectives each podcast will explore new ideas and topics and will include our voices and conversations as well as other youths from around the world who have been displaced to ensure that all youth who want to participate are included the audio for this podcast is recorded on personal phones sometimes inside refugee camps and with limited technical resources we think that this just gives

our podcast more character and we hope that you agree [Music] [Music] hello my name is pavi i'm 16 years old and i'm from afghanistan originally who am i i am an artist and i'm a photographer i love reading persian poetry um learning new language and let me tell you it's harder than it sounds i'm an artist and i love color it allows me to explore other dimensions and it also helps me to keep myself motivated in general we all have a purpose in participating in this podcast and my goal is to tell the depth of

tragedy i want to find some pieces of my existence in this way the last pieces that i've left in different lands i want to talk about the thoughts of a young girl and not be judged i want to um talk about unattainable dreams of small and big dreams that suffocate burning the fire their blood spilling onto the rocks i want to talk about the love and passion of life the good and bad memories the oppressed looks of innocent children men and women full of dead hopes and drawing houses and silent voices and looted countries i

want to tell you about the colorful rainbow of youth rotten under the ground and the indecision of millions of people and if you are interested to hear me to hear us then this is for you hello everyone my name is hadaya i am 16 years old i am from syria and live in germany and so i would like to talk about my personality or tell a few things about my personality to let you imagine or let you feel how my personality looks like so i am a confident person because i always try to talk with

pee with other people and share my ideas with them without being shy i am a strong person because i always try to stay strong no matter what my circumstance are and i am a funny person because i always try to jog with my friends and other people to make them laugh and feel happy so i'm also good at learning languages and this is one of my hobbies that i really enjoy it so learning languages can help me in different situations for example i want to be a surgical doctor when i grow up so of course

learning languages is so helpful because you then you can understand people from all over the world so that was that's what i want to say about my personality and so i said that i am from syria but i live in germany but unfortunately getting from syria to germany was very difficult because i went to so many different countries i lived in so many refugee camps and in the camps the situations were very difficult in greece i lived in many camps somewhere on islands and in athens i also lived in camps in iraq in turkey and

now here in germany the situation was very difficult for example there was only one shower three or four families and each family had three or five or seven kids they were very big families and we all had to share one bathroom together most of the things were also very dirty there and there was also no real studying me and my brothers we couldn't learn anything or study anything i went to lots of country so the last country is here in germany where i live now and recording my voice for this podcast today is something really

important for me because i want to tell every young girl out there that she is enough and too confident and very strong to accept all of her circumstances young girls are so important in the world you all are allowed to to have your rights and to share what you are thinking about and share what you want with the world what you are thinking your opinions you are awesome and so important to this world thank you for listening to my audio [Music] hi there my name's chia or this is how i like to call myself because

let's talk about it chia means mountain in my mother language kurdish makes me feel strong makes me feel different i don't know it just i like it anyways so i'm 21 years old i'm from a kurdish city called afrin it's in northern syria now and since uh just 2018 i live here in germany in a city called hanover so i don't really know what we're gonna talk about i mean um i forgot how people talk about themselves it's been a long time since i introduced myself to someone you know i really really talk about myself

i don't really do that let's talk about choices today because this is the only thing that came to my mind now um so what i want to say is now i'm here in germany it's not my choice i went to grace it wasn't also my choice even in turkey even that i was born in syria i was born kurdish none of them are my choices i mean think about it if someone may like give you the opportunity to choose who you're going to be tomorrow or where are you going to be tomorrow what would you

choose i've been thinking about it lately but it just i can't really imagine you know like when you've been forced for a lot of things in your life you won't be able to choose anything else after it i know this is so disappointing but this is how i feel like it or not and also please don't judge my english i'm really trying my best here uh i really want to talk a lot just i feel like i can't or or maybe i talked a lot and it doesn't help so that's why i can't talk enough

i can't really share my feelings anymore sometimes i feel like i'm gonna blow up from the inside looking for someone to talk to but just at the last second i feel like whatever what's gonna change nothing so let's just shut up but i'm trying again now i have changed it chains grammar anyways bye for now and let's try another time [Music] hello my name is asifa and i'm 19 years old i'm from iraq and i live in germany now a little bit about me born in sinjar a city in northern iraq and after isis attacked

my city in 2014 i went to kurdistan iraq i lived there for three years in adp camps the situation was very bad in iraq and it was getting worse and worse every day so i decided to leave for europe to live in a safe place with my family so first i went to turkey and then i went to greece by foot through the forest after we arrived in greece the police came and took us and put us in a jail for 15 days then eventually we were taken to a camp called i lived there for

seven months then i have to move from because the camp was full of problems and it became a dangerous place so i went to serious camp in northern greece i made a lot of friends there and i lived there for eight months then i came to germany and now i live in germany and i'm studying the german language might be one german test was on 8th may but i couldn't do it because of coffee 19 they stopped everything and it was a really difficult time for me although i have already lost lots of thing and

time in my life being in refugee camps in iraq and greece i lost three years of my education in refugee camp and now i just started to learn the language in germany and i couldn't complete it because of coronavirus but anyway our health is more important than anything and we are recording our voice today to tell the world a little bit about our experience and tell the world that there are lots of amazing and smart youth who live in refugee camps and they deserve all the happiness in this world i'm very passionate about refugee rights

because i went through so much as a refugee myself so i really know how difficult and exhausting it is to be a refugee and live four years in refugee camps and i just want to send a message to all my friends who are still stuck in refugee camps and to all the refugees in greece and everywhere else in the world you are the strongest person in the world yes you are and i know you will make it through this all of these just focus on your dreams and never give up i believe in all of

you and i know that there is always something that we fight for and you worried their son just never give up do something new or learn something new tell your story to the world and let everyone hear your powerful voice and never give up never ever give up on yourself because you are so amazing and strong thank you all for listening to our voices today and i hope you enjoy listening to this podcast and i send lots of love to all of you and i hope you all stay safe healthy and happy thank you [Music]

thank you for joining us today and for taking the time to listen and to hear us now you hear us is made with the support of amplifying sanctuary voices a community-based oral history project centering the stories of bay area residents who have come to the us seeking sanctuary check them out by clicking on the link below we'd like to send a special thanks to wayan dang for lending his animating expertise and in case you were curious the photo you see was taken by me your host pavi editing and production of this podcast was done by

the co-founder of youth unmuted daphne morgan for more information on youth unmuted go to www.youthunmuted.org until next time stay safe and be well [Music] you