Banterly

Sanjana Bhatnagar and Stephanie Munn are high school students and Students for Refugees (SFR) representatives. S.F.R. is working to raise funds to support educational facilities and individual student programs in affected countries as well as supporting local refugees. There are a broad range of things that SFR engages in, but their primary goal is to get students involved in helping refugees. SFR works in three areas: resettlement, advocacy/education, and fundraising   In addition to SFR, they advocate for refugees by supporting other initiatives.  Sanjana is associated with the Syria fund and Stephanie is planning a Walk A Mile in My Shoes refugee experience. We talk about all these topics in our interview.

Saadia Khan talks Susan Muaddi Darraj, a Palestinian American. Susan talks about her experiences as a child of immigrants and how her dual identity has shaped her life. Susan is an Associate Professor of English at Hartford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. Susan is also a Lecturer in the Johns Hopkins University’s MA in Writing program. In 2014, her short story collection, A Curious Land: Stories from Home won several awards and accolades. Her previous short story collection, The Inheritance of Exile, was published in 2007 is a compilation of stories about daughters born in the US and their immigrant mothers.

Samira Sadeque is a New York-based Bangladeshi journalist and poet focusing on migration, the refugee crisis, gender, and mental health. She completed her M.S. in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School in 2017. Samira began her journalism career in Dhaka, Bangladesh, covering the 2013 factory collapse, the country's ethnic and religious minorities, and its LGBT community. Her work appears in Reuters, NPR, Al Jazeera, Quartz, The Lily,  and the Dhaka Tribune among other publications. Her story was nominated for a 2018 South Asian Journalists Association award. She is the Editor-in-chief of the Bangladeshi Identity Project, a media platform for the Bangladeshi diaspora

Saadia Khan talks to Suzie Afridi. She is a Palestinian American stand up comedian. She was born and raised in Jericho, in the West Bank.  Her dad was a Welder, and her mom was a farmer. When she was fourteen, her family immigrated to San Jose, California. She attended San Jose State University. Suzie is an accountant by profession, but she realized she was terrible at her job and decided to pursue another career. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and kid. Suzie talks about her journey to America, why she chose to do stand up comedy and her life as a Palestinian American.

Saadia Khan talks to Tahmina Watson about pressing immigration issues. Tahmina is a nationally acclaimed immigration attorney and the founder of Watson Immigration Law, in Seattle, Washington. She was a barrister in London before immigrating to America. Tahmina is also the author of “The Startup Visa: Key to Job Growth & Economic Prosperity in America.”  In addition to appearing on CNN, Forbes and other media platforms, she is the host of “Tahmina Talks Immigration” a radio show turned podcast available on iTunes.  Recently, Tahmina helped co-found a non-profit, the Washington Immigrant Defense Network- WIDEN as a result of the current administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy. WIDEN, funds and facilitates legal representation in the immigration courtroom.

Saadia Khan reminisces about her trip to Turkey as she interviews Melike Ayan. Melike is originally from Turkey. She is the New York Correspondent for Bloomberg HT Television where she provides in-depth coverage and analysis of major economic and business trends, including in-depth reporting on global corporations. Additionally, Ayan established her own company, Mel Strategies, which specializes in media relations and crisis communications  Become a supporter of this podcast:

Saadia Khan talks to Lisa Genn. Lisa was born in Russia, she and her parents left Moscow in December 1989 on the verge of the collapse of the Soviet Union in hopes of resettling in America under a program for bringing Soviet Jews to the United States as refugees. Lisa is a lawyer by profession but has worked on human rights issues throughout her career. She is a city girl who spends most of her time in Manhattan but now lives in Westchester County in NY  with her husband and two young children.

Saadia Khan talks to Edafe Okporo, an LGBTQ refugee from Nigeria.  He is a fierce advocate for Human rights specifically those of LGBTQ community in NY and around the globe including West Africa. His passion to help others like him stems from his struggle which propels him to stand up for the defenseless. Currently, Edafe is the Director of RDJ Refugee Shelter.  He is the author of BED 26: A Memoir of an African Man's Asylum in the United States. He also serves as a Board Member of First Friends of New Jersey and New York

Saadia Khan talks to Reshad Ahmedi, an immigrant from Afghanistan. Reshad worked for ten years on U.S.-funded re-construction projects in Afghanistan, until insurgents targeted him for his affiliation with the United States. Reshad is in the US on a Special Immigration Visa (SIV) to the United States. He is now an Assistant Project Manager at a local Tectonic Engineering & Surveying. Reshad is also an Ambassador of the Westchester Refugee Initiative, helping to spread the word about refugees.

In this first episode of Season 2, Saadia Khan talks to Alyssa Mosley. Alyssa was born and raised in the homeland of Lenape people, also known as Bridgeton NJ. She is the enrolled member of the Nanticoke Lenni- Lenape tribe; it’s the largest Indian tribe in NJ. The history of the Lenape tribe goes back over 10,000 years. Most of Lenape people faced forced migration to Canada or midwestern US but some still left behind.  In 2015, Alyssa was crowned princess to represent her people. She is studying business studies. We get her perspective on the immigration debate in the US and her life as an indigenous princess