I met him at a coffee shop. We started talking and his story knocked me over. Oppressed for being a minority, oppressed for being queer, and trapped in a country waging war and drafting its young men... Zhargal knew he had to get out of Russia and fast. So he watched YouTube videos on how to smuggle himself into America. It was complicated and sneaky. And he did it. This is his absolutely wild story of how.

It was brave of him to say a lot of the things he says here, but you can hear that something compels him to keep sharing. I hope you'll honor his bravery by listening to his story.

And I hope this gives you fresh perspective on what it means to live here and what it means when people do everything they can to come here. 

*also, I say he snuck across the Rio Grande, which is wrong, it was the Colorado. Ok now go listen.*