Mosaics

By Idaho Office For Refugees | SB StudiosSociety & Culture News Government

Mosaics episodes

September 10, 2025 Pace for Peace: Advocating for Afghanistan
The Pace for Peace 5K is returning to Boise this month - this time with a focus on Afghanistan.
“The situation in Afghanistan still is getting worse, not better,” said Yasmin Aguilar with Agency for New Americans. “We have clients here, they are suffering, they have family members there – extended or immediate – and our hands are tied.” Sayed Mirbacha, one of the local students organizing Pace for Peace, fled Afghanistan with his family four years ago after the U.S. military withdrawal and Taliban takeover.
“Leaving everything behind and moving to another country…was shocking,” he said. “The support and the community I found here was so heart-touching to me.”

Sign up here to support Pace for Peace: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pace-for-peace-5k-run-for-afghanistan-tickets-1487201251979

Run for Afghanistan on Sept. 27. Proceeds will go to the Qamar Foundation, whose mission is to tackle social injustice and poverty through education.
51 min
September 10, 2025 Unified Purpose featuring the Idaho Office for Refugees
Mosaics host Holly Beech recently joined the Unified Purpose podcast to dive into what it means to help people transition from surviving trauma to truly belonging in a new country.

The episode explores how Idaho’s long-standing refugee program —celebrating 50 years of resettlement — goes beyond logistics, offering emotional support, career reintegration, cultural connection, and community partnerships to make resettlement meaningful and humane.

From pilot retraining programs and mental health support to community soccer rivalries and women’s art circles, this episode showcases how small efforts, when done with heart, create powerful ripples of belonging and purpose.

Unified Purpose is produced by Penji and reshared here with permission.
28 min
August 27, 2025 Idaho Launches New Pathway for Internationally Trained Physicians
Doctors moving into the U.S. bring much needed skills but face barriers getting back to the medical field – including a competitive process to redo their residency training.

A new law in Idaho is providing an alternative pathway for these physicians so they can complete a supervised apprenticeship and get back to the work they love.

Today we’re joined by Dr. Scott Smith and Viktoriia‎ Siedikova ‎of Global Talent to learn how House Bill 542 is bringing a win-win solution to Idaho and providing a model for other states.

Viktoriia Siedikova is a Career Advisor with Global Talent with a background in human resources, project management, and community advocacy. Originally from Ukraine and fluent in English, Russian, and Ukrainian, she brings a deep understanding of the challenges faced by newcomers to the U.S.

Dr. Scott Smith is a mentor with Global Talent working with a cohort of New American medical professionals in Idaho. He is an internal medicine doctor, educational researcher, and professor of medicine ‎‎(emeritus) with the University of Washington. Since 2019, Scott has mentored 42 internationally trained physicians from 21 ‎countries. Of those, seven are now practicing in the U.S.

To learn more about Global Talent and how to get involved, please visit https://glotalent.org/.
Contact us at [email protected] with feedback, questions, and episode suggestions.

43 min
August 06, 2025 Lena Contor: Idahoans Are Making a Difference in Ukraine
Lena Contor grew up in Ukraine and moved to Pocatello, Idaho, after getting married. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lena was presented with an opportunity to go back on a humanitarian relief trip. Her first thought was, “Who am I to do anything? I’m not rich. I’m not powerful.” But she couldn’t push the thought out of her mind, and she took the leap.
She is now getting ready to go on her 10th trip back to Ukraine, and she has rallied the Pocatello community to fund solar panels that will power running water for devasted communities. Lena shows how overcoming self-doubt and thoughts of insignificance – and stepping up to do what we can in the moment – can have powerful ripple effects.
44 min
July 09, 2025 Fredrick Shema: What Motivated Me to Study Law ‎
Fredrick Shema grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda before resettling in Boise with his ‎family in 2012 as a high school student. In college, he was able to go back to the camp ‎where he grew up for a research project, reconnecting with friends still living ‎there.
Through this experience and working with Boise youth from refugee backgrounds, ‎Fredrick set his sights on becoming an attorney – wanting to make a tangible difference in ‎people’s lives. After earning his law degree this spring, Fredrick sat down with Mosaics to ‎share about his life, what he’s learned, and how he found his ‘why.’‎
45 min
June 25, 2025 Meet Damir Subasic, Local Law Enforcement Officer From A Refugee Background
Damir Subasic is a local law enforcement officer and trainer whose family came to Idaho many years ago through the refugee resettlement program.

Damir and his family left former Yugoslavia when he was 9 on what he thought was going to be a visit to his grandma’s in Germany. But as war and violence escalated back home, it became clear they couldn’t return. Damir, the only Bosnian kid at school, faced intense bullying and isolation in those early years in Germany before making a few close friends who made life start to feel normal again.
When Damir was 16, his family resettled in Boise, where his uncle had previously been sponsored as a refugee by the owners of a local deli. Damir went to school with his guard up, expecting to face more bullying and beatings. One day he met his first American friend – a seemingly small encounter that changed Damir’s perspective for the rest of his life.

Damir went on to earn his degree in criminal justice and has worked in law enforcement for 15 years, including alongside other officers from refugee backgrounds. He now teaches at the police academy and speaks at schools and community events.

“I try to be there for others,” he said. “There’s a trickle effect you don’t realize you might ‎have on someone way down the road.”
49 min
May 28, 2025 Tap Dancer Andrew Nemr on Enduring the Dark Night
Andrew Nemr is an international performer, speaker, author, and teacher. His parents are originally from Lebanon, and in 2015 when civil war escalated in neighboring Syria, Andrew started exploring the idea of what it means to endure and encounter hope in the midst of darkness. His vision will come to fruition in August, when Andrew will tap dance for 12-hours straight in an immersive experience calledDark Night.

Visitors are invited to reflect on and honor the enduring spirit within us all. (Find tickets at https://www.darknightlive.com/.)

Andrew, who has been tap dancing since the age of 3, has a new book out this year, The Tap Dance Method, a practical exploration of tap dance land.
Join our conversation to reflect more on what dark nights can mean for our lives and for who we are becoming.
1 hr 1 min
May 07, 2025 Run for Refugees: Uniting for Welcome
All are welcome to join the Pace for Peace Run for Refugees in Boise on May 24, 2025, in support of Agency for New Americans.

The agency has been resettling refugees in Boise for many years. Community support is even more important this year as federal funding has been frozen. Proceeds from the race will help new refugee neighbors afford rent, utility, and medical expenses as they get on their feet in Boise.

Brandee Robles from the Agency for New Americans shares with us how her agency is navigating the new national changes and continuing to support the hundreds of people who have been welcomed over the past year.

Sayed Mirbacha, an organizer with Pace for Peace, shares why he is passionate about helping fellow refugees adjust to their new lives with hope, health, and community.

Pace for Peace Run for Refugees: http://www.anaidaho.org/runforrefugees.html

42 min
April 09, 2025 Lok Darjee: Preserving American Democracy Takes All of Us
Lok Darjee works to empower others from refugee and immigrant backgrounds to use their vote and their voices to help shape and preserve the American democracy that he cares deeply about. His family is originally from Bhutan, but they were among the more than 100,000 Nepali-speaking people who were displaced in the early 1990s due to government persecution and attacks on their language, culture, religion, and citizenship. Lok resettled in Twin Falls, Idaho, as a teenager. While in Twin Falls, he founded a program to pair refugee students with American-born mentors.

He now runs Refugee Civic Action in Pennsylvania ‎and is a fellow at Foreign Policy for America. Lok holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia ‎University and has written extensively on immigration, policy, and identity.‎

Lok said pausing the refugee resettlement program goes against who we are as Americans. The program “gives a lot of hope to kids like me who are refugees, gives a second chance to people like ‎my family to come to this nation and build up again,” he said.

Check out his recent powerful op-ed in the Inquirer.
42 min
March 12, 2025 Displaced for her Baha'i faith, Mona Heern holds on to joy
Mona Heern shares with Mosaics about her experiences as a young girl growing up during the Iranian revolution of 1979. Mona’s family and other members of the Baha’i faith - Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority – became the targets of intense persecution and restrictions, which continue to this day. Mona, her mother, and younger sister fled Iran after her father was murdered in prison simply for being Baha’i. Mona shares how she has found healing through sharing her story and serving alongside her community to maintain joy and hope.

Mona is now an educator and public speaker. She currently serves as an instructor and field experience coordinator at Idaho State University in Pocatello, preparing the next generation of teachers.
“I come from a country where it’s against the law for Baha’is to be teachers, so to having come to the United States where I can be a teacher, and now being part of that training process of future teachers, just means so much to me,” she said.

Through her public speaking engagements, Mona sheds light on the challenges faced by refugees in various forums, including school assemblies, community groups, and the media. Her hope is that through education and dialogue, we can build communities that embrace refugees and human rights in all social and institutional settings.

Mona was the recipient of the Freedom Festival Award and the NAACP Ron Timpson Award for her “significant contribution to the community through volunteerism and dedication to human rights."
43 min

About Mosaics

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Idaho has a heritage of refugee resettlement that’s enriched our culture, economy, and communities. On the Mosaics podcast, we’ll hear from Idahoans with lived refugee experience and from community members who are building a culture of belonging. We all have a role to play in creating the bigger picture of a vibrant and connected society.