When we hear stories from recent immigrants and refugees, we tend to hear about their journeys to this country 鈥� the struggles and triumphs that brought them to the United States in search of new opportunities.
There鈥檚 no doubt those are valuable narratives, ones that tie us to our collective past as a nation where the majority of people have overseas ancestry.
But what else do these voices have to say? What if we asked a group of recent immigrants what stories they wanted to tell the world?
That鈥檚 exactly what we did with 鈥淎rrivals,鈥� the latest series from Ideastream鈥檚 鈥淪ound of Us鈥� community storytelling initiative. We produced it in partnership with the , a nonprofit that helps newcomers resettle here.
And guess what? None of the five people who worked with us for the series wanted to talk specifically about their immigration story.
Instead, our first storyteller, Tamana Ziar, talked to Ideastream鈥檚 Kelly Krabill about her work helping fellow immigrants resettle in the Rubber City 鈥� even as she, herself, continues to navigate the complexities of making a new home here. (In the future, she鈥檇 like to talk about her work supporting the mental health of Afghani women).
Next week, Randhoj Pandhak shares with Ideastream鈥檚 Ygal Kaufman his story of leaving behind the music he loved as a Bhutanese refugee in Nepal 鈥� and rediscovering it once he arrived in Akron. He now performs publicly as both a singer and instrumentalist.
In two weeks, a Congolese refugee, Makambo Mtambala, takes me onto a soccer pitch as he coaches a team of fellow refugees 鈥� and talks about how he鈥檇 love to develop a bigger fan base to help the guys feel more at home.
And the stories go on from there. You can catch new installments every Tuesday through the first week of February on WKSU鈥檚 Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as on the 鈥淪ound of Us鈥� landing page 鈥� where you鈥檒l also find photos and bonus videos and audio.
The common thread among these storytellers is that they primarily wanted to look forward, even as they were honest about the challenges they鈥檝e faced in the past. We hope you鈥檒l join them (and us) as they share the sounds of their own voices and lives.
"The Cut" is featured in 海角破解版's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
