Blog Archives

163 Africa Dundada and James Swaka

12/24/2017

James Swaka and African Dundada returned to NMS to talk about Christmas traditions in Africa and America. You may recognize their voices from the Thanksgiving special last month or from their individual interview in Sept and Oct 2017. They are a jovial pair and they tell mostly-Christmas-related stories from their childhoods in South Sudan and Uganda.
***There was a recording error and the first 10 minutes of the interview were cut off. If you would like to hear the entire interview, (for the next five weeks) you can click here: WMPG's archives. (Select "Dec 24th," toward the bottom).
African Dundada gives everyone a "Shout Out" for a Merry Christmas, everywhere.

Music: "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"

nms_163_african_dundada_and_james_swaka_christmas_special_dec_24_2017.mp3
File Size:	18481 kb
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162 Abdi Iftin

12/17/2017

Abdi was born into a war zone in Mogadishu, Somalia, thirty years ago. He learned English from movies and told everyone he was going to be an American someday. In 2011 he left Somalia and became a refugee when he was being forced to choose between being a soldier or being killed. Once in neighboring Kenya, there was just more fear and no peace for refugees from Somalia.
Times were bleak, but Abdi got lucky and won the diversity visa lottery from the US government for a green card. (For more information listen to this link: "Abdi and the Golden Ticket," an interview from 2015 with Ira Glass on This American Life).
Today Abdi is a translator for Catholic Charities, is a student of Political Science at USM, and speaks at public events all around the state of Maine. If you find his stories compelling, keep your eyes out, he is writing a book about his unbelievable life experiences.
Music: "Faraskaagi Laga Badi" ("Your Horse Lost the Race"), a favorite of his father's.

nms_162_abdi_iftin_somalia_dec_17_2017.mp3
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161 Nasser and Parivash Rohani

12/10/2017

Nasser and Parivash Rohani [NMS 100 and NMS146] were originally from Iran, met one another in India and moved to the US in 1983. They left Iran because of persecution of people from their minority religion: Baha'i. Today citizens of Iran continue to be targeted, imprisoned, and denied access to education based only on their religion. One such person is Parivash's sister-in-law, Ghazaleh, who was arrested on October 21st, 2017 for practicing her faith in Tehran, Iran.
Today was an auspicious day to talk about her arrest, detention, questioning and upcoming trial because it is United Nations' International Human Rights Day. Parivash and Nasser offer ideas about how people can learn more and take an active role to end this oppression. They also express thanks for the support they have received from this community while going through this scary ordeal with their loved one.
Related sites include:
www.bahai.org
www.bic.org
news.bahai.org/human.rights

Music: "One Planet, One People, Please" by Seale and Crofts.

nms_161_nasser_and_parivash_rohani_iran_dec._10_2017.mp3
File Size:	29535 kb
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163 Africa Dundada and James Swaka

162 Abdi Iftin

161 Nasser and Parivash Rohani

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