In 2017 refugee resettlement worker Jacob Mau burned out. Then he traveled abroad with members of the Refugee Highway Partnership to spend time with displaced people. Beyond Soundbites invites you to join Jacob and the RHP on a journey to rediscover the personhood behind the term “refugee,” the meaning of home, and the presence of God in the stories of displaced people.
Episode 1
Empty Shelves and Triage (Part 1 of 6)
In our introductory episode, Jacob sets a background for refugee resettlement in the U.S. by describing the environment at a Chicago resettlement agency in the fall of 2016.
Episode 2
The Key to the Door (Part 2 of 6)
Peter’s mother moved their family to Tehran when he was in grade school. It was the start of a journey that hasn’t ended yet. Through his story, listeners are invited into the inner-world of displacement – a world of waiting that requires deep faith.
Episode 3
Exit, Return, Repeat (Part 3 of 6)
From Nikes to Michael Jackson, Dariush has been looking West since childhood. His laugh is contagious; his family’s long search for belonging is full of grit, ingenuity and the skill to adapt and survive in a world that offers few solutions to displaced people.
Episode 4
Miracles (Part 4 of 6)
Romin and Oge became refugees just a few weeks after they got married. They tell stories about finding love in God and in each other, exploring spiritual borders between faiths, and crossing physical borders between nations.
Episode 5
Rebirth: Olive Branches in Lebanon (Part 5 of 6)
Mohammad’s home city of Aleppo was the center of Syria’s civil war for years. The violence left his family spread across Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon. In Lebanon, Mohammad had encounters that changed his sense of identity and purpose.
Episode 6
The Ghostly Quiet (Part 6 of 6)
Back in Chicago in the Spring of 2018, Jacob discusses the outworkings of the United State’s drastically reduced resettlement program and what it means in the broader context of displacement. We also get an update from a storyteller in a previous episode.
Episode 7
Tears and Prayers (Part 1 of 4)
The next four episodes explore what has transpired in the landscape of displacement since President Trump announced a “travel ban” two years ago this week. To set the stage and get perspective, we start with the story of an Iraqi woman displaced to Turkey in the 1990’s.
Episode 8
Land of the Living (Part 2 of 4)
Fourteen months after Jacob’s trip to Turkey, we get back in touch with Peter, Hannah, Romin, Oge, and Dariush. In the process, we get a glimpse of how two years of reduced U.S. refugee resettlement feels from the international side.
Episode 9
Form and Structure
(Part 3 of 4)
We move from conflict regions and countries of asylum to the country that has traditionally accepted the largest number of refugees for formal resettlement: The United States. What are the domestic ramifications of the travel ban as a policy and a symbol? How are people involved in direct ministry to refugees and asylum-seekers responding?
Episode 10
The Long View
(Part 4 of 4)
Daniel Yang is a church planter and a Hmong-American born shortly after his parents arrived as refugees in 1979. We close this sequence with a message he delivered at the 2018 RHPNA Roundtable. Daniel weaves together three narratives: his own family’s displacement, the history of refugee resettlement in the U.S., and the exile-restoration motif expressed in Isaiah chapter 43.
More Episodes Available on Apple, Stitcher, and Google Play!
Refugee Highway Partnership North America.
The RHPNA is a network of churches and ministries serving forcibly displaced people. At the annual roundtable on October 24-26, you can meet others who are serving people with a refugee or asylum-seeker background for a time of encouragement, networking, worship, and collaboration.
Help us share more stories.
Jacob and the RHPNA want to lift up the voices of displaced people through another series of Beyond Soundbites episodes. You can help make it happen! Donate below. Enter “podcast” in the comments section.
Beyond Soundbites Production Team
WRITING AND PRODUCTION
Jacob Mau
STORY AND CONTENT ADVISOR
Griffin Jackson
THEME MUSIC
Jon and Valerie Guerra
EPISODE MUSIC
Chris Dingman
MIXING
Brett Ratliff
TRANSCRIPTION
Alana Murphy
Bushra Hadi
Shahin Mogharab
VOICEOVERS
Ryan Seibert
Hannah Kiefer
Liz Chidester
Thanks to these organizations for sponsoring and supporting Beyond Soundbites.
