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  • Hello, everyone.
  • It's good to see you all today.
  • Welcome.
  • I'm just going to wait a quick moment here
  • while we let everybody file in, just get settled in.
  • Welcome, welcome.
  • It's so good to see you all today
  • for this wonderful series.
  • I just wanted to do a quick introduction
  • and then I'm going to hand it over.
  • My name is Athena.
  • I'm with Outreach and Continuing Education,
  • and Western C.A.R.E.S., and I'll be acting as your host today.
  • And it is really a pleasure to welcome you
  • to this Western C.A.R.E.S. session.
  • A little bit about Western C.A.R.E.S., just quickly.
  • We started this as a resource for us
  • to connect, and share, and maintain our sense of community
  • and engagement during these days when we're trying
  • to stay home and stay healthy.
  • These are online interactive sessions
  • that are put on by your colleagues and peers, who
  • are so generously volunteering their time
  • to share their interests and experience with you.
  • I am just here as your host and to help
  • with any technical support that you may need.
  • I did want to let you know that these interviews are being
  • recorded-- and this is being recorded today--
  • and will be archived by the Center
  • for Pacific Northwest Studies and the South Asian-American
  • Digital Archives.
  • And they will be made available to the public
  • for research, teaching, and education.
  • Do know that you came in today with your sound
  • off and with your video off.
  • We are recording, and because of that,
  • we'd like to keep those off so that the focus can
  • stay on the interviewer and the person
  • that she is interviewing.
  • There will be a portion at the end where we'll ask you,
  • if you'd like, to turn your sound on
  • and please ask any questions you may have.
  • And do know that if you're not comfortable with that,
  • we do have an option in the chat where you
  • can type in a question as well.
  • And now, I'd like to hand it over to your wonderful host
  • today to begin today's session.
  • Thank you, Dharitri.
  • ...Athena Roth and Ruth Steele, who's
  • the archivist at Center for Pacific and Northwest Studies.
  • In this oral history series, our goal
  • is to seek out a diversity of South Asian voices
  • and perspectives on the COVID-19.
  • For the next five weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • at 2:00 PM PST, we will bring for you
  • a new voice from South Asia.
  • I will ask questions and I'll seek responses for the next 30
  • minutes, but we encourage you to ask questions to our guest
  • after that.
  • We believe that every voice is a voice in history.
  • And since minorities and immigrants routinely
  • are absent and underrepresented in archival collections,
  • I'm very excited to be convening this series.
  • Our guest today is Samia Jannat.
  • She's a Seattle resident, and originally from Bangladesh.
  • And she works as a research coordinator
  • in the University of Washington School of Medicine.
  • Today, Samia will be talking about death and dying.
  • Thank you, Samia, for your time, but also
  • for agreeing to share your experience with us.
  • So tell us a little bit about yourself,
  • your journey from Bangladesh to USC,
  • and specifically, to the Pacific Northwest.
  • Thank you, Dharitri, for having me here.
  • And hello, everyone, who is listening.
  • This is Samia.
  • I'm from Bangladesh.
  • I was born and brought up in Bangladesh,
  • and then, I came to United States in 2014 with my husband.
  • He came here for his graduate school.
  • And I completed my undergrad in Bangladesh.
  • I studied MBBS, bachelors of medicine and bachelor's
  • in surgery.
  • Then I moved here and I went to school here at Ohio University.
  • I did my masters in public health.
  • And for like, a few days, like, few months,
  • I worked back in Ohio in a research organization.
  • Then, my husband got a better opportunity
  • here in Pacific Northwest, in Seattle.
  • And we decided to move.
  • And after moving here, I started working
  • at University of Washington School of Medicine.
  • And I was brought up in a very loving family with two more
  • siblings in Bangladesh.
  • And now, I started my family here.
  • I have a kid.
  • And this is home now.
  • Yeah.
  • That's great.
  • So you are-- how long has it been that you've
  • moved to the Pacific Northwest?
  • It's only been, I think, seven, eight months.
  • I moved in December 2019, and this is July.
  • Seven, eight months.
  • So are you getting used to the overcast skies and the rain?
  • Sometimes, it's like, when I see the sunshine, it's beautiful.
  • I live in east, this side is very beautiful.
  • But sometimes I feel, like, OK, winter
  • was much better than this rainy weather all the time.
  • But so far so good.
  • I like my work here.
  • So yeah, I actually getting used to with the weather
  • and everything here.
  • But as I like my work here, so it's a balance.
  • So you're originally from Bangladesh
  • and you also have a medical background.
  • So from that perspective, how do, sort of,
  • see the pandemic, COVID-19 and especially with reference
  • to state handling, as far as the US and Bangladesh are
  • concerned, how do you compare that?
  • So the opinion here is kind of objective.
  • And so comparing between the United States and Bangladesh
  • it would be like comparing between apple and orange.
  • But what I feel like here that both of the countries,
  • they had hadn't responded to this pandemic up
  • to their potential.
  • So what I feel like the United States
  • they have made some decision, delayed decision,
  • and that had made some states epicenter so far.
  • When New York was the epicenter, I
  • don't feel like Florida or Texas followed that thing.
  • So now they're becoming epicenter.
  • The response they made, it was not, it was not on right time.
  • And in Bangladesh, what's happening
  • right now that the health system with highly densed country
  • and overpopulated country, the health system
  • is kind of collapsing right now.
  • I would not use the term overwhelmed.
  • Here in the United States, the health system is overwhelmed.
  • But back home in Bangladesh, the health system
  • has already collapsed.
  • Because of, like, delayed decision and the policy
  • and enforcement was not appropriate,
  • or not, has been taken in time.
  • So I've been to Bangladesh.
  • I've been to Dhaka, especially.
  • I know that just infrastructurally, social distancing,
  • which is something that all over the world people
  • are trying to observe, it's almost infrastructurally
  • impossible.
  • People per square foot so much higher.
  • And yet I was looking that there have been infections,
  • but not as many deaths.
  • How do you explain that?
  • So for my country, according to my understanding
  • that the data are skewed, the data we are getting.
  • And according to the health system,
  • if I talk, like, the health system,
  • it's not centrally maintained.
  • So we are kind of not, it's not possible
  • for us to make a central database.
  • And they have, like, divisions between the government
  • hospitals and private hospitals.
  • So they are not under one roof.
  • The system is not, like, under one roof.
  • And the rural parts of Bangladesh
  • are, like, so remote and, like, data, or the deaths
  • or the infections happening there,
  • they're not coming into the [? central ?] database.
  • And we have lack of test kits, so we
  • had very we COVID-like symptoms, those
  • are not counting as COVID yet.
  • So these factors-- and there are some--
  • I would also like to mention about the political influence,
  • not to [AUDIO OUT] a lot of factors behind that.
  • So those are the reasons, being this
  • is obviously not the real data.
  • You and your family have recently
  • experienced the loss of a loved one.
  • Would you share your story, please?
  • So yeah.
  • Recently I have lost my father-in-law.
  • He was not confirmed COVID patient,
  • but he had all the symptoms, COVID symptoms.
  • And we lost him on May 10.
  • And he had a fever for three days
  • and he didn't want to go for a test
  • because he thought that he might bring it
  • if he doesn't have COVID.
  • Going for a test, he might bring COVID at home.
  • And he waited for three days.
  • And on the fourth or fifth day, he was not feeling well at all.
  • And he was stable.
  • And he thought it might help if he goes to the hospital
  • and stays there for two days.
  • He was very lethargic and weak.
  • So he discussed with my mother-in-law
  • and they agreed, OK, they wanted to go to the hospital.
  • It was 2 o'clock in the morning.
  • And they went to a hospital that's
  • called [? Apollo ?] Hospital.
  • It's a renown and corporate hospital back home.
  • And they didn't want to keep him because they
  • didn't have COVID report, positive or negative.
  • Back home, they divided the hospitals in two segments--
  • COVID dedicated and non-COVID hospitals.
  • So the non-COVID hospitals usually
  • don't take the patients with the COVID symptoms.
  • And my father-in-law was a physician.
  • He served the country for a long 40 years.
  • And he was a very known physician back home.
  • And when he said in [? Apollo ?] Hospital that he is a physician
  • and he said his name and everything,
  • they decided to keep him.
  • And they admitted him in the emergency room.
  • They did a chest X-ray and checked all the other vitals.
  • And his oxygen saturation level was very low at the time.
  • And a chest X-ray came out very, very bad.
  • He read his own X-ray.
  • He had pneumonia on both lungs.
  • After that, the hospital decided not to keep him.
  • And they wanted him to go to another hospital
  • Dhaka Medical College, that's the central hospital.
  • And my in-laws, they wanted an ambulance
  • so that they can keep the oxygen supply.
  • And the hospital refused to provide one.
  • And they left the hospital with their own car.
  • And they went to Dhaka Medical Hospital.
  • And my mother-in-law went to the admission desk
  • and they said that we don't have any seat available right now.
  • And then they left the hospital again
  • and went to another COVID hospital that's
  • called [? Mugda ?] Hospital.
  • And they said, you don't have a positive report so we cannot
  • keep you.
  • And they came back to Dhaka Medical Hospital again.
  • So I'm telling this and focusing on this
  • because of the mismanagement that's
  • happening right now there.
  • And when they came to Dhaka Medical Hospital that time,
  • my mother-in-law was devastated.
  • And she kind of, you know, she was devastated
  • and she kind of begged.
  • She needs a seat there.
  • And at that time, they arranged a seat for them
  • in the fourth floor of the hospital.
  • And my father needed a wheelchair.
  • And they came up with a wheelchair,
  • a ward boy came up with the wheelchair,
  • and they didn't want to push him,
  • because he's a COVID suspected patient.
  • They asked my mother-in-law to push him to fourth floor.
  • And, you know, my father-in-law was very tall and a person
  • with a very good physique.
  • My mother-in-law, being in her 60s,
  • it was not possible for her.
  • So they had their driver who was driving the car, he helped.
  • And they took him to fourth floor
  • And a nurse came with oxygen cylinder.
  • And they didn't have a mask for the patient.
  • And they asked my mother-in-law if they can arrange one.
  • So my mother-in-law had one because at [? Apollo ?]
  • Hospital, they gave him one oxygen mask.
  • And she, fortunately, had that one with her.
  • And she gave it to the nurse.
  • And the nurse didn't want to touch that.
  • She asked my mother-in-law to put the oxygen mask
  • on my father in law's mouth.
  • And my father-in-law himself put that oxygen mask on his mouth.
  • And it was around 8 o'clock in the morning.
  • And at that time, my mother-in-law,
  • she was running like in third floor and first floor
  • just to arrange a physician to come and take his vitals.
  • And she met the physicians there.
  • There were like four physicians in a room.
  • And she said, if someone could come,
  • her patient is really, really bad.
  • And they said, OK, we are changing shifts now.
  • We cannot come.
  • And no one came.
  • And he was there for 45 minutes to one hour.
  • And according to my mother-in-law,
  • there were four or five more patients that
  • needed immediate attention.
  • But the mismanagement was, I don't know what it was there,
  • but no physician came there to check on the patients.
  • And in 45 minutes to an hour, it was around 9 o'clock or 9:15
  • in the morning, he passed away.
  • And when he passed away, the nurse
  • came to take him for and ECG to make the confirmation.
  • And they didn't touch that dead body.
  • It was, again, my mother-in-law and the driver
  • who took the dead body to the [? ECG ?] room.
  • And then they sent the dead body to the morgue.
  • And my mother-in-law keep waiting there
  • for three to four hours for the other formalities
  • and paperwork, all alone there.
  • And they have two children.
  • And one is my husband.
  • We live here.
  • So she was all alone there.
  • And it is a devastating situation.
  • Every death is painful.
  • But facing that sort of situation,
  • it should not happen to anyone.
  • Of course.
  • So Samia, I mean it looks like then this entire incident
  • happened early, early in the morning.
  • I mean starting from sometime early morning,
  • everything is over.
  • Your family was turned down by three hospitals
  • and no physician actually looked after him.
  • No.
  • One physician saw him in the [? Apollo ?] Hospital,
  • in the emergency room.
  • And he decided [INAUDIBLE]
  • So what happened after that?
  • I mean, he was taken to the morgue.
  • I know there are--
  • I've been coming from South Asia myself.
  • I think there are so many rituals surrounding death.
  • So how were those performed during this time?
  • This is the most devastating part.
  • So as Muslims, we pray Janazah.
  • That's our funeral prayer.
  • And it's the-- and when my father-in-law died,
  • the situation was, in this pandemic, none of his relatives
  • could come.
  • No one came.
  • It was only a friend of my husband's, he
  • went there and did all the paperwork and other things.
  • We give the dead body a shower, put it in the body bag,
  • and take the body to the graveyard.
  • So all of these rituals is done by the son.
  • So their son was here who couldn't
  • attend any of the ritual.
  • So there is a group of volunteers
  • who are working really, really hard back home doing all
  • the rituals for the families.
  • So we are grateful to them.
  • And so, my husband's friend with the help of the volunteer
  • group, he did everything.
  • And they prayed the Janazah in the graveyard.
  • They called my husband.
  • He joined virtually from here.
  • So you mentioned the Janazah in the graveyard,
  • so I'm guessing he did get a burial, though.
  • Yes.
  • He did.
  • He did.
  • And it was a proper burial.
  • And it was peaceful for us that those volunteers
  • made it possible for us and he got a proper burial.
  • I'm so sorry.
  • This is really devastating.
  • So how is your mother-in-law doing now?
  • She's a strong woman.
  • And she's a strong believer.
  • That's helping her to cope with the situation.
  • And she is one of those women, you know, strong and resilient.
  • And she is trying her level best to cope with the situation,
  • also taking care of her children.
  • So she is trying to holding up.
  • I wouldn't say that she is holding up well.
  • But she's trying to holding up.
  • So tell me a little bit about, you know,
  • mourning is culture specific.
  • And I was thinking about your husband, he's the only child.
  • And he hasn't seen his father-- he wasn't there.
  • How is he coping?
  • So, yeah.
  • My parents-in-laws have two children, actually.
  • So one is my husband and one is his sister who lives back home.
  • She couldn't even see her father for last time
  • because she has two young children.
  • So she couldn't actually call, with the pandemic and COVID
  • death, it was actually not possible
  • for her to call the hospital and see
  • her father for one last time.
  • And for my husband staying here, he is, you know,
  • it's very hard for him to cope with the situation
  • because all the rituals and the Janazah
  • and the part of funeral in Muslim culture
  • is done by the son.
  • And he is the only son.
  • So this is very hard for him.
  • So they accepted God's will.
  • But the situation, the current situation, he couldn't go.
  • He couldn't hug his mother still now.
  • The whole family hasn't reunited yet.
  • It's very devastating part for them.
  • They kept talking to each other.
  • I think that helps.
  • They keep talking to each other and trying
  • to support each other, my mother-in-law and her children.
  • So they keep talking.
  • And they're very strong, I would say.
  • I don't know what I would do if I
  • was in their position, my husband or his sister,
  • I don't know what would I do.
  • But they're strong.
  • They're strong enough.
  • And they're strong believers.
  • I think this thing is helping them.
  • So I want to give you sort of a break from this.
  • And tell me a little bit about your work.
  • There are all these notions shared globally
  • about women in science and especially the regressive
  • religion that Islam is and about women in Islam and all that.
  • And [INAUDIBLE] you're one with a medical background.
  • You got your MBBS degree from Bangladesh.
  • You're working in the University of Washington School
  • of Medicine.
  • So tell me about your work.
  • So I work in oncologic research, more
  • precisely in urologic oncology.
  • And our lab work with prostate cancer, bladder, renal,
  • and testes cancer, I work under tremendous surgeon and oncology
  • researcher.
  • And our work is basically focused
  • on developing comprehensive risk stratification programs that
  • will help patients better choose their optimal therapy
  • with the goal of not only improving
  • the oncologic outcome, but also improving patients' reported
  • outcomes, such as quality of life.
  • And I have been also working in some industry-sponsored drug
  • development as well.
  • So far, that's what I'm working on.
  • And I like it, what I do.
  • Of course.
  • So have you gone back to work?
  • Are you working from home?
  • How are you managing?
  • Yeah.
  • I have started going back to work for last one month.
  • For a period of time, we had temporary hold
  • on all our studies.
  • But they have reopened.
  • Some of them reopened.
  • So I visit patients like maybe two or three times a week.
  • So I have started going to work.
  • And it's kind of been impossible.
  • My son hasn't started school yet.
  • He was going to a daycare.
  • But with all this being happened to us, we haven't--
  • we decided not to send him to school at least two
  • or three months.
  • So it's kind of very stressful.
  • If I work from home or I go to work, and he's being at home,
  • it's kind of stressful.
  • It has been hard for us managing work, home here.
  • And we don't have any close relatives here.
  • Of course.
  • How do you explain this?
  • I mean, your medical background, how are you explaining this
  • to your son?
  • I think that's another struggle going on with parents.
  • How do you explain the pandemic to your young kid?
  • And in your case, how do you explain the death
  • of his grandfather to him?
  • So he doesn't-- I think he doesn't understand death yet.
  • So he knows his grandfather is no more.
  • But sometimes he just asks me, hey,
  • mama, can we call God and talk to my dad up high.
  • Because he's with God right now.
  • We can call God.
  • How about that?
  • So it's kind of hard to make a five-year-old make understand
  • what death is. And he loves school.
  • And it's very hard for him staying at home right now.
  • But we try-- I try to make him understand how bad the virus is
  • and how it can effect you.
  • And you'll get sick, just try to make him understand,
  • you need to wash your hands.
  • So he just counts like one to twenty now while washing his hands.
  • And wear his mask, he finds his mask himself
  • when going out for cycling or for a walk.
  • And so with everything, when I'm like watching news,
  • I just sometimes ask him, do you want to come here
  • and see what they're saying.
  • Because he's sometimes very stubborn about going out
  • and playing in the playground.
  • So I sometimes make him watch television with me,
  • like on the news, see what they are saying.
  • A lot of people are getting infected.
  • It's been a long time.
  • He has been in the home from March.
  • So this is July.
  • So kind of, he has started normalize his life.
  • This is new normal for him, staying at home.
  • So was there a moment--
  • and this is a question that I plan
  • to ask everyone in the series.
  • Was there a moment when you realized
  • that you're living through a global pandemic?
  • And if so, can you describe that moment?
  • So here in Seattle, we started working from home from March,
  • I think mid-March.
  • So that was a time, you know, we were experiencing
  • this is a global pandemic.
  • We cannot go out.
  • We cannot dine out.
  • We cannot doing parties or we cannot go to work.
  • That was one thing, realizing the pandemic.
  • But the May 10 came into our life.
  • We lost my father-in-law.
  • And now I'm kind of experiencing the pandemic in a new way.
  • So I cannot compare.
  • I don't want something like this happen
  • to any family, any family.
  • But this is the pandemic we are experiencing now.
  • The pandemic is like now has a new meaning to us.
  • So I was going to work once a week before May 10 as well.
  • So now when I go to work, it's kind of, you know,
  • I'm scared all the time.
  • You don't know until something like that
  • happens in your own family.
  • So now if I go to work on Tuesdays,
  • Monday nights are like, OK, I cannot sleep.
  • Or I'm like anxious while I'm at work.
  • I just I use double masks.
  • I don't even sip water at work.
  • So I am there for six or seven hours
  • and I'm like with my mask and my gloves.
  • And I don't drink.
  • I don't eat.
  • My colleagues sometimes, OK, you don't
  • need to be this conscious.
  • But that like came naturally after May 10.
  • So I think the personal loss changed the very meaning
  • of the pandemic.
  • Yes, it did.
  • So Samia, I mean, I can't say how grateful
  • I am that you decided to share your experience with us.
  • Because I think it's one thing to be living through a pandemic
  • and another thing to be losing a parent sort of overseas,
  • where you cannot reach, where you cannot be with your family.
  • So thank you for your time.
  • And at this point I think Athena will sort of unmute everyone.
  • If anyone has questions, we really welcome those questions.
  • Because Samia can answer some questions for all of you.
  • Yeah.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you so much.
  • Thank you, Samia, so much.
  • And I'm so sorry for your loss.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you for your kind words.
  • And I have given everyone the ability
  • now to unmute themselves if you'd
  • like to ask any questions.
  • Hi.
  • My name is Amber.
  • [INAUDIBLE] Samia.
  • I'm so sorry, so sorry for your loss.
  • And thank you for sharing this really beautiful and deeply
  • moving story.
  • Hi.
  • [INAUDIBLE]
  • What do you say?
  • I have a 3 and 1/2 year old and she
  • is also sort of obsessed with death since this happened.
  • But I've actually been writing a little bit
  • about death and dying and particularly about death
  • and dying in migrant communities and
  • Muslim South Asian communities.
  • And one of the questions that I have
  • as you're living through like death and dying at a distance
  • is whether it brings--
  • I think about, say, my dad who came to United States in 1960
  • from Pakistan.
  • And at that time, you know, my grandmother
  • told me that communication was cut off.
  • Only they had aerograms or the occasional telegram
  • that they sent back and forth.
  • And I wonder if you feel that having the--
  • how you might talk about the ability
  • to connect digitally with your family
  • there in the absence of being there in person.
  • Does it help?
  • I think it helps because with this digitalization
  • of this world, so now my mother-in-law,
  • she is staying with her daughter.
  • And they have two children.
  • And my husband, he lives here.
  • So they keep talking like before going to sleep or early
  • in the morning.
  • And whenever she-- and they are very close.
  • My mother-in-law and my husband, they are very close.
  • She is more close to my husband than her daughter.
  • And I think they talk each other and share their pains.
  • She keeps sharing their memories with their father.
  • And sometimes they're on a group call, all of them
  • on video call.
  • And my mother-in-law, she wants to see me or my son.
  • And I think that helps a lot.
  • And in fact, I told earlier that my husband,
  • he joined the Janazah from here virtually.
  • And sometimes he calls the guard there in the graveyard.
  • He also has a smartphone.
  • So my husband called him to see the grave.
  • And I think that helps.
  • And as I say that, you know, prayers and submission
  • to your god, that thing helps.
  • At least to them, it's helping a lot.
  • So he has been joining the [? Taraweeh ?]
  • during Ramadan, the local mosque so through Zoom call.
  • And he has been now talking to several imams and leaders who
  • talk about those things.
  • So I think it's helping him a lot.
  • So yeah, digitalization nowadays,
  • I think it is like magic to us.
  • Thank you for sharing.
  • Any other questions?
  • I have a question.
  • Yeah, sure.
  • Hey, Samia.
  • I'm just so sorry for your loss.
  • Thanks.
  • [INAUDIBLE] you are so brave to share that with us.
  • Because I think we owe a lot of aid from our families.
  • And these are just so hard times.
  • And all this makes you be thankful to God that everybody
  • remains safe everywhere.
  • Everybody should be like--
  • there should be a sense of humankind.
  • I just pray to God that we all and our families remain safe.
  • Thank you so much.
  • In the video, you said one thing that I am questioning a lot.
  • So I am a student here.
  • I'm on F1 visa so many things are going around.
  • One thing that stuck out to me, when you said I feel home here.
  • Do you actually feel home here?
  • I'm questioning this question for myself.
  • And I can relate with you being an Indian
  • in terms of the culture we share and all that stuff.
  • Do you feel home?
  • OK.
  • This feeling is subjective, I think.
  • So I sometimes--
  • I told in the beginning that I brought up with--
  • everyone's family is loving.
  • But I brought up with my other two sisters.
  • We are three sisters.
  • We don't have any brother.
  • And my parents are most loving and caring
  • parents anyone could ever ask for.
  • So I brought up in a very, very loving environment.
  • And sometimes I miss home like so much, so much,
  • I feel like I can leave everything
  • behind just to see my mom smiling or just to hug my dad.
  • So that's the moment I feel like that's home.
  • Dhaka is home.
  • I was born and brought up there.
  • And it makes me so emotional.
  • But at some point, you know, I started working here.
  • I got the value of my work here.
  • That kind of, you know, back home, my friends,
  • my colleagues, and a lot of people
  • are doing a lot of good works.
  • But to get the recognition, it's very hard.
  • So here, I being a person from a South Asian developing country
  • and getting here as I work in research field
  • and getting all the opportunities
  • and getting myself--
  • like seeing myself growing here, like
  • seeing my dream growing here.
  • You know, sometimes it gives me the feel, OK, this is home.
  • I'm growing my dream here.
  • That's sort of next to impossible to us back home.
  • So these are very different feelings.
  • But when I see my son growing up here and getting
  • all the facilities of first world country
  • that I didn't get growing up, I don't say that I didn't get--
  • I got.
  • Because my family was well-off.
  • So they gave me.
  • But there are a lot of talents and like a lot
  • of people if they got those opportunities,
  • they might give a lot to the country.
  • So that's not happening back home.
  • So you know, so when I see my dreams growing here,
  • I feel like home.
  • Thank you so much.
  • I think Amber and Pavneet, both of your questions were great.
  • And Pavneet, I just mentioned that I'm also--
  • I did my PhD in UT Austin.
  • And I was an F1 visa.
  • And I cannot even imagine what an F1 visa student is going
  • through right now.
  • Yeah.
  • Yeah.
  • I can understand.
  • My sister, she studies in Ohio State University.
  • Right now she is doing her masters.
  • She is an F1 visa.
  • And me and my husband, both of us
  • were an F1 visa until, I think, last year, last March.
  • So we know the situation.
  • And Pavneet, are you at Western?
  • Are you in Western?
  • No.
  • I'm in Indiana University, Bloomington.
  • And I think your university--
  • because I mean at Western, we just
  • got a letter from the Provost for international students.
  • So I think you also have to write to your department,
  • write to your dean, and ask them for a statement.
  • Because in protection of international students
  • should be very, very one of the priorities
  • for academics and universities.
  • Thank you so much.
  • Dharitri, can I make a little plug for SAARDA?
  • Yes, of course.
  • So Pavneet, listening to your story and Samia listening
  • to your story, and Dharitri knows about this
  • because she's also been involved with the South Asian-American
  • digital archive.
  • But we have a collection initiative right now
  • that's focusing on South Asians in the United States
  • during the lockdown of 2020, to ask people to write a letter.
  • And actually, Samia, we've been talking about-- and, Dharitri,
  • this will be interesting to you too--
  • doing a special request to have families do it with children.
  • So there is a series of questions that are accessible,
  • I think, for you to answer, for your children to answer.
  • And then in one year, we will send you a letter.
  • We will send you your letter back to yourself
  • so you can see in one year where you were today.
  • And I think the emotions that you're
  • raising through your experiences,
  • and especially hearing how your experience has changed
  • from the beginning till now, it's worth it for us
  • to be able to access those feelings and those stories
  • again.
  • So I just wanted to invite people to participate.
  • I put the link in the chat.
  • If you'd like to submit your letter through saarda.org
  • we will appreciate it.
  • And we will send it back to you.
  • So it remains yours.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you, everyone.
  • Any more questions for Samia?
  • Working on it right now.
  • Athena, do you want to--
  • Thank you so much.
  • I just wanted to give a moment to see if anyone else would
  • like to ask.
  • But thank you.
  • No, I just want to thank you, again, all for coming today
  • and for the incredible interview and the wonderful questions.
  • This has been a really powerful and important session.
  • I'm grateful to be a part of it.
  • And I'd like to hand it over to you,
  • Dharitri, in closing to talk about the series and the rest
  • that are coming up.
  • Yes.
  • So for next week, we have our first guest will be
  • Yug Dabadi who is a Bhutanese refugee who was in Nepal.
  • And right now he's in Seattle region.
  • That will be Tuesday.
  • And on Thursday, we will have a restaurant owner
  • from Minneapolis, Ruhel Islam, who's also
  • from Bangladesh like Samia.
  • And his restaurant was actually burned down
  • during the riots that happened after the murder of George
  • Floyd.
  • And I read about--
  • I don't know, I didn't know Samia.
  • I don't know him.
  • But I read about him in New York Times.
  • And [INAUDIBLE] and he responded.
  • So that's what we have lined up.
  • And I hope you will all return.
  • And thank you so much for an incredible conversation.
  • And I think we beat technology.
  • There were some problems but I'm so glad we
  • had a great conversation.
  • Yes.
  • Agreed.
  • Thank you everyone so much.
  • And thank you to both of you and also thank you to our audience.
  • You're a very important part of the series
  • and we're grateful to have you here today.
  • Thank you, everyone.
  • And we'll see you soon.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you, Samia.
  • Bye.
  • Bye, everyone.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you, everyone.