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Samia Jannat interview
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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.