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  • OK.
  • Hello.
  • My name is Athena.
  • I'm with Outreach and Continuing Education and Western C.A.R.E.S.
  • here at Western Washington University.
  • And I'll be acting as your host today
  • for this session of Stories to Tell.
  • Just a quick note right away, the interview today
  • is being recorded and will be archived by the Center
  • for Pacific Northwest Studies and the South Asian American
  • Digital Archives, and they will be made available
  • after for public research, teaching, and education.
  • A bit about Western C.A.R.E.S. before we start.
  • We started this as a resource for us
  • to connect, share, and maintain our sense of community
  • and engagement during these days where
  • we're trying to stay home and stay healthy and take
  • care of each other.
  • 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 stories
  • and experiences with you.
  • As your host, I'm going to introduce your session,
  • and then I'm here for any tech support you may need.
  • Know that you entered the call today with your sound
  • muted and your video off.
  • Because we are recording, that helps
  • us keep the video focused on the speakers.
  • There will be time at the end, though,
  • where I'll turn that on if you'd like to ask any questions.
  • And if you're more comfortable using the chat feature,
  • that is available as well.
  • And we will be watching that.
  • So thank you so much for joining us,
  • and now I'm going to hand it over.
  • Thanks.
  • Thank you, everyone, for coming.
  • Welcome to Stories to Tell.
  • In this oral history series, our goal
  • is to explore a diversity of South Asian perspectives
  • on COVID-19.
  • The region of South Asia comprises India, Bangladesh,
  • Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan,
  • Maldives, and Afghanistan.
  • For the next three weeks, we will
  • be bringing a new voice for you every Tuesday and Thursday
  • at 2:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, where we'll be asking
  • questions for 30 minutes.
  • And after that, we really encourage
  • you to ask questions to today's guest-- is Kamrun Nessa
  • Mirza.
  • Minorities and immigrants are routinely
  • absent and underrepresented in archival connections.
  • Hence, we cannot be more excited to be convening the series.
  • I will be asking the questions, but a lot of people
  • have put in their effort to make this happen.
  • I want to especially acknowledge Athena Roth, who
  • is Western C.A.R.E.S.' program specialist and the archivist
  • at Center for Northwest and Pacific
  • Studies, Northwest and--
  • Northwest-- sorry, Pacific and Northwest Studies
  • Ruth Steele.
  • So thank you for joining us, Kamrun.
  • And she will be talking to us about Spreeha
  • among other things-- about Spreeha
  • and also a community kitchen endeavor
  • that I really found amazing.
  • So welcome, Kamrun.
  • Thank you.
  • And I want to start by saying that you grew up in Dhaka,
  • and I'm from Kolkata.
  • And of the many gendered notions that I imbibed in childhood,
  • one was that women cannot be engineers.
  • And that was 1980s, but even contemporarily,
  • we know there is this sort of ongoing conversation
  • about women in science, women in STEM fields.
  • So tell us a little bit about sort of Bangladesh,
  • growing up in Dhaka, but also with particular emphasis
  • on how did you get drawn towards engineering
  • and also graduating from the top college in your country?
  • So thank you, Dharitri, and thank you Western Washington
  • C.A.R.E.S.
  • Really appreciate your effort to reach out
  • and share our experience during this difficult time.
  • So my name is Kamrun Nessa Mirza.
  • And I was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the capital
  • city.
  • So while I was growing up, engineering
  • is something that not a lot of girls
  • would pursue as their career.
  • But I was very interested to math and science
  • from my early childhood.
  • And I was raised in a multigenerational family
  • with my siblings.
  • We are five in number.
  • And we have a lot of our cousins, relatives,
  • grandparents living under the same roof like a typical South
  • Asian family.
  • And my dad used to encourage me a lot
  • to pursue whatever I want to be in my life.
  • And he wanted me to always think same as my brothers.
  • So I never felt that I'm different as a girl
  • in the household.
  • And that instilled that sense of confidence.
  • And I feel like if I like something, if I work hard,
  • I would be able to do it.
  • And so from the very beginning, if I have been told anything that
  • I cannot do, it gives me an extra sense of urgency to work
  • even harder to prove that we can do it.
  • It may take more difficult. It may take harder work from us.
  • We need to work harder, and pay more attention,
  • and pay more due diligence.
  • But it is doable.
  • And from that childhood, I felt like it is true.
  • If you work harder, you can achieve your dream.
  • So how was your experience in your engineering college,
  • though?
  • Were there a lot of women in the college,
  • and what was that experience like?
  • Because engineering is still a very, very sort
  • of male-dominated field.
  • Right.
  • So in Bangladesh there wasn't too many engineering colleges
  • when I was growing up.
  • So the top university, it's a merit-based,
  • so from your grade 12 scores and everything,
  • they select around 9,000 who can participate--
  • or to apply or sit for the exam.
  • And then there were at that time 550 positions,
  • or seats in different departments.
  • So it was very difficult.
  • There will be 20 girls in a 220-plus-size classroom.
  • So the percentage was very low.
  • You are a very, very small minority group
  • in the classroom.
  • And the notion is that it was always a question that why
  • girls are pursuing engineering?
  • It's more like you are wasting a position that a boy could have
  • pursued and could have raised a family,
  • because eventually, you will not be pursuing or working
  • as an engineer and you are just studying
  • it to get married better, which is very common in South
  • Asian culture at that time.
  • Yeah, and I don't [AUDIO CUTS OUT] at that time.
  • I think even now the belief is sort of very prevalent.
  • So you did your bachelor's, your engineering degree,
  • and then you came to the US.
  • Tell us a little bit about your degree here.
  • And then I really want to know about your experience
  • at Texas Instruments, because I'm not an engineer,
  • but I know that it's one of the sort of most
  • sought after semiconductor technology companies
  • to get into.
  • Right.
  • So after graduating to pursue my masters--
  • and I was in a PhD program.
  • I couldn't finish it then.
  • Took my master's degree in microelectronics
  • from University of Texas in Dallas.
  • And it's called UTD.
  • After graduating from there, it was in 2004 right after 9/11
  • in 2001.
  • So the economy and the overall job situation
  • was very difficult for anybody to get into it.
  • But I was able to secure an interview, get hired.
  • And after hiring, I see a lot of engineers in the whole company,
  • but when you work in your group settings,
  • again, you see the same as your engineering school
  • experiences--
  • always minority, always the single female engineer
  • on the team.
  • But growing up in a developing country being
  • in the engineering field, we developed a thick skin
  • and a lot of tolerance.
  • And developing some real skills--
  • how to survive in any kind of environment,
  • whether it be male-dominated or any kind of challenges
  • are thrown at you.
  • So with the help from the co-workers, and mentors,
  • and other female engineers from the company,
  • I was able to survive.
  • I worked there for 11-plus years.
  • And it was before the hashtag or #MeToo movement.
  • So environment was different.
  • I would say things are much better.
  • I wish I was in that environment till now,
  • to see how it is these days.
  • But from all the blogs and all the experiences
  • I hear from my junior engineering friends,
  • it is much better, I would say.
  • We have to go through a lot of comments, and a lot of remarks,
  • and a lot of discussions that we're really not in favor.
  • You can clearly feel that you are being cornered
  • or not treated properly.
  • But at that time, for me, I can tell I didn't have the training
  • or I didn't have the knowledge that I
  • can protest to those things or I can say something about those.
  • I just took it as I were in my own country, like I
  • have to tolerate it, and look beyond those things,
  • and focus on my goal, and perform similarly or even
  • better than my male counterparts.
  • So it looks like more than your work, your gender,
  • sort of that becomes focus of the discussion.
  • So you were in Texas then.
  • And then that's a Texas Instruments experience.
  • And then you moved to Seattle.
  • When did you move to Seattle?
  • So I moved to Seattle in 2014.
  • While working in Texas Instruments, I had two kids.
  • And during those time, that job in engineering
  • is when you work in a company where the teams are
  • spread all over the world.
  • Like, I have team in Germany, I have team in India,
  • and then I have team in Texas, and also in Japan.
  • So I felt like that work is around the clock.
  • And it can be a personal thing, but I never
  • felt like I can manage my work-life balance very well.
  • And it was taking a toll on my health as well.
  • Because you know, lack of sleep and lack of rest
  • and too much anxiety, I would say,
  • always trying to prove that I can do,
  • I can do what I'm supposed to do.
  • So it was taking a toll.
  • And after 11-plus years, I felt like I'm too exhausted
  • and I wanted a break.
  • So when we got an opportunity for my spouse, from Seattle,
  • we took the opportunity and I took that as a break,
  • as a career break.
  • I had the opportunity to come and work
  • remotely from San Diego, away from the family.
  • I had offered those options.
  • But I chose to be with my family,
  • and enjoy my kids a little bit, and reset the clock
  • to see how I feel, and take a good control of my life.
  • I felt like I didn't have good control.
  • So [? for ?] second career, you found community service.
  • So tell us a little bit about Spreeha
  • and what does it do as an organization.
  • And it almost seems like another conversation I've had with you
  • before, that it almost was sort of a healing place for you.
  • So tell us a little bit about that.
  • Sure.
  • So when I was taking my break, I still
  • have all the time in the world in my hand,
  • because I'm used to being busy.
  • So I got involved in all local community
  • works, like PTSA and the religious organization,
  • my mosque, volunteering in those places.
  • And finally, I got introduced to Spreeha,
  • a nonprofit organization.
  • They have programs local.
  • And the main beneficiary of the program is Bangladesh slums.
  • So their vision is breaking the cycle of poverty.
  • So when I was growing up, it was an urban location metroplex,
  • but in any South Asian or developing countries,
  • you will see slums very nearby to the big cities.
  • So I had the experience how people live in those slums
  • and how in a 5 feet by 5 feet tent, 5, 10 people
  • are crumpled and living their life without their access
  • to basic human things like sanitation,
  • clean water, and those kind of things, let alone education.
  • And when I found that this organization serves
  • those kids in those slums, I felt
  • like this is where I can really find
  • some better purpose of my life.
  • So growing up in Bangladesh as an engineer,
  • the government of Bangladesh made the whole tuition free.
  • On top of that, they provide scholarships for your pocket
  • money and everything.
  • So I always felt like I owe a lot to my country,
  • because here, you will see biggest
  • discussion within any students in any education
  • is the tuition, the challenge.
  • And from a developing country, the quality of education
  • I got for free, I can really see the value in it.
  • And I feel very obligated.
  • I wanted to do something and give back to show my gratitude.
  • And Spreeha gave me that purpose,
  • because your beneficiaries are those kids in the slums
  • as well as homeless people in Seattle or in Washington
  • local communities.
  • So I can connect to both the causes.
  • And it makes my every single day a lot better.
  • Thank you.
  • That's so wonderfully put.
  • And also thank you for underscoring
  • that point, that there are all these developing
  • countries in South Asia, that the kind of and quality
  • of education that it provides, and almost for free, right--
  • but tuition are such a big problem in the US,
  • a big bone of contention between all parties,
  • all kinds of politics.
  • So thanks for underscoring that.
  • So I know Spreeha therefore is giving you a chance,
  • I think, to work for slums in Bangladesh
  • but generally be involved in some kind of developing
  • work for the country that you come from.
  • But also, it helps you to serve locally.
  • And that's how I got in touch with you,
  • because I was fascinated by the work of the community kitchen.
  • So maybe you can share that in particular.
  • How did the idea come to you, to Spreeha,
  • and how did you participate in that, the community kitchen,
  • especially the work that it did during the pandemic?
  • Sure.
  • So in the area where I live, there
  • is a church called United Methodist Church,
  • and they have a program where homeless people will
  • be considered as parking lot guests.
  • And they will be parking their car on the parking lot
  • and use the church as their facility
  • to shower, to use the kitchen, to prepare their meal.
  • So a lot of organizations are affiliated with those churches
  • as a volunteer organization who come and donate for the dinner
  • for those guests.
  • And Spreeha got the opportunity to participate
  • in those programs.
  • I got involved because it is really difficult
  • for our next generation and even for our own community-- when
  • you are so affluent, everything is so easy for you.
  • To understand how the community as a whole--
  • not everybody is doing as good as you are.
  • And you need to participate in those,
  • lift them up, give a hand of help,
  • and bring some relief to those community.
  • Churches themselves cannot do that.
  • Mosques cannot do that.
  • So there is a lot of community involvement that is needed.
  • And I particularly got involved because I
  • wanted to teach my kids because they never experienced
  • Bangladesh the way I did.
  • So I am very thankful for what I have achieved in my life,
  • but I wanted my kids to understand
  • that it's the privilege-- what they are enjoying.
  • And they need to develop this habit of giving back.
  • So I encouraged all my friends and their kids
  • to come and sit with the parking lot guests,
  • look at their challenge, how they are working
  • on the daytime, but at nighttime they're just living in the car.
  • So it was OK, or it was, to some extent,
  • manageable until the COVID hit.
  • So during pandemic when we all are stuck,
  • I keep thinking about how those people are
  • staying in their car 24/7.
  • Because I know the church will not
  • be allowing them inside due to social distancing.
  • So I tried to reach out to the volunteers
  • and learned that they are still providing those meals.
  • And as a community volunteer, I tried
  • to bring awareness, using social media, to my community,
  • that we all are complaining while we are staying
  • in a huge house, or an apartment,
  • or a big space where we can comfortably stay.
  • But think about those people who just have to live in a car.
  • And it was March.
  • Winter was still there.
  • And a lot of their cars are not even wind--
  • I mean, they do not even have the windows.
  • They have plastic wrap windows.
  • And so you can imagine-- no heating and stuck in the car
  • in COVID.
  • And they have to be in that situation 24/7.
  • So there was a huge support from the community that we received.
  • And we were able to do many programs.
  • Usually we do once a month donate the dinner
  • to those [? forty ?] parking lot guests, but during the pandemic
  • we were able to do it almost every week for quite some time.
  • And that made a huge relief to the church
  • and they were able to maintain the program.
  • So I felt like the pandemic hit us
  • in many different ways, which we do not anticipated before,
  • but it also opened that together we
  • can do things which we didn't know we could do.
  • And so just to clarify, the church, however, I mean,
  • they have the guests every day.
  • And when you supplied the food, it
  • was Spreeha was doing it one day,
  • but there were also several other organizations
  • that worked for the church.
  • And so the guests are all being taken care
  • of by different NGOs who are stepping up.
  • Is that right?
  • Right.
  • Right.
  • So there is a list of organizations
  • who are continuously doing it.
  • And if there is no sponsor on any given night,
  • they will be living on the packed food.
  • And we also donate those kinds of food--
  • dry food that they can prepare instantly in the kitchen,
  • because their exposure in the kitchen
  • is also limited, maintaining social distancing.
  • So what about your community?
  • And your community I'm not necessarily implying
  • has to be only from Bangladesh.
  • And I understand from you that it is not.
  • But how are your community in general,
  • whether from Bangladesh or not, how
  • are they doing, if you were to speak about them?
  • Because again, the purpose of this series
  • is to explore immigrant experiences as well.
  • And if you could speak to that?
  • So the Bangladeshi community in general
  • is suffering in kind of a similar way
  • as many other communities are doing.
  • The difference-- sometimes I feel like we still
  • try to be in touch with each other,
  • so we are connected to some extent, one with the other.
  • So if there is a community member
  • who is being impacted by a job loss, or hourly salaries,
  • or impacted by sickness, so far we
  • didn't hear a lot of people impacted by COVID.
  • But anytime a family is in need, I
  • think the community tries to put together some relief to them,
  • so they are not left out.
  • And it is a very tight community,
  • I would say, in a way that, to some way,
  • we will know about the sufferings
  • of the other families even though we are not
  • in direct contact of them.
  • There were some big celebrations that we
  • have cultural like Bengali New Year
  • and then we had our Ramadan.
  • There will be Puja in the coming days.
  • So these are big celebrations, and the community
  • comes together in a big way to celebrate their life abroad.
  • But due to COVID, all those celebrations
  • are not going to happen the way it usually does.
  • And it is a big adjustment from the community.
  • But for the greater good and to follow
  • the instructions of the governor,
  • community is able to live by those rules.
  • It's a huge, huge sacrifice because that's
  • all they look for throughout the year.
  • But they understand the need at this time,
  • and they will follow all the rules of social distancing
  • and be responsible citizens.
  • Of course.
  • So when you look at the handling of the pandemic,
  • do you find yourself comparing, contrasting
  • between how it's being handled in Bangladesh and in the US?
  • Right.
  • So like many of the immigrant families,
  • we have two countries that we are nonstop tracking.
  • During daytime we are hearing and tracking
  • all the challenges in the US.
  • And at nighttime, when it is daytime in Bangladesh,
  • we are struggling with our friends, and families,
  • and community over there.
  • So it's two countries.
  • The challenge is almost the same.
  • But our one--
  • Bangladesh is a developing country--
  • lack of PPE, lack of testing, lack of health system.
  • It's big time.
  • So you worry constantly, especially for me.
  • My parents are living there still.
  • So I am constantly worrying about them.
  • But people who are abroad, we all are trying to give back
  • and do something about what the government cannot do.
  • That's a big part of the immigrant families,
  • like every other countries.
  • We raise a lot of funds from our community,
  • and we try to help our friends and families over
  • there as much as we can.
  • So our commitment is local as well as our own country
  • as well.
  • So it's two countries we are trying to keep track and do
  • as much as we can.
  • So was there a particular point when
  • you realized that you're living through a global pandemic,
  • like a historic pandemic?
  • And if there is one, would you describe it for us?
  • Sure.
  • So I remember early March when all these news
  • stories popping up.
  • We were hearing all the stories on the media,
  • and I just went to my daily grocery
  • in one of the grocery stores one day.
  • And I was alone but the way people were running next
  • to me, all the empty shelves, nothing
  • is available, even simple things,
  • as simple as the toilet paper is not available.
  • And then people are chasing each other
  • to reach out the first thing they can get.
  • I felt like I'm either in a war or in some real situation
  • which I never experienced in my lifetime.
  • And I was trying to tell myself that I
  • need to grab whatever I can and leave that space
  • and try to leave with minimal stuff that I can,
  • so I don't have to go back and see those chasing.
  • Because those are very scary.
  • You felt very insecure then.
  • Things you never experienced before.
  • So that was the moment I realized that things
  • are going to get a lot worse.
  • Mm-hm.
  • Is there anything else, Kamrun, that you
  • would like to share with us?
  • I really appreciate the opportunity
  • you are providing in trying to reach out
  • to different communities and try to document their stories.
  • It really means a lot for our community.
  • We are always seeing not all the positive news
  • about different immigrant communities,
  • how they are contributing, but we
  • are proud to be part of this community we are living in.
  • And we try to do as much as we can to make it better.
  • Thank you for the opportunity.
  • Thank you, Kamrun, for sharing your time and all
  • your perspectives.
  • They're so useful to just [AUDIO CUTS OUT]
  • the pandemic and the several sort of [AUDIO CUTS OUT]..
  • So thank you for that.
  • And finally, we'll open it up for questions
  • from the audience.
  • And I know some of you.
  • Some of you I don't.
  • So thank you for joining, and I hope you continue to join us.
  • And today let's ask Kamrun some questions if you have any.
  • OK, we have a question here.
  • "Thank you, Kamrun."
  • No, not a question.
  • OK.
  • So Amber is saying--
  • Ruth Steele ...
  • "Thank you, Kamrun.
  • Asking this via chat since there's
  • a lot of construction noise.
  • I want--" OK.
  • So I'm going to read out the question, Kamrun.
  • "I wondered, with your work with Spreeha,
  • if there is a particular challenge
  • that you think you will be working on
  • in coming weeks and months as the pandemic continues?"
  • Thank you.
  • Yes.
  • So we have our annual fundraiser coming in September.
  • Like any other organization, corporation, or nonprofit,
  • there is a fund.
  • And based on that yearly budget and fund, we allocate projects.
  • So our biggest challenge this year
  • is the beneficiary or the number of people
  • who need our help are, I would say, 5 to 10 times more.
  • But due to our social distancing and all the restrictions
  • we are in, we will not be able to do
  • any in-person fundraising, which used
  • to be a big event for the whole year,
  • because that gives us the opportunity to project and plan
  • the next year.
  • So we will be doing it online using Zoom and other platforms
  • that we can use remotely.
  • That is the biggest challenge and uncertainty.
  • And that is a big anxiety on all of us as volunteers.
  • We are volunteers.
  • No payment is involved.
  • But we really want to reach out to whoever is in need of those,
  • because it is life and death for them.
  • And Kamrun, we have another question from Amber.
  • Can you read it in the chat?
  • Let me open the chat.
  • I didn't have it.
  • Oh, and Catalina writes, "thank you
  • so much for sharing your story.
  • You're an important role model for resilience,
  • generosity, especially for women."
  • I could not agree more, Catalina,
  • and thank you for coming.
  • Kamrun, could you see Amber's question?
  • Yes.
  • So thank you, Amber.
  • So at the beginning, I mentioned that the family where
  • I was born and raised, the philosophy that my dad gave me
  • is that when there is a challenge,
  • you need to try harder.
  • Things will never get easier for you.
  • So if you feel anything that seems absolutely impossible,
  • maybe you didn't try hard enough.
  • So that's the philosophy.
  • And sky's the limit.
  • Never restrict yourself.
  • Never let anybody tell you what you can or cannot do.
  • So I think pushing yourself, trying
  • harder, improve your skills, I mean, do whatever you can do.
  • Don't focus on the hurdles.
  • Focus on the achievements, so that that will keep you going.
  • I never felt, even working in engineering,
  • that I'm a female and things done to me
  • may not be things done to a male worker,
  • because if you focus on those things,
  • you do not make progress.
  • Those limits you, to me.
  • You need to focus on what you can do,
  • how you can make yourself so much better that you cannot be
  • dispensed or you cannot be ignored.
  • So that's how I try to pass my values to my community.
  • Don't focus on the negative things.
  • I can be portrayed as a Muslim woman.
  • I can be portrayed in many negative ways,
  • but it is my challenge to myself to show everybody
  • around me that being an immigrant,
  • being a Muslim woman, being an educated
  • engineer, being a mom of two kids, we can do good things.
  • We can do better.
  • That is how progress is made, to me.
  • Thank you.
  • Wonderful response, as usual.
  • Juliette gives you a clap.
  • Thank you, Juliette.
  • I appreciate it.
  • Thank you.
  • OK.
  • I think there's a--
  • can you read the second question from Catalina?
  • Sure.
  • So how my children are doing.
  • So I have a high schooler, ninth grader,
  • and I have a fourth grader, a boy and a girl.
  • It's very difficult to keep them socially isolated.
  • Still positive, still motivated, still a little bit of progress
  • even in summer on their academics.
  • And the biggest challenge was what will be school in fall.
  • So before joining this call, we got a confirmation
  • from our Lake Washington School District
  • that school will be fully online.
  • So that's a huge relief for me as a parent.
  • I really don't have much data to support
  • that in-person schooling can be done at this point.
  • All my research is telling me that we
  • don't have enough data yet.
  • Some countries tried and some of them had to stop it.
  • So I believe let's take it easy.
  • If the kids lost one year of proper schooling,
  • if we try harder next year, we can make it up.
  • But we all need to be healthy at this point
  • and make each other less vulnerable, because you know,
  • our kids are--
  • I cannot even imagine that we will be taking risks with
  • our kids.
  • I'm trying hard.
  • It's hard.
  • It's hard to keep them at home, motivated, and positive,
  • and hopeful.
  • And Kamrun, the second part of the question, which
  • Catalina, actually, I think she responded,
  • but she can do so in more detail also.
  • "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.
  • How you ended up in PNW?"
  • So from Texas to Pacific Northwest,
  • why did you move and how?
  • Or why you chose ...
  • The language is how you chose Pacific Northwest.
  • We always wanted to explore the coastal areas,
  • like East Coast or West Coast.
  • So I have some, I would say, anxiety about snow.
  • So when we got the opportunity from Seattle,
  • even though rain was a big concern,
  • we wanted to give it a shot.
  • But like many others, we thought we would be coming to PNW
  • and then we will be moving to California.
  • But living here in six years, you love Washington so much
  • and you are stuck.
  • You cannot move anywhere else.
  • So I mean, the beauty PNW offers to you,
  • it's unbelievable, right?
  • And the second part of your question, how I manage
  • from immigrant perspective.
  • So I think if any person, any human being know their roots,
  • then it gives them an extra edge.
  • Like my kids, we are from Bangladesh,
  • so I always try to take them to Bangladesh,
  • meet their grandparents, show their values,
  • and they come and visit us.
  • So they are getting exposed to not only US cultures, but also
  • some Asian cultures, different languages.
  • So I never mentioned it to you, Dharitri,
  • but I run a language school here in Washington for my community.
  • And during the pandemic, we are having
  • 35 students who are learning our language online.
  • So it's a huge achievement for us.
  • And through that school, we teach about their roots,
  • about our culture, so they can connect better
  • with their grandparents.
  • To me, it's very important.
  • And I see all my nephew and niece
  • who are young professionals.
  • And they go back, visit our country.
  • They go to the countryside and try
  • to connect with the countryside people
  • to understand their perspective of the world.
  • And it's amazing.
  • So I always find it as a strength.
  • I tell my son that you are learning Spanish
  • in high school, you are learning Bengali at home,
  • you know English.
  • So imagine how much you are learning just
  • from having this exposure to four or five
  • different languages.
  • And then learn Arabic as part of our religion.
  • So I always show them as these above-and-beyond things
  • that they are doing.
  • And I think they are very proud of their heritage as well.
  • Thank you.
  • And it's good to hear about your school.
  • I'm tempted to enroll my child because--
  • Kamrun is from Bangladesh.
  • You're most welcome.
  • I'm from Bengal in India, but we are both Bengalis.
  • We speak the same language.
  • You are most welcome.
  • I would love to have her.
  • Thank you so much, everyone, for asking the questions,
  • your participation.
  • And I think I'll give it over to Athena, if you have.
  • And please continue to come.
  • We have two more weeks, which is four more interviews.
  • And after this, we are going to be
  • sort of working on transcribing these videos,
  • and they'll all be available.
  • So yeah.
  • Thank you again for coming.
  • Athena, back to you.
  • Thank you so much for another incredible conversation.
  • Again, I'm grateful to be a part of it.
  • Thank you.
  • Today was wonderful.
  • And I was going to ask you about the weeks to come,
  • but you covered it, which is great.
  • So yes, please do make sure to join us
  • again for another wonderful conversation on Stories
  • to Tell.
  • Thank you so much to you both for today.
  • Thank you.
  • Thank you so much, Athena, for your support.
  • Thank you.
  • Oh, of course.
  • Thank you.
  • And thank you to our audience.
  • You're very important to us.
  • And we had wonderful questions today.
  • Thank you.
  • That was great.
  • Good to see you all.
  • And please do join us again.
  • Have a wonderful afternoon.
  • Thank you.
  • Bye, everyone.
  • Thank you.
  • Goodbye
  • Bye.