The Moth Radio Hour: Immigration Nation

Apr 16, 2019

In this hour, stories of immigration. Cultural collisions, language barriers, sacrifice and reunions. Hosted by The Moth's Senior Director Jenifer Hixson. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media.

Hosted by: Jenifer Hixson

Storytellers: Nestor Gomez, Anagha Mahajan, John Berecz, Mohammed Zeeshan Nayeemuddin, Zahra Noorbakhsh

Play Episode

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hey y'all I'm Catherine Burns artistic director of The Moth and we have exciting news for the first time in our history we're helping launch a new podcast about ugly confessions from beautiful people it's called the confessional and it's created and hosted by beloved moth Storyteller and friend Nadia bolts Weber naughty describes the show as a car wash for people shame and secrets and it includes confessions big and small we're so proud to be a part of this collaboration between Nadia her producers at House of pods in Denver and our longtime Partners PRX the

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confessional with Nadia Bulls Weber is available now

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from PRX this is The Moth Radio Hour I'm Jennifer Hickson in this hour we're focusing on the Immigrant experience we hear about it in the news in the abstract but we'll hear about the experience straight from the people who've made America their home no agenda just stories from Mexico India Iran and this first story

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from a man who was born and raised in Guatemala and came to the u.s. to escape the Civil War we first met Nestor Gomez at our story Slam in Chicago where we partner with public radio station WBEZ here is Nestor

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when I came to the USA with my family I was 15 years old and at first we were surprised because everything is so different here in the USA for example in Guatemala we have rivers and lakes but when we went to see

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the Lake Michigan in Chicago for the first time we were surprised because he was so huge it didn't look like a lake you look like the ocean in what a mile away had tiny corner stores but here in the USA they are huge places where you could get lost for days

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and here in the USA everybody speaks English my family and I we could only speak Spanish but my family could speak Spanish because I could barely speak when I was a child I used to suffer from a speech impediment I used to stutter As I Grew Older I was able to overcome my stuttering yes a little bit but when I came to the USA because of the culture shock

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I started studying again

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I remember thinking to myself great

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not only do I stutter in Spanish

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now I'm going to study English too

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I'm going to be a bilingual store

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another thing that was different here in the USA was during war Amala we went to school during the summer time and we took the winters of here in the USA you guys go to school during the winter and you have the Summers off

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we had a right to the USA at the beginning of the summer

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which meant we didn't have to go to school

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but instead of spending the time at the lake or the park we used to spend our time our apartment just watching TV and the reason was that because every time that we went outside we feel so different so alien we feel like we didn't belong in fact the only place that we felt like we belong was

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a home on our tiny apartment we could watch TV all day long and we could watch Telemundo

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and we need Vision we could see people speaking Spanish we could watch the show that we use to wash in what Amala and then when our mother came back from work in the afternoons choose the washing her novellas and we all stood watching the novellas we heard the soap operas which is strange because in Guatemala make and not supposed to watch novellas but here we were like oh my God

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and the best part the best part that was done in the weekends after my mother came from work on Friday afternoon he was saying me and my brother to the video store remember those and she will send us to the video store so we could rent three movies from the selection or Latino movies that are movie store in what Amala we were supposed we could never afford to the afford to go to the movie theater but here here week was all the classical Mexican movies he

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was amazing

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so we watch all the classic movies with Armand

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and it was really amazing because in Guatemala we were supposed that we couldn't afford to watch the movies

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but everything comes to an end and after a couple of months we had to go to school and I remember two weeks after the coach schools got started my brother came back and he was really worried he had a worried look on his face and I had my brother what's going on what are you worried and he told me tomorrow I have a test I told my brother was so why you worried you're smarter than me you memorize everything really well why are you worried he told me because I had to memorize

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all the names of the states and capitals and I had to say them in front of the class is going to be an oral test now I was worried

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because as I told you before I used to stutter

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and the idea of an oral test scared me to that in fact because I had got started going to school and I was the oldest my mother had decided that I was going to become the official translator anybody who's who's immigrant who told you that your parents make you that translator in fact only this prior we had going on a sightseeing tour and when we got lost my mother told me that I had to go and ask a police officer for directions

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now I usually are you with my mom about those things but I always lost because I started so I couldn't really argue but this time this time I decided that I wasn't going to argue with her so I used to walk in front of the family and I approached the police officer and I just pretended to be talking to him

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and then I went back to my mom and I gave have gave her the maid of directions we can I got lost really bad today

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we finally managed to find a way but it wasn't because of me I didn't help at all so now that my brother came and asked me for help I decided I was going to help my brother I wanted to help my brother so I started to write down all the names of the states and the capitals on little cards so I could show them to my brother so I showed him one car I hope you a perfect I told my brother he was trying to say Iowa

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you see the problem was that in our time in the USA the only thing that we have managed to learn what the ABCDEFG the alphabet song we only knew how to pronounce is letter so we were putting all the layers together to put the make up the name of the state so if we messed up Iowa is in mind what we did with Cancers or with Mississippi it was horrible

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by my brother Story the name just like with pronouncing and then he went to school so that next day I was waiting for him and I asked him how did the test go how did the test go and my brother started to cry they made fun of me everybody was laughing even the teacher told me that I didn't study and I feel so sad for my brother because he has studied really hard and I felt so much for the teacher and the classmates but I also feel mad because I wasn't able to

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I told my brother if I told my brother that's it for now on we are no watching Telemundo only be so many more from now on when we come back from school we're going to watch TV in English only yes my brother say and that's why we started doing when we came back from school we started to watch The Cosby Show

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before the allegation against him

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we started to watch Rock saying before we learned that she actually hates undocumented immigrants we started to wash the symptoms on Fox

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before we knew that we shouldn't be watching facts

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and when Armada came from from work and started to watch her novellas we didn't watch the novellas we heard anymore instead we worked we went to our room and we study and we practice the word that we had learned especially the crazy world from bouncing Cowabunga eat my shorts dude and sometimes are more will come into the room and we'll ask customers to understand couple hundred me

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are you guys talking about me

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and sometimes we were

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but most of the time we were just trying to learn new words the only time that we allow ourselves to watch movie in Spanish was on the weekends when we went to rent the Mexican movies but then one day I decided I'm going to rent one movie in English so my mother sent us to the to the video store and that's what I did I went the one moving English even without asking her and that Friday afternoon first we watch one of the Mexican movies and when the movie ended I put the movie in English that I have

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it was the Eddie Murphy Raw comedy special

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I mean I thought it was just a regular movie with a beginning middle and applaud but no it was this guy that what you're studying young really fast and we couldn't understand anything

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so I fast forward the movie a little bit

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and nothing I fast forward a movie some more

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I know nothing I followed the movie at third time and then I saw the Eddie Murphy was moving his leg up and down to do dundun dundun dundun to the sound of the music

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he didn't scream this little jump he turned around he did the moonwalk he was making fun of Michael Jackson we knew who Michael Jackson was it was so freaking funny

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so my brother and I we started to point at a TV funny funny funny part pointing at each other funny funny I was sitting on the floor in between the TV and the sofa and I turn around to see my mother to see she was laughing but she was looking at us with a strange look on her face she was looking at us like she didn't know who we were like we were alien to her they We Were Strangers

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so I told my brother to go into the kitchen and get some popcorn and two sodas and my brother didn't like to be bossed around but he like Pokemon so does better so he ran into the kitchen and what my brother got that pumped I'm ready I took the movie out and I put one of the Mexican movie sisters and by the time my brother came back with the program he thought that the Mexican movie was playing he didn't say anything he just sat next to my mom and my mother hug him and they cuddled up together

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and I wanted to do the same but I was 15 years old I was too cool to do that so instead I got up and I sat on the other side of the sofa and I just look at my mom and I look at my brother because I knew that we had to get used to this country that we had to learn to speak English so we could get better grades and eventually a good job

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but in that moment in that tiny apartment we just needed to be a family thank you

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what was mr. Gomez since he found his voice he's not stopped using it at the time of this recording he's told stories at the moth a whopping 126 times which is indeed a moth record

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Nestor has started producing and hosting his own show called 80 minutes around the world it features the stories of immigrants their descendants and allies Nestor show inspired this episode thank you Nestor to see a picture of Nestor and his mom visit the moth dot-org

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next up is a story from Anagha Mahajan she was born and raised in a small town in India and is the first person in her family to come to the United States in fact when she got on the plane to come to America it was the first time she'd ever been on a claim she told the story at a Grand Slam in New York City here's on Agha Mahajan

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baby shot do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do baby shock to do I was riding my bicycle having a great day shot do do do do do oh no what is that and did it do

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I think I broke my tooth

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that was three weeks ago my teeth are still broken right on time for Halloween but I apologize if I slur a little bit or spit on some of you in the front row

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no it was a Friday I had wrapped up work early and was on my way to yoga and for some weird reason this kids song Baby Shark was stuck in my head and I was too focused on My Singing while riding that I didn't see the little bump on the road and I lost all control of my bike and Came Crashing Down face first and hit my teeth on the curb

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I could hear I could literally hear my tooth enamel breaking and there was a buzz in my head I somehow crawled to the sidewalk and felt a gush of blood in my mouth and as I spat it out a couple of pieces of what used to be my chunky Bugs Bunny teeth fell out

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I quickly called my husband or nerve and let him know he needs to pick me up at the Greyhound station Corner in downtown

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while I waited for him the pain started to intensify and I was quickly in tears

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but through those teary eyes I saw this man in a fluorescent vest walk towards me with couple of hand towels with him he offered them to me and I hesitated to accept just because I didn't want to stay in them but he said he saw me fall and he was worried and he confirmed that those were washed and clean and insisted I take them now I was already glad crying but that made me really emotional so I grabbed one of them

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he checked if somebody was coming to get me and waited till my husband pulled over and left as gently as he had arrived

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arnab took my bike mounted it on our car and help me inside once inside you know almost out of habit I pulled the sun visor thing down and move that mirror flapper side and there it was through all the blood I could see three of my front teeth were shattered at the bottom and my gums were pushed inside

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now having the visual it was all just too gruesome and too real I was really shaking and bawling loudly enough try to calm me down and he said it's all going to be okay and I remember thinking how sweet he is and how he doesn't deserve a wife with broken teeth

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clearly I needed medical help

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but we were not sure how to get it you know I've never been I've been in the US for eight years we've steadily build a good life for ourselves here but luckily we've kept away from the hospitals and the Medical Healthcare System overall so I have had to Google what do you do when you are in a bike accident and how the years work so we were really relying on the help and support of the ER staff to get us through this

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they had something else in mind as we as we pulled into the lobby the ER nurse sleepily asked who's the patient like all the crying and the blood through my mouth we're not close enough

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work with us here share a lock icon then another nurse who was taking my vitals kept talking over me with her friend about where to find best Slurpees in town I mean I'm all for good Slurpees but not I'm like this is not the most serious case you have handled this day even but for us it is as serious as it gets and all we were hoping for some Assurance compassion and perhaps some painkillers

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I did not get any for at least 2 hours we were sent from one to another to another had to wait two more hours to get some tests done and all this while my wound was not even dressed I was still using that same towel to kind of clean the blood of my mouth

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after five long hours the doctor arrived and let me know that I had a fracture in the gums and then casually exclaimed I don't know how you're bearing this pain so bravely

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duh by this point I was so tired I couldn't even roll my eyes at her eventually I got some heavy painkillers and we were discharged but months of dental surgeries and reconstruction is still ahead of us

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but in those moments of pain and waiting both are now when I felt helpless almost lost

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I was thinking you know is it the system or is it the people or is it both or is this how things work around here we just don't know because this is not our home country or is this our home

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while I was tripping on all these thoughts under the influence of painkillers I I felt that all in my hand and it reminded me of the kindness of this one man

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and for some reason painkillers I felt in that moment

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that the store will had given me the strength and his kindness had given me the strength to endure all the pain and get through this ordeal

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so I guess all I'm trying to say is that you know there are moments which make you feel helpless unwelcome even but for every person process or even Administration that makes you feel that way there will always be that one person who extends that you know metaphorical towel of Welcome compassion empathy and comfort and that makes you believe it's all worthwhile and this can be home this indeed is home

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I'll soon be back on my bike and I will be singing Baby Shark did it to do baby starts to thank you

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that was Anna got Mahajan she's an electronics engineer / Management Consultant and she and her husband live in Indianapolis follow up on her medical situation it took four months of weekly dentist visits to get Anagha smile fully restored that included two root canals but she's looking good we ask all our storytellers to help us come up with a title

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for their stories and Anagha calls the story you just heard truth ache to re-listen to True fake or any of the other stories in this hour or to see pictures of Anagha before and after visit the moth dot-org when we return an immigrant medical students he's an immigrant patient when The Moth Radio Hour continues The Moth Radio

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power is produced by Atlantic public media in Woods Hole Massachusetts and presented by PRX

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► 00:21:28

I'm Jennifer Hickson this is The Moth Radio Hour from PRX our next story comes from Muhammad Naima Dean he goes by the shaman he told the story for us at a story Slam in Boston where we partner with PRX and public radio station WBUR here's is ishaan

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so back when I was in medical school I was on one of my surgery rotations and we got a call from the Ed saying that there was a guy who just came in 19 years old and he had a mass on his testicle and they wanted us to come and take a look at it so I went down to check it out and you know I'm talking to this guy and you know he's like telling me what's going on he's like yeah you know I

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I was working the other day and couldn't really walk that well and then this morning I couldn't really see that well and my boss kind of made me come in and I was like oh

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okay and so I proceeded to do my med student exam on him and it wasn't that subtle he had maybe the size of an eggplant on his right testicle

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and I was like shit so I called my resident I was like Chris we get we got to go to the oh are there you guys take this thing out it's like okay sure let's get some Imaging and get the or prepped and get going and while we're waiting to get some better Imaging for him I asked him like come on man like why why did it take so long what made you wait

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and the thing is like he this guy was he's Mexican-American he was born in America he's a citizen but both of his parents are illegal immigrants and his whole life he was brought up to think that if you go to a hospital if you go anywhere where the system is you may get deported and so about a year and a half ago he started having some difficulty walking and he started noticing the bump on his testicle

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and the thing is this guy like dropped out of high school but he was an amazing Chef he worked at a restaurant I'm going to call it Restaurant X for obvious reasons that's like beyond amazing like three Michelin stars James Beard winners everywhere and this kid had started there at 16 he's 19 now he was a sous chef which is insane

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and this morning he couldn't pick up the damn knives and so his boss made him come in

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and you know after hearing this he goes through the cat scanner and we call it lighting up like a Christmas tree because you start seeing masses everywhere like lungs spine that's why he couldn't walk brain that's why he couldn't see

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and so later on that day we took him to the or took it out and you know kind of immediately we knew it was cancer

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and in the recovery room he asked me am I going to be okay and I'm a med student what am I supposed to say like

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and you know I told him like we'll do the best we can like what else am I supposed to say like I'm not trained for that yet

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and so he goes on to the cancer service and I go on with my life

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about a year later I went with a couple of my friends to Restaurant X for Restaurant Week

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and I found out from the wait staff there that he had died 6 months before

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and that's the thing he was 19 years old cancer can be beaten it's hard but when found early like testicular cancer usually is it can be very easily beaten

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but this guy was just so scared for his parents that he waited

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and the thing is like since then I've worked at many hospitals I've practiced for a decent amount of time now and from the most expensive richest hospitals in the country to the poorest from ivy league hospitals to State University Hospitals I've never met a single physician nurse social worker who gives a fuck

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what your immigration status is I've never had it become a point of contention because all we do is we want to make you better

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and this past year you know with the election like this is all that we've been hearing you know and in my mind I keep thinking about this 19 year old kid like how many other people like that are there who just don't want to go see a doctor or don't want to see a lawyer or whatever because they're so scared

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but you know we try our best and every day I go to work and I never bring it up none of my colleagues ever brings it up

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and in the end that's the best we can do thank you

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that was zeeshan Naima Dean See Shawn is a long and intensive care physician who's been training for quote millions of years he can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and thinks he may be able to squeeze in a nap eventually his wife isn't sure regarding this story is a Sean said he thinks about this guy all the time he said that misinformation about the healthcare world and our relation to Immigration Services is rampant and he told me

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I still haven't met a healthcare professional who cares about immigration status when it comes to Patient Care

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when we return a teenager goes back to her mother's Homeland for the very first time when The Moth Radio Hour continues

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The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic public media in Woods Hole Massachusetts and presented by the public radio exchange PR x.org

► 00:28:15

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► 00:28:44

Jill seasonings find your favorite blend of Celestial Seasonings on Amazon or wherever T is sold I'm Jennifer Hickson this is The Moth Radio Hour from PRX our final story is by zahran or Bosh she's a comic based in California here Zara and a moth show we could use in Mesa Arizona I'm going to take you to San Francisco California a little suburb outside of Sam

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Cisco California way back a long long time ago

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to when I was a little girl and you had one phone in the house usually in the kitchen I'm a little girl and it's late at night and my mom is performing her usual ritual holding this little green card with 15 digits on it saying wake up wake up that arm you know wake up and taking us over to the kitchen dragging us and then

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while we were yawning and exhausted we would wait to hear

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my grandmother's voice

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and my mom would say tell them tell them that hotel them about your day tell them about the flying car that you drew in art class at her tell them about your report card say something it's your family

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and I would be like cool okay then I would hear my grandmother's voice and my grandfather's voice and my aunt's and my uncles and my cousin's all saying hello how are you we miss you we love you and I'd be like I have no idea who you are

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because I grew up here I grew up here and I had never met them before these disembodied voices these ghosts on the other side of the phone that my mom would say this is your family this is your family and there were times that school that I did feel different

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but not because we were Iranian not not because we were a Muslim and my mom wore the Islamic headscarf not because my dad had a thick accent not because I spoke two languages but because I had a ghost family

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that lived on the other side of the planet

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and it made me feel really different when my parents came here they came just before the Revolution broke they came for school and then the revolution happened and they were stuck here for a time and then it became difficult to visit because they had me and then they had my little sister and it became even more difficult to try to visit him then they had my brother and it became even more difficult and my father had a highly competitive job and my mom was still in school and then they had my little brother right and he

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was growing up and so we moved we moved to another suburb outside of San Francisco California where everything looked exactly the same and my sister and I were going to school and it was a new school we had moved in the middle of my third grade year I remember I had a tough time making friends I came home one day and I was complaining to my mom that it was difficult to make friends and she said it doesn't matter is that how none of those are your real friends anyway you have a

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a hundred people who love you no matter what in Iran

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and I was like yeah that's going to go really well at school Mom I have a hundred ghost friends I don't need you guys I have a hundred ghost friends as my brother got a little bit older my mom was able to go back to work and so she had us ride the bus for the very first time and she told us you know I'm going to pick you up from the fourth stop and it was my job to remember is the fourth stop and the bus is going in

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lose count

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and we get off the bus driver leaves and nobody is there and I'm with my little sister and we're so lost and every house looks exactly the same and I can't remember if we live on deer Brook Lane Meadow Drive or if we live on Meadow deer Brook Lane Drive and meanwhile six Brook Meadow Lane drives down my mom is waiting for us

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and the bus comes and the bus is leaving and my mom panics and says wait wait wait wait wait wait wait and she's dragging my brother in the stroller and she says wait wait wait wait wait wait my girls my girls in the bus is still leaving in my mom runs up to the bus and she's slamming on the bus tours and she says please please and she scans the bus really quickly the empty bus and she says my girls my girls my girls I can't find my girls and the bus driver

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laughs at her

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and says lady if there were less of you in the world we'd all be better off anyways

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and now my mother is terrified and she's looking for us everywhere and then we finally see her calling our names at the end of Brooke Meadow Lane dear Court

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and we yell mom mom and we grab each other and we hold each other and we're both shaking and shaking and shaking and trembling and my sister saying where were you and I'm saying I'm sorry and she says it's okay it's not your fault it's not your fault thank God thank God it Hoda a hoarder she's so scared

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that night was a long night my dad came home late he had a meeting with the principal and he made sure that that bus driver was fired

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and even though we were supposed to be in bed I could hear them arguing I could hear them arguing about whether or not it would be better for us to go back and my mother was saying they should be somewhere where everybody loves them no matter what and I know that they'll be safe and my dad was saying but there are so many more opportunities afforded to them as two young girls growing up if we stay here

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it is true that growing up we were afforded amazing opportunities as two young women here and I am especially proud of the life that I've LED I have done incredible things I've done things that would have been unimaginable if we were still living in Iran I am a comedian I tore my writing is published nationally by have a podcast

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I talk with my big loud mouth about being feminist Muslim iranian-american bisexual and out pork eating alcohol drinking Muslim married to an atheist Infidel living it up

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I've even had the honor of going to the White House once a while ago

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to talk with my big loud mouth and my confusing ideas and these are things that would have been unimaginable if we had stayed in Iran and after shows people will come up to me and they will say aren't you glad you're not there and every time somebody says that

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I go back into my mind too when I was 14 years old like a time travel when I was 14 years old I finally went to this country

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with the ghost people on the other side of the planet and I remember it so clearly it was midnight one o'clock in the morning and just like at home my mom was full of energy and we were exhausted and she's taking us checkpoint after checkpoint after checkpoint you know this metal detector grab those bags fill out these forms do we have something do we not have

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because anything for Customs all the rituals

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that a kid is lucky to be able to just say mmm

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as you go through and we finally come to the last clearance place at the metal detector and everything and I get distracted because I hear Boom Boom Boom

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and we look and we can't see anything because it's Pitch Black it's glass doors everywhere all around us but it's Pitch Black

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and then we here

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through boom boom boom I froze and the guy handing us our bag looks at my mom and says you're very popular

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and then my sister and I drop our bags and we look at each other and we look at my mom and say oh my God are we famous in Iran

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and my mom is crying and tears are streaming down her face and she wipes them with her sleeve and her voice cracks as she says no

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bats

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that's your family

► 00:39:31

and the double doors bust open and all I hear is I'm your uncle I'm your uncle I'm your uncle I'm your uncle uncle uncle uncle uncle uncle aunt aunt aunt aunt aunt aunt aunt cousin cousin cousin cousin cousin cousin and I can taste tears and I can feel my cheeks being pinched and I can feel myself being squeezed and hugged and then one of my cousin's grabs me by the arm and takes me aside and she has a million questions and she says okay okay you have to tell me what's Michael Jackson really like

► 00:40:02

and then she says what is it like to live in Hollywood can you tell Steven Spielberg he's got to make another Indiana Jones

► 00:40:10

home and what are the American people really think of Madonna

► 00:40:15

and I say II don't know II have to go to my mom she's crying and I'm looking for my mom and scanning and scanning and then I see her and I also see in the distance for school buses for school buses drove my mom's family to the airport

► 00:40:40

to meet us at one o'clock in the morning and coming towards us from the school buses I hear one voice that I really recognize as a froze as he's mm my baby and my mom says mom on

► 00:41:05

and I realize that's my grandma

► 00:41:10

my mom has a mom

► 00:41:14

and sisters and brothers and I have cousins and as I'm looking at my mom there

► 00:41:23

I see her face and she is glowing glowing

► 00:41:28

and for the rest of my life I will measure my mother's Joy by that moment

► 00:41:36

looking at her kids playing with their cousins

► 00:41:42

surrounded by their aunts and uncles in the arm of her mother and father

► 00:41:50

and now

► 00:41:52

looking back

► 00:41:54

I know that it's not super safe for me as the pork eating alcohol drinking bisexual Muslim married to an atheist Infidel with her big loud mouth

► 00:42:07

to go back

► 00:42:11

but I know how much they miss me because of how much I miss them and thanks to my mom I do have my nightly ritual of calling up my grandmother and what I wish for you all is to have anywhere the 100 people that love you no matter what

► 00:42:35

thank you that is on your body she's the co-host of the award-winning podcast good Muslim bad Muslim and works with the pop culture collaborative on something called comedy for social change Zara has not been back to Iran since that last visit but longs to return to pick fruit and her grandparents Orchard dance with their aunts laugh with her uncle's and pretend like she's still the expert on Rocky Michael Jackson and Madonna

► 00:43:05

all her cousins do you have a story to tell us about your immigrant experience you can pitch us Your Story by recording it right on our site or call eight seven seven seven nine nine moth that's eight seven seven seven nine nine six six eight for the best pitches are developed for moth shows all around the world we have no shortage of immigrant stories at the moment

► 00:43:35

moth this is America after all maybe next time we do an hour like this will work on including stories from people coming here from all the other continents that's it for this episode we hope you'll join us next time your host is our which Jennifer Hickson Jennifer also directed the stories in the show the rest of the Moss directorial staff includes

► 00:44:05

- Burns Sarah Haberman Sarah Austin jeunesse and Meg bowls production support from Emily couch most stories are true as Remembered in a firm by the storytellers our theme music is by the drift other music in this hour from Mark Orton Bela Fleck Jia bingquan be mbot tin hat Trio and Stellwagen Symphony said you can find links to all the music we use at our website The Moth Radio hours

► 00:44:35

is produced by me Jay Allison with Vicki Merrick at Atlantic public media in Woods Hole Massachusetts this hour was produced with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts The Moth Radio Hour is presented by PRX for more about our podcast for information on pitching as your own story and everything else go to our website The Moth dot-org