Mo' Sibyl

우리의 이야기| The One with Shama - On Immigration and Storytelling: Episode 34 (2018)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Shama

Hey friends, I want to take a hot moment to let you know how grateful I am to have this platform to share stories and connect humanity. So, if you are reading this and would like to come on the show to share yours, please let me know. This is our platform, and together, we can set our stories free.

Meet Shama Farag – an Arabic-English Translator at TED talks, Coursera Global Translator Community. She’s an author and a journalist blogger at HuffPost Arabic, Aljazeera blogs, Sasa post. She is also a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church Interfaith community FIRE “ Fostering Interfaith relationship in Eastside,” a member at MAPS MCOC “Many culture one community,” member of IOC “Interfaith outreach community at Muslim Association of Puget Sound. She is Egyptian and a mom of two boys.

In this episode, we talked about heart stories and immigration, how Africans aren’t really taught about other African countries and what we can do to fix this. We also talked about what it is like being Egyptian, and she gave us reasons why we need to visit Egypt.

Her book, “Hi, I am Syrian” was inspired by some negative experiences she had as a Muslim and she decided to do something to change that narrative.

PS: My ignorance about African countries, especially Egypt, shone brightly in this episode.

Question: Why do you think Africans aren’t taught about other African countries?

Mo SibylOctober 11, 2018Canada, Egypt, Syria, Giza, Muslim, AlJazeera, Mosque, Seattle, Egyptian, TedTalks, Coursera, Aljazeera, translator, Islam, Author, Nigeria, Lagos, Pyramid, storytelling, MiddleEast, Writer, themoresibylpodcast, podcast, podcastsofinstagram, podcastshows, culture, podcasting, nigerianpodcast.Comment

저는 아직도 믿는다| The One with Kelechi - Not All Who Wander Are Lost: Episode 17 (2018)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Kelechi

I lost my faith once when I went through a phase of existential crisis that spanned almost a whole year; I wrote about it here - https://goo.gl/NCf1A2. I look back at that period with gratitude as it made my faith stronger and my relationship deeper with Christ. In this episode, I ‘sat’ down with one of my dear friends – Kelechi – who is on the other end of the spectrum, searching for meaning and questioning his faith. We talked about crisis of faith and the roles the church and our culture play in this. Kelechi is a Nigerian who has lived in Canada for a major chunk of his life.

PS: His favorite word seems to be “absolutely.” If you can correctly guess how many times he used this word in this episode, you get a chance to recommend a topic we can explore on the show.

Fun facts about Kelechi

He is a continent drifter since he has visited less than ten countries. With the exception of Antarctica and Australia, he has visited every continent on earth
He studied pharmacy briefly then got a degree in biochemistry and is now in school wrapping up his MBA
He is very single (*wink wink* ladies)

Takeaway Points:

Not all who wander are lost; be kind to those who have left the faith
All your friends don’t always have to be people you agree with all the time. You can disagree with someone and still respect them
Christianity has a lot of space for questioning and asking those tough questions does not reduce the quality of your faith
Embrace your crisis of faith tightly; it could make your faith stronger

Recommended Song:

“Dare You to Move” – Switchfoot (2004)

Cited books:

Lewis, Clive Staples (1940). The Problem of Pain. The Centenary Press
Lewis, Clive Staples (1961). A Grief Observed. Faber and Faber
Bryson, Bill. (2001). In a Sunburned Country. Doubleday Publishers
Bryson, Bill. (2010). At Home: A Short History of Private Life. Doubleday Publishers

Yours Faithfully,

모 /Mo!/