Ep. 67 Mariam Issa on crossing two cultures, healing from patriarchy and taking off the mask.

As a very little child, Mariam Issa dreamt of traveling to faraway places. What she did not dream is that she would need to flee the horror of Somalia’s civil war on an overcrowded boat to Kenya. Nor did she dream of the violence and bombings she witnessed, or of her beautiful close-knit family being torn apart and displaced to far-flung foreign countries. 

One of those countries was Australia, where Mariam arrived 25 years ago with four young children in tow, and pregnant with her fifth. What she found when she was settled as a refugee in Melbourne, was a culture she did not understand, and a completely different world and way of being.

Now a life coach, author, community builder and educator, Mariam founded #ResilientAspiringWomen in 2012 – a safe space for women to connect and create community – believing that if women can heal themselves from the impacts of patriarchy, the world will also heal.

In this conversation, we meet a wise and reflective Mariam, now an empty nester, divorcee and no longer wearing the hijab that defined her for so long. Mariam shares with us the peace she has found when she sits in the sacred silence where the waters of her two worlds meet, the practices she lives by to ensure she lives and breathes her top three non-negotiable values, and the benefits for all when we take off the masks that disconnect us from ourselves, and from each other.

Above all, Mariam shares her story with deep and abiding gratitude, recognising and celebrating our shared humanity with the beautiful African phrase, "Ubuntu" [I am, because you are].

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Guest: Mariam Issa
Website: www.mariamissa.com.au
Socials: Facebook Instagram

Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

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