Mosaics SB Studios

Friends call Yi Feng the "Mental Health Guy" for doing many things relating to mental health for the ‎past 12 years. He is a Registered Social Worker, Certified Master Solution Focused Practitioner, ‎Certified Narrative Therapist, and Organization Development enthusiast, seeking to build mentally healthier workplaces and more socially impactful ‎organizations. ‎ Yi Feng hails from Singapore and visited Idaho in May 2024 as a fellow with the Young Southeast ‎Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI).‎ While in Boise he worked with Mike Krause, Chief Coaching Officer of Global Bound LLC, to 'make good trouble' ‎and improve workplace mental health. Yi Feng shares interesting insights about Singapore, his first impressions of Idaho, and his approach to belonging and well-being.

Today we hear from Joel Ntando, coordinator of the Refugee Speakers Bureau at ‎the Idaho Office for Refugees. Joel has a background in theater and academia. He ‎lived and worked in South Africa for 14 years before resettling in Idaho and is ‎originally from the Democratic of Republic of Congo. He shares what World ‎Refugee Day means to him personally and what it means for everyone on a global ‎level.

Aanish Shamim is a first-generation immigrant from Pakistan who has called Idaho home since he was 3.
Aanish has a degree in international political economy from The College of Idaho and is the City of Boise’s Community Engagement Coordinator. He previously worked closely with students at the College of Western Idaho and helped empower marginalized communities through his role at Jannus Economic Opportunity.
In our conversation, Aanish shares about navigating life as a ‘Third Culture Kid,’ and how his Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca helped shape his perspective on religion and identity.
Aanish highlights the importance of amplifying individual voices and celebrating the richness of cultural diversity within society. Outside of his professional pursuits, he enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, playing cricket, laughing with his family, and doting on his cherished cat, Taara, meaning ‘Star’ in his primary language of Urdu.

Klaudia Saric is a Business Development Specialist at Jannus Economic Opportunity in Boise, Idaho. She works with aspiring entrepreneurs from many backgrounds, including former refugees like herself. Klaudia and her husband are from Bosnia & Herzegovina, which they fled in the 1990s due to war and ethnic cleansing. Klaudia saw firsthand the damage that is done when people are manipulated into seeing each other as less than human based on religion or nationality. Throughout her career, Klaudia has helped many people become successful business owners. As a former business owner and holder of a bachelor's in business administration, she values the entrepreneurial spirit. Becoming a refugee is like having your wings clipped, she said, and that drives her to help others regain their sense of choice and empowerment.
 
Reach MOSAICS with questions and story suggestions: mosaics@idahorefugees.org
Mosaics is recorded and produced by SB Studios

Welcome Corps Allows Private Americans to Help Resettle Refugees
Joe & Kim Mitchell are part of a private sponsor group in Idaho Falls that welcomed refugees to the city for the first time in decades.
In April 2022, through the Operation Allies Welcome program, their Sponsor Circle welcomed three Afghan Air Force pilots, allies of the U.S. military operation.
The community response was so overwhelmingly positive that the group formed a nonprofit, Idaho Falls Bridge Builders, which in 2023 welcomed another refugee family, from Ukraine.
Joe & Kim were inspired to be involved in a private sponsor group because they know what it’s like to be newcomers in a foreign country. Their family spent a total of seven years living in rural China, and the way they were welcomed into the community with open arms inspired them to provide a similar welcome to others in their home state of Idaho.
Connect with Idaho Falls Bridge Builders: https://sites.google.com/view/idaho-falls-bridge-builders/home
Learn more about Welcome Corps: https://welcomecorps.org/
Reach MOSAICS with questions and story suggestions: mosaics@idahorefugees.org
Mosaics is recorded and produced by SB Studios

Eliza Shabire was a young girl when she and her sisters were separated from their father when he had to flee the Democratic Republic of Congo for his safety. She lived with relatives in Rwanda for many years before reuniting with her father in her early 20s in Idaho.
 
Eliza is now a mother to 1-year-old Mina. They are waiting for her husband's case to process so he can join his family in Idaho.
 
Eliza is studying social work at Boise State University with dreams to be a clinical social worker and help immigrants and refugees in mental health and social justice.  
 
Mosaics is produced by SB Studios, fundung from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and special thanks for the theme music to The Afro Sonics.