The Off Ramp: Recent Episodes
The Off Ramp
12-year-old Alaya hosted a fundraiser for The Off Ramp this fall and is on the podcast to tell us all about it.
She sold fall beverages and bites to customers outside her mom's business one Saturday afternoon and raised $1,100 for The Off Ramp!
In this episode, she fills us in on why she decided to support The Off Ramp, what preparation went into the event, and even what scared her the most. As an entrepreneur, she shares advice for anyone who wants to give back and explains how businesses are uniquely positioned to be vehicles for good in the world.
Alaya's story and wisdom are inspirational and the perfect hope-filled note for our final episode of 2021.
"Something very small can make a really big difference in the world." - Alaya
Join Nell and Christen as they speak with Kim and Marc Wyatt, the founders of the Welcome House Network.
Welcome House offers temporary reception housing for refugees and immigrants who do not have a place to live upon arrival to the United States.
Our conversation covers the importance and role of partnership in meeting the needs of newly arrived refugees as well as the Afghan refugee crisis. Finally, Kim and Marc offer tips for those who want to welcome refugees but have never before had to overcome cross-cultural or language barriers.
"Smiles cross any language and culture." - Kim Wyatt
You can learn more about Welcome House here: https://welcomehouseraleigh.org/ https://www.facebook.com/WelcomeHouseRaleigh
Nell and Christen discuss the newly released pandemic-period Impact Report—what's in it as well as their own experienced highs and lows of the pandemic.
Their main takeaway is that even during a time of global crisis together we generated immense positive change. Indeed, the report may have The Off Ramp’s name and logo on the front cover but make no mistake: it is your impact report. You did all of this. And for that, we are immeasurably grateful.
Read/download the report here: https://www.theofframp.org/
We recorded this podcast two months ago, several weeks after the tragic shooting in Atlanta.
For some, that event feels like forever ago. And for others, it continues to carry with it sorrow and grief and trauma and fear.
In today's conversation we speak with Cynthia Aulds of the Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking in Texas about human trafficking and its sources ranging from race and gender which both played a role in the Atlanta shootings as well as displacement and poverty as we're seeing along the US/Mexico border.
We did not air this podcast two months ago because we wanted to point to the need for this to be a conversation that is ongoing, that is always important, not one that takes place only when it's in the news and then quickly subsides.
We should not rely on the news cycle to drive our conversations and our actions because human trafficking doesn't rely on the news cycle to take place. It's an everyday reality and not on the other side of the world but in our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.
https://www.cchttx.com/ https://www.facebook.com/CCHTTX https://www.instagram.com/ccht_tx
This episode begins with the acknowledgment of a significant and sad anniversary in the lives of millions of refugees around the world but picks up with a story of hope and empowerment next!
We chat with founder of The Master's Handicrafts, Sharla Shaver. The Master's Handicrafts is an export business in the country of Kyrgyzstan dedicated to helping indigenous women of Central Asia develop marketable skills and provide for their families.
Sharla describes what life is like in Kyrgyzstan, what she calls "the Switzerland of Asia," and the challenges the women who work with her face daily ranging from widespread corruption and limited access to healthcare.
Plus, we fill our listeners in on the new partnership between The Off Ramp and The Master's Handicrafts and the plans we have for future collaboration.
instagram.com/themastershandicrafts.kg facebook.com/themastershandicrafts
The episode starts with a brief update from Christen on the global and national news surrounding displacement and a quick word from Nell on what's going on behind the scenes at The Off Ramp.
Then we catch with up with Lupe Franco as she shares her inspiring story of leaving her home in Venezuela and what it's been like to try and reinvent herself in the United States.
Once a high-ranking diplomat, she is unable to utilize her experience and education even though she moved to the Washington, DC area in hopes of doing just that.
Today, she has tapped into her creativity and is in the early stages of developing a skincare line. Her greatest challenge since starting over? Well, you'll have to listen to find out but it's probably not what you think!
You can purchase Lupe's hand-crafted soaps and scrubs at threadsbynomad.com
We've got a new format for our podcast!
The episode starts with a brief update from Christen on the global and national news surrounding displacement and a quick word from Nell on what's going on behind the scenes at The Off Ramp.
Then we check in with Ferzan Jaeger, founder of Kin and Care—a company that employs refugee women from the Middle East and offers them a career not just a job. We chat with Ferzan about the challenges of owning and growing a small business like hers as well as the challenges of being a refugee woman in the United States.
Despite these challenges though, Ferzan shares with us some truly exciting news about her company on the pod! We invite you to join us in celebrating her success and her drive to use business for good.
kinandcare.com instagram.com/kinandcare facebook.com/kinandcare
JoAnne Mwosana knows what it feels like to not be able to provide for your loved ones when times are hard. Today, she serves urban refugee women living in Uganda, teaching them skills that they can then use to make an income for themselves and their families.
Through the facilitation of the Sewing Hope program, she offers them an opportunity to recover, realize self-sufficiency, and to become leaders in their communities.
Our conversation with JoAnne ranges from how she came to lead Sewing Hope, how The Off Ramp and Threads by Nomad are partnering with the program, and the "relief, joy, and hope" its participants experience in learning a new skill.
Sewing Hope is a program of Refuge and Hope International which can be found at https://www.refugeandhope.org/.
The Esther Project Shop was created to help combat human trafficking in Kenya through the development of a market for handcrafted artisanal goods made by women who are in vulnerable situations.
The Off Ramp assists The Esther Project with product development and quality control, as well as through the sale of their goods at ThreadsbyNomad.com.
In our most recent podcast episode, we interview Stacy about her journey from working in crime, to adopting six children (several with special needs), and finally to combating human trafficking in an unconventional way half-way around the world.
We chat about our time together in Senegal in the late '80s and '90s, what trafficking really looks like in Kenya (and elsewhere), and some of the challenges she has encountered in setting up this business.
Meet our friend and partner Pastor Rosalio Sosa! He runs shelters on the border between Mexico and Texas where they care for those who are displaced, help them try to enter the U.S. legally, and support them when they are denied access.
Pastor Sosa and Nell discuss why he does what he does, his ability to collaborate with at times conflicting parties, and how he has kept the shelters COVID-free even though he received a positive diagnosis a few months ago.
To learn more about Pastor Sosa's work and to support it, you can visit Fellowship Southwest and sign up for their emails here: https://fellowshipsouthwest.org/
(This version of the podcast is primarily in Spanish and Dalia's answers are not translated into English.)
Nell and Christen, along with their friend Sue as the translator, catch up with Dalia Juarez who is the Coordinator of the Seminario Intercultural Mayense (SIM).
They chat about the indigenous communities in southern Mexico, what unique difficulties they face, how COVID has impacted them, and what SIM is doing to support them. These communities are remote and poor. Their first language is not Spanish and they suffer from significant inequities in Mexico. But the work SIM is doing amongst them gives us hope!
Get to know Dalia, SIM, Chiapas, and find out how you can connect with SIM on Saturday, September 19 and Wednesday, September 23! Join our effort to Show Up For The Seminario here: https://www.facebook.com/events/776488353149773/
Nell and Christen, along with their friend Sue as the translator, catch up with Dalia Juarez who is the Coordinator of the Seminario Intercultural Mayense (SIM).
They chat about the indigenous communities in southern Mexico, what unique difficulties they face, how COVID has impacted them, and what SIM is doing to support them. These communities are remote and poor. Their first language is not Spanish and they suffer from significant inequities in Mexico. But the work SIM is doing amongst them gives us hope!
Get to know Dalia, SIM, Chiapas, and find out how you can connect with SIM on Saturday, September 19 and Wednesday, September 23! Join our effort to Show Up For The Seminario here: https://www.facebook.com/events/776488353149773/
In this episode, Nell and Christen catch us up on The Off Ramp's new Emergency Relief Fund.
The pandemic is a global crisis that some are better prepared to weather than others. Those whom The Off Ramp serves are more vulnerable and many of them have now suffered crisis upon crisis—a medical emergency, children without access to food or education, lost jobs, and more.
It was when their friend Haydar told them of his wife's leukemia diagnosis that they decided The Off Ramp needed to extend their crisis intervention services and create an emergency relief fund.
Listen to the stories they tell and if you feel led to contribute in this way, you can give at theofframp.org/donate.
Meet Missy Angalla, founder of Amani Sasa in Kampala, Uganda. Amani Sasa ministers to vulnerable refugees and their families who are traumatized, abused, trafficked and/or vulnerable to exploitation in Uganda. The ministry includes emergency services, counseling, group therapy and support groups for refugees. Amani Sasa also has in-depth trauma healing and empowerment programs for young mothers, women, men and children at risk.
Missy introduces us to the work of Amani Sasa, describes the devastating aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic among refugee populations in Kampala, and catches us up on the basket-weaving project that came about from Amani Sasa's partnership with The Off Ramp.
To learn more about the work Amani Sasa does and to contribute to their efforts: https://www.amanisasa.org/
A brief conversation between Christen and Nell on the mask project, what Lucille Ball has to do with it, our new effort to provide masks to shelters on the border, and how you can support us on Giving Tuesday. Will you help us meet our goal and raise $5,000?
Meet Mira & Sasha Zivanov, colleagues of Nell who serve the refugee population in St. Louis. In this episode, they tell us of their own personal immigration journey from Serbia to the United States. Mira, who came to the U.S. as an immigrant to join her family, waited 6 years to receive her paperwork. Sasha, who came here as a refugee, waited four. "I didn't want to stay for a third war in the country," he says.
The couple tells the story of how they met and why they had to spend so much time apart in the beginning. They discuss the challenges of raising a child in a country that isn't their own, but also how they're giving back through their work in St. Louis, what they are grateful for, and what we can all do to welcome the "stranger."
To learn more about the work they do and to contribute to their efforts: https://www.classy.org/campaign/mira-and-sasha-zivanov/c104612
We catch up with Greg and Sue Smith, co-founders of LUCHA Ministries—a non-profit that offers legal and other services to immigrants—on the state of immigration in our country today. The conversation moves from legal matters such as the potential end of DACA and the consequences of the new public charge ruling to the people they've met who have impacted them most and the continued need for dignity in our actions and discourse.
To learn more about the work they do and to contribute: http://www.luchastories.org/
This month, we interview on The Off Ramp podcast Cynthia Aulds, director of The Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking in Texas.
The Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking in Texas is a nonprofit group that partners with other organizations and individuals to make a strong, measurable impact on the crisis of people subject to and associated with human trafficking.
In this conversation, Christen, Nell, and Cynthia define human trafficking, tell stories about the trafficking they've encountered, clear up some of the most common misconceptions about it, and most importantly offer ways anyone can help prevent and put an end to human trafficking!
For more information on the Coalition or to donate to their cause: https://www.cchttx.com/
To follow their work and engage with the organization: https://www.facebook.com/CCHTTX/ https://www.instagram.com/CCHT_TX/
In this first episode of The Off Ramp podcast, we interview Sophie Albert from The Aliiance in Houston, Texas. We talk about everything from the difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker to the effects of Gov. Abbott's refusal to allow refugee resettlement in Texas and how YOU can help a refugee family in your neighborhood.
For more information on The Alliance: https://thealliancetx.org/
To get involved with The Off Ramp: https://www.theofframp.org/