Big hearted. Lover of Animals. Seeker of self. Storyteller, artist and creative. Iago is all of these and so much more. Adam chats with Iago in our third episode.
Iago was born in Iraq and spent his adolescent years in Saudi Arabia. Despite intense pressure to conform, Iago has strived to express himself, his true self, his whole life. He has faced obstacles that would have pushed others over the edge. Instead, he has turned to the arts, and his extraordinary resourcefulness, to create a different life.
In his episode, Iago talks about his journey against incredible odds, and his search for peace and a place to belong.
Even though he’s now in Australia, Iago is still living with threats and fear. For that reason, we’ve used a pseudonym – Iago is not his real name. And if you’ve digging around in your memory banks trying to remember where you know that name from, let us help you out – he’s the loud mouthed maccaw from Aladdin. Iago thought this was a good option – 1) for the Arab references, and 2) because it reminds him of his own, lovingly dubbed, “stupid anxious birds”.
We’ve also removed or changed all identifying details to protect Iago’s identity, including adding a voice distortion. It’s not as easy to listen to as Iago’s natural voice, so to make it more digestible, we’ve broken his story into two parts. Part one will be released on Thursday 30 July and part two on Sunday 2 August.
Note that Part 2 of Iago’s story deals with some heavy topics including sexual violence, trafficking and paedophilia and contains course language. We advise listening away from young ears or if this isn’t for you, skip this episode and join us for our next episode released 6 August 2020.
Listen now on your favourite podcast app or via the podcast player below.
Our Panel at the REIMAGINE virtual festival – In My Country
If you or anyone you know needs help or this episode brings up something for you, you can contact any of the following:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
- Headspace on 1800 650 890
- ReachOut at au.reachout.com
- Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) on 1800 008 774
Episode Credits
Sound is mixed by David Gaylard.
This episode is sponsored by Multicultural Australia, a charity welcoming refugees, people seeking asylum, international students and other new arrivals to Queensland with the goal of creating a fairer, more prosperous society for all Queenslanders. Learn more by joining the Multicultural Australia community at www.multiculturalaustralia.org.au
All music is from Free Music Archive. We have cut and/or looped sections from the following tracks in this episode:
- Aint No Thing, by BOPD
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- Transitioning, by Lee Rosevere
- Released under a Creative Commons License
- Waterbeat, by DJ Lengua
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- Four Years, by Monplaisir
- Released under a CCO 1.0 Universal license
- Backed Vibes Clean, by Kevin MacLeod
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- Everybody’s Got Problems That Aren’t Mine, by Chris Zabriskie
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
- There’s a Special Place for Some People, by Chris Zabriskie
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
- I Can’t Imagine Where I’d Be Without You, by Chris Zabriskie
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Our logo and graphic design is by Mo Zaidan.
We have also been helped and supported by a generous and talented community of people. For a full list of credits visit www.inmycountrypodcast.com/credits
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