[00:00:02] – Samantha

Welcome to Calder Navigation, the podcast that embarks on a transformative journey through the lives and stories of the incredible people of Calderdale.

 

[00:00:12] – Samantha

I’m your host, Samantha McCormick, Artistic Director and founder of Curious Motion, and I’m thrilled to have you join me on this adventure. Calder Navigation invites you to open your hearts and minds to the tapestry of everyday moments and significant events that shape our lives. Through authentic and relaxed conversations, we’ll delve into the complexities of what it means to be human, celebrating the diversity and resilience of our community. This podcast is not just a collection of stories. Each episode is a unique exploration, a tribute to the rich tapestry of our shared experiences. So come and join us on this journey, and let’s celebrate the remarkable individuals who call the Calder Valley home, and let’s uncover the depth and beauty of the human experience together.

 

[00:01:00] – Samantha

Today we have two short interviews for you with some wonderful people who are part of the Curious Motion community. Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a theme coming up across our work around Calderdale’s beautiful landscape and the similarities with other parts of the world. Many of the people in our community who originally come from other countries often comment on how Elland reminds them of home and how this helps them to feel settled in the area. Then back in July, our lovely new team member Mahshid reflected on this, and she suggested we explore it a bit more and perhaps it could make an interesting podcast episode. So here it is.

 

[00:01:40] – Samantha

You’ll hear first from Dalia and her daughters Fadila and Hasna, who have lived in Elland for seven years and are originally from Syria. We met Dalia and her family via St. Augustine’s a couple of years ago, and they’re now regulars at our workshops and sessions. Hasna even performed in the children’s sharing at our Refugee Week event this year too.

 

[00:02:01] – Samantha

Despite having known them for a while now, it’s not often that we get time to sit down and chat to them, so I’m delighted that we finally got to do this. You’ll hear their reflections on Elland’s landscape and their wider experiences living there. Dalia speaks in Arabic and Fadila kindly translates for us, and Hasna and Fadila share their thoughts too.

 

[00:02:22] – Samantha

The second interview is with the wonderful Mahshid Alavi, who I mentioned has recently joined our team. She is our very first project assistant, and we were over the moon to welcome Mahshid to the Curious Motion team in July.

 

[00:02:37] – Samantha

Mahshid is an Iranian artist, project facilitator and community enthusiast with qualifications in business administration and media management. She also has a creative practice covering dance, performance arts and filmmaking. Calderdale has become a special place for Mahshid since leaving her home country of Iran for a variety of reasons, including the landscape, and today she shares more about this. So settle in for these wonderful chats. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

 

[00:03:16] – Samantha

So welcome Dalia, I thought we could start with talking about your favorite season. What’s your favorite season in Elland and why?

 

[00:03:27] – Dalia

شو هو أكتر فصل مفضل أنك. تحب.

 

[00:03:33] – Fadila

She’s saying that she loves the summer because she go out with her children, with their husband outside, sunny day, happy with a happy family and yeah.

 

[00:03:49] – Samantha

What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer?

 

[00:03:52.390] – Dalia

أي شيء في الصيف حب عملي 

وعشان أحب رحلة النزهة. على البحر مثلا هناك صيد.

 

[00:04:05] – Fadila

She would like to go on the summer, like picnic with the family, with a member of friends, to the sea. Maybe Blackpool. She loved Blackpool. Obviously, it’s really nice people, new people you meet.

 

[00:04:20] – Samantha

How would you describe your neighborhood here in Elland?

 

[00:04:35.370] – Dalia

وبوصفها أنا أحب أن أعيش باستثناء وهي منطقة هادئة وحذر أعلنتها منطقة جبلية تشبه منطقتك في سوريا غيرك لأن هذا أحد الأماكن فيها. أحب مناطق وأنوي الحمد لله أن هذه وعايشين فيها مبسوطين. الحمدلله أنا وعائلتي مبسوطين فيها شيء.

 

[00:05:05] – Fadila

She loves Elland because it’s a really nice and grateful place to live. It’s very quiet, and people as well are friendly. And whenever you see someone, she’s like, hi. Hi. Yeah, exactly. And the reason? Because it looks like her country, Syria, where she comes from, like the mountains, the sunny-, and trees and the green things as well. The houses, obviously. And yeah, she’s happy a lot on that. And also Elland’s a very quiet place. So, like, lots of people you meet lots of people shouting, running. Yeah, it’s very quiet, especially at nights. Like, no one’s walking, no one’s shouting, yeah. So you see, like, in public towns, there’s like, lots of voices, cars, everything.

 

[00:06:01] – Samantha

And what do you think could be on offer to help develop Elland?

 

[00:06:07] – Fadila

السؤال الذي بعده هو كيف زاحف بتغير أو شيء يتغير فعلا؟ كيف تحب يتغير هذا الشيء؟ يعني كيف تحب تغيره للأحسن؟ فوظيفة تتغير وتغير غيرها. أن تتحسن تصير أحسن من هيك شغلات موظفيها.

 

[00:06:33] – Dalia

شغلات مثل أي مصرف في.

 

[00:07:04] – Fadila

So, she is saying she would like to change-, the only thing she wants to change about Elland, the houses. Like, for example, instead of a flat, like a big house. Fits like six. Like a big family. Big happy family, so yes. And a big garden as well with that house. Big dreams. She wants to live in big house so it can fit the whole family.

 

[00:07:25] – Samantha

How many people is the whole family?

 

[00:07:28] – Fadila

Seven.

 

[00:07:28] – Samantha

Seven?

 

[00:07:29] – Fadila

Yeah.

 

[00:07:30] – Samantha

Yeah, it’d be nice to have more space.

 

[00:07:32] – Fadila

Yeah, obviously.

 

[00:07:34] – Samantha

What does home mean to you? I know for some people, it’s sort of the place that they are, but for others, it’s a feeling or a particular experience or a particular group of people. How would you describe home?

 

[00:07:58] – Dalia

يعني استقرار ومال ووضوح. يقلب مع عائلته في البيت.

 

[00:08:02] – Fadila

She’s saying that living together as a family, that would be grateful, especially because we hear lots of stories about separated family, not happy families, so that makes us feel stronger and happy to live altogether. And that’s the only thing my mum loves about is all her children listen to her carefully. They’re really happy with the living with each other and that’s grateful. That makes her happy as well. And my dad, obviously, because, you know, when your children listening-, responds to you, that’s great, that’s better than your children’s not. But yeah, so we support each other as well. If my brother is struggling, if my dad’s struggling sometimes with thinking, working, maybe if he got something to do and he needs to go with my brother to do something else. So we just support each other and we’ll just stand next to each other if we need. So we work as a family.

 

[00:09:17] – Samantha

And does that feeling of family sometimes extend to friends or maybe other people that you know here?

 

[00:09:25] – Fadila

وماذا أضاف عندك غير الفن؟ كان لديك اصحاب جيران مثلا أو أقرباء بزي روك. ولك زيارة مثلا زيارات متبادلة مثلا.

 

[00:09:39] – Dalia

يعني عندما ظلت ديانا في بسمان في لندن وفي بيت طعامنا وفي أصناف من عندنا يسيرون مثله نساء منهم عايشين في المدينة.

 

[00:10:00] – Fadila

Yeah, she has lots of people and they’re welcome to live, like, to live with us and they’re welcome to visit. And every day at night or during the nights, they come here, they do some parties. We do parties with them, like, visit. We just go to them as well, some barbecue party. We just have fun with each other also. She have like, a neighbor, French is really close. French lives here also in Halifax. We have our cousin, yeah. And then we have in York, we have many families from our country, and in the weekend, summer, we just go there and chill together as a families. Yeah. And I have friends also.

 

[00:10:48] – Samantha

And Hasna, would you like to say anything? I know you’ve been patiently listening as we’ve been chatting. Where in Elland is your favourite place to go?

 

[00:10:56] – Hasnaa

At my cousin’s house, because she tells me all her secrets. I like that I can go to school and see all my friends and learn about new things.

 

[00:11:09] – Fadila

Can you tell her the first day in primary school when you started, you were new here to Elland.

 

[00:11:15] – Hasnaa

Oh, year one was hard, but it’s actually really easy.

 

[00:11:19] – Fadila

Was it easy to learn a new language?

 

[00:11:21] – Hasnaa

Kind of hard, but also easy because there was these, like, cards where you could practice and then they were really easy to get through. That’s how I learned really quickly.

 

[00:11:35] – Fadila

Also, younger people learn faster than old people. Well, for me, when I started high school, I started like, your age, and it was so difficult for me because also I started-, and I was an older-, I was like, older than everyone in my class and I didn’t say anything. I was so shy, new, I didn’t know what to do. My English was terrible. If you listen to me speaking in the past, I don’t know, six years, you wouldn’t say, that’s me. Like now, same with you right now and talking to your-, chatting, because I didn’t know anything about it. But the teacher helped me. They gave me iPad. When I walked to the class, I’m holding the iPad and everyone looked at me and was like, is that iPad is yours? I was like, no, this is not mine. They thought, I’m rich girl, I have that iPad in my hand. I was like, no, this is for school, this is not mine at all. So everything I want to say, I want to thank Brooksbank, because this school helped me a lot. Literally, I was crying one day of my exam result. I was like, so bad. But this school helped me a lot to learn to catch up with the English.

 

[00:13:01] – Fadila

The students are really nice and now lots of changes become in Brooksbank. They change a lot, the rules, everything. But it was perfect for me and helped me a lot. And without them, maybe I think I didn’t become to this now moment that I can flow with the English. And now in my college, everyone, like the Arab people, when I meet Arab people, they say, Are you Asian? Are you like why? They don’t think I am Arabic anymore because of my accent. And that’s why I want to thank Brooksbank, because they helped me a lot. And I love about Elland everything, basically because we go around Elland, the field, the gardens, it’s beautiful, but sometimes it’s a bit quiet. And if I want to change something in Elland, I would change, obviously, the flats. Maybe I could add some people from different countries. We could have these connections to each other and everyone can treat-, like everyone treats each other the same thing or the same way. And yeah, this would be lovely.

 

[00:14:20] – Samantha

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to say?

 

[00:14:23] – Hasnaa

When you’re older, it’s hard in school because the subjects are getting harder. But your teachers and people in school help you a lot. And that makes it more easier. So I’m thankful for the people there. And you.

 

[00:14:43] – Dalia

شكر يعني شكر بريطانيا كلها. ومن بين الرهائن ومختصين في الاستقرار الأمني.

 

[00:14:57] – Fadila

Yes, she wants to thank all you guys for having her in this podcast, for picking her actually for this. And she want to thank for the government of having us because we had bad days and bad moments in our country because of the war, obviously, and the bad moments. And now still my country feeling that not safe at all. But we can’t change anything about this. But thank you. We had a good chance to come here and live safe. We have safety life here and live altogether as a family. And thank you. She want to thank you. Everyone helped us and supported us with everything.

 

[00:15:47] – Dalia

وأنا مبسوطة كتير هونيك الحياة في بريطانيا في لندن يعني أن الشغل الوحيد الذي تعيق هي اللغة بس.

 

[00:15:58] – Fadila

She is very happy to live here very safely. No one comes to us or say something bad to us or be racist to us. I know things happen, but we can just ignore it. And the best thing in life to ignore things that you don’t like, that makes a lot of changes in your life. And she loves here, obviously, this place.

 

[00:16:27] – Samantha

I’m really pleased to hear that. And thank you all so much for chatting to me today.

 

[music]

 

[00:16:47] – Samantha

All right. Welcome, Mahshid. Thank you for coming to chat with me today.

 

[00:16:51] – Mahshid

Thank you for having me.

 

[00:16:52] – Samantha

It’s, yeah, really nice to have you on the podcast as an important new member of our team. And you’ve also been really an integral part of planning this episode as well. Like, lots of your ideas have gone into this.

 

[00:17:06] – Mahshid

Thank you.

 

[00:17:06] – Samantha

So really nice to highlight your story a little bit. Could you give us some background on what you do for us?

 

[00:17:13] – Mahshid

Yes, sure. I’m from Iran and my background is in Iranian dance. And when I moved to London and I studied media management, I was thinking, I want another medium to be able to express myself more permanent, documenting things and showing things to a bigger audience. So I started making films, doing photography, started making dance films about the history of dance in Iran, which was very important for me to tell it to other people because dancing is banned in Iran and in general, female artists, they’re not as free as they are in other countries. So I did that and then I moved to Leeds, which really helped in my creative practice to meet more creatives. And then I joined Curious Motion.

 

[00:18:13] – Samantha

And it’s really great to have you, and I want to ask you lots of questions purely about dance and Iran, but that’s for another time, I think, for now. So what brought you over? I know that Curious Motion isn’t your first connection with Calderdale, is it? You’ve already been here quite a lot and experienced it. What brought you over to Calderdale?

 

[00:18:34] – Mahshid

When I moved to Leeds, one of my very close friends, she had moved to Hebden Bridge before me. And, you know, when you live in London, you don’t really have that much idea about what’s happening in the rest of the UK and how it is like-, and she was always saying, it’s very pretty. And after I moved, she was saying, oh, it’s just 40 minutes away. And I remember the first time that I took the train and went to Hebden Bridge, I was like, wow, this is so pretty. And especially her house and the neighborhood. It was amazing. And then I started to learn more about West Yorkshire and the nature and the landscape. And my friend had a huge role in it because I’m not a big fan of hiking, but she was taking me to walks around and then she made a film that I was also performing in it, that was also another connection. And obviously after that, working in Calderdale is a very strong connection because I have the chance to engage with the community and get to know the community.

 

[00:19:38] – Samantha

Now, with your work and with us, you’re working in other parts of Calderdale as well, and I know you have this lovely positive connection to Calderdale. Happy things seem to happen here a lot for you. Could you tell us a bit about some of the happy things that have happened for you here?

 

[00:19:57] – Mahshid

Yeah, sure. I think it was the second time that I was going to see my friends in Hebden Bridge and I stayed over and in the morning I checked my email and I got this email about my interview, which I was waiting for a very long time. And then I was like, yay, I was just running around the house shouting, say yes, my interview is going to be in two weeks, blah, blah.

 

[00:20:19] – Samantha

And this is your interview for refugee status?

 

[00:20:22] – Mahshid

Yeah, my Home Office interview.

 

[00:20:24] – Samantha

Right, okay.

 

[00:20:25] – Mahshid

That I’d waited for a very, very long time. Yes. And I did my interview and I think two weeks later, I went back to see my friends and I left the station. I was walking towards my friend’s house and she was sitting in the balcony with her mom and again I was like, Shadi, I got it, I got my status. And you’re always making this joke that Hebden Bridge brings me luck.

 

[00:20:47] – Samantha

Yay.

 

[00:20:48] – Mahshid

It’s always good things happen there, yeah.

 

[00:20:50] – Samantha

Oh, that’s so lovely. And I hope that other parts of Calderdale, as well will bring you lots of luck too.

 

[00:20:57] – Fadila

Oh, yeah, of course, yeah.

 

[00:20:57] – Samantha

That’s really nice. That must have been a massive feeling to have got that news. Like, I can’t imagine what that must have felt like really.

 

[00:21:09] – Mahshid

Yeah, I mean, all my life was depending on that decision and both of them, because I had to get the interview to be able to get my status and yeah, it just changed my life basically.

 

[00:21:23] – Samantha

Because without that status, you’re very, very limited in anything you can do here. And financially, it’s incredibly challenging, isn’t it?

 

[00:21:32] – Mahshid

Financially and emotionally, because I wasn’t able to travel to see my parents and I couldn’t see them for three years, which was really hard. And yeah, there are people I know who are waiting, who’ve been waiting more than me, and I know exactly how it feels like.

 

[00:21:49] – Samantha

Yeah. I’m so glad that it came through and just wonderful that that happened in Hebden.

 

[00:21:56] – Mahshid

Thank you.

 

[00:21:57] – Samantha

Yeah. And we will be making you come here and stay here even more, I think. Like, don’t leave, stay in Calderdale forever. Great. That’s lovely. So something that you’ve also spoken to me about in the past is about how the landscape of Calderdale has been really interesting and inspiring for you and particularly its connection to your home in Iran. Could you tell us a bit about that?

 

[00:22:25] – Mahshid

When I took the bus from Halifax to Elland for my interview, I don’t know, as soon as I got there by the canal, I was like, wow, this is amazing. And I remember after the interview, I was feeling great, just having a chat with you and to be there and look around with those greens and trees and water. I remember I sent some photos to my mom saying, this looks exactly like Namakabroud. Namakabroud is a small town in north of Iran and I’m from Tehran, but we have a very strong connection to the north. I remember since I was a child, we were going there very often and my first job was actually in north after I graduated. It felt really like home, especially that it was for a job, I mean, in that moment, I didn’t know that it was about-,

 

[00:23:21] – Samantha

It was your interview with us, wasn’t it, for your new role as our project assistant. Yeah, of course. You’d come for the interview, we’d had a lovely chat and obviously you didn’t know the decision at that point.

 

[00:23:30] – Mahshid

But just being in that space and I thought, oh, this would be great. If I get the job, I’m going to have this opportunity to come here more often.

 

[00:23:38] – Samantha

Are there any particular elements of Calderdale’s natural world that really remind you? Is it a plant, is it a hill, the water, anything like that?

 

[00:23:51] – Mahshid

Yeah, yeah, I think the green is very similar to the green in Iran. And especially the roads, we were doing a lot of road trips and the way that the roads are, you know-,

 

[00:24:03] – Samantha

Windy.

 

[00:24:04] – Mahshid

Exactly, it’s very similar. And the water, I think. It’s the sound of the water. And when I close my eyes and listen to the sound of water and just take a deep breath in and it’s like taking it all in. And it definitely reminds me of home or at least the trips that we were taking to the north, especially in spring because our New Year is in spring. We celebrate the first day of spring as the rebirth, it’s Nowruz, and I can see that the change of the season and the smell, apart from the allergies, that is very, very specific and highlighted to me. I really feel energised. I can tell the new season is coming, it’s new beginnings and I think a huge part of it comes from my connections to that specific time of the year and how it feels like.

 

[00:25:13] – Samantha

Would you say then, that spring is your favorite season?

 

[00:25:17] – Mahshid

Oh, yeah, definitely.

 

[00:25:18] – Samantha

And is that the same at home as well as here?

 

[00:25:21] – Mahshid

Yes. Since I moved to Leeds, we celebrate the new year, Nowruz, in Hebden Bridge, so we all gather again in Hebden Bridge, so I can see that I can see the first day of spring in Calderdale.

 

[00:25:34] – Samantha

Yes. Oh, it’s just lovely, the positivity that’s happening for you here. It just makes me really happy. Yeah, so first day of spring and rebirth and they’re quite common themes amongst different cultures as well, aren’t they? I suppose, here in the UK, that’s not the new year, obviously here, that’s January. But there is this again, there’s some cultural traditions around spring and new birth, new life, and kind of letting the winter go. And it’s a nice time of year where things are sort of starting to kind of bubble up a little bit, I suppose, aren’t they?

 

[00:26:15] – Mahshid

It’s around Easter, I think.

 

[00:26:18] – Samantha

Okay, yeah. To finish off our chat for today, I just wondered about the future for you. Obviously, you’re an integral part of our team and Calderdale’s becoming a theme in your life, which I’m so pleased to hear about, despite us, not just us forcing you to be here, but I just wondered what you might like to see develop here. We’ve been asking a few local people about what would you like to see on offer maybe in the Elland area where you’re working or just generally in Calderdale? What do you think would be a nice development to see?

 

[00:26:53] – Mahshid

I think the landscape is really, really nice and obviously people are so lovely. But like other parts, I would like to see more diversity and maybe more shops that sell things that are from around the world. And on the same day, I was thinking, I was like, daydreaming, it would be really nice if one day I can get some Iranian sandwich from one of the shops on the way back home. I think diversity is definitely one of that. Or maybe the smell of jasmine.

 

[00:27:26] – Samantha

Yeah, jasmine’s a smell from home for you, isn’t it?

 

[00:27:30] – Mahshid

Yeah, definitely.

 

[00:27:32] – Samantha

Tell us a little bit about jasmine. What does that smell make you think of?

 

[00:27:36] – Mahshid

It’s interesting. It’s also related to the north. Whenever we were going on walks in the evening, the smell was so strong. And I remember at that time I was like, okay, this is just the smell of jasmine. Especially when I was younger and I didn’t like to go on walks with my mom. But now I really appreciate it. And it’s interesting how strong it is, the connection of smell and your memories. It just throws me back. When I was in Spain, I was like, oh, this is great, this is the smell of jasmine, this is home. Yeah.

 

[00:28:08] – Samantha

Yeah. So some more reminders of home and diversity is something I think a lot of communities are working on. And it’s so important, isn’t it? Because there’s so much value in having access to different cultures and different ways of doing things, and so much value from lots of different things. And it brings that kind of vibrancy to our lives, doesn’t it? If you’ve got that.

 

[00:28:37] – Mahshid

Exactly. I think anywhere that it happens, it would be really nice. It’s not just limited to Calderdale to see that people are celebrating their traditions. People feel they have this opportunity and they have this space to bring in their culture. And I think it is very much dependent on people who are supporting you, like, obviously, Curious Motion is giving that space for people to come and celebrate and it doesn’t matter where they’re from. I think it would be great to see more of that.

 

[00:29:12] – Samantha

Yeah. And we have some events and things. For example, in the Peace Hall, they put on different-, the different New Years and things like that. And there’s some things like that happening, aren’t there? But I bet there’s things going on maybe smaller scale in smaller pockets of Calderdale as well. I’m pretty sure there are, but I don’t know a lot about them that maybe we could highlight more and develop more. And maybe it’s about us connecting as well widely around that and seeing what the scope could be. I’m sure there’s huge potential for really bringing that to life for everybody, isn’t there?

 

[00:29:48] – Mahshid

Yes

 

[00:29:50] – Samantha

It’s a great hope for the future.

 

[00:29:51] – Samantha

And going back to the shops, I think as an immigrant, for me, it is really important if there’s something, if there is a place that I can buy even one or two items that is from home.

 

[00:30:05] – Samantha

Food is a really important part of life, isn’t it?

 

[00:30:10] – Mahshid

It is, for sure.

 

[00:30:12] – Samantha

Yeah. Is there any favorite food from home that you wish you could get here?

 

[00:30:18] – Mahshid

Everything, but I don’t know why. Recently I really think about sandwiches a lot, and cutlet is something that’s made with minced meat and potatoes and you fry them and they make a sandwich with tomatoes and pickles. It’s really, really nice. So I think I can have that in Calderdale.

 

[00:30:41] – Samantha

If there’s anybody out there that makes that, let us know because, well, Mahshid will be straight there, but I think I would, yeah. Oh, that’s great. Well, thank you so much for sharing a bit of your story and your connection to this area. It’s really lovely to have you on the episode and also as part of our team, I’m very excited to see how your role develops with us and how your work in general develops as well, because you’ve got lots going on outside of what you do with us. Thank you very much.

 

[00:31:14] – Mahshid

Thank you very much.

 

[00:31:17] – Samantha

A massive thank you to Dalia, Fadila, Hasna and Mahshid for sharing their stories with us. Do you have any reflections to share about Calderdale’s landscape or perhaps a similar story? We would love to hear from you. Please get in touch on hello@curiousmotion.org.uk.

 

[00:31:37] – Samantha

So we’ve got one more episode for you in this series. I can’t quite believe we’re almost on episode ten already. Next week I get to visit actor and musician Hayley Doherty, who lives on a narrow boat in Sowerby Bridge. I think it’s only appropriate that we close the first series of Calder Navigation on the actual Calder and Hebble navigation itself, don’t you? So tune in next week to hear all about what it’s like to live on a narrow boat and find out more about Hayley herself. See you then.

 

[00:32:08] – Samantha

And that brings us to the end of another captivating episode of Calder Navigation. Thank you for joining us on this voyage through the stories that shape Calderdale. We hope that these conversations have touched your heart, inspired your mind and reminded you of the power of human connection as we navigate life together. Let’s carry these stories with us, cherishing the lessons they teach us and the bonds they strengthen.

 

[00:32:32] – Samantha

Remember, Calder Navigation is just one part of the Welland Activator Project, a collective effort to combat loneliness and isolation in our community. We encourage you to explore the various classes, workshops and walks offered through the program and join us at our special showcase event, Welland, where we can come together and celebrate the magic of Elland and Calderdale. You can find out more about the project at curiousmotion.org.uk.

 

[00:32:59] – Samantha

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Calderdale Council reaching communities from the National Lottery Community Fund and Arts Council England for their invaluable support in making this podcast and the welland activator possible thanks to Untold Creative for production support.

 

[00:33:14] – Samantha

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to Calder Navigation on your preferred podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And please help us spread the word by sharing the podcast with your friends, family and anyone who might find solace, inspiration or a sense of belonging in these stories. As we conclude this chapter, we invite you to keep exploring, keep connecting, and keep navigating the currents of life with curiosity and compassion. Remember, the journey continues and together we can make a difference. Until next time fair winds and warm hearts.