Episode 8 (April 8, 2021): Stories about Commemoration
In the eighth and final episode of the Global Migration podcast “Geographies from the Heart: Life-writing from Newcomers to Canada,” host Mohammed Alsaleh speaks to the co-founder of the Syrian Civil Defense (also known as the White Helmets), Nedal Izdden. Nedal was a young dentist and basketball coach in the city of Homs when the Syrian revolution began in 2011. Together, host Mohammed Alsaleh and Nedal Izdden reflect on exactly 10 years of the conflict. Nedal commemorates changes in both his home country and in himself over an emotional decade-long journey on this very special episode recorded on the 10th anniversary of the Syrian Revolution. To support the project please visit the project’s GoFundMe page here.
This podcast was recorded on Zoom on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people.
Nedal Izzden: Nedal was a young dentist and basketball coach searching for his passion. When the Syrian revolution began, he dreamed of bringing change to his country, but a year later was forced to leave his homeland for Turkey. Nedal kept his passion alive and hope in his heart to be a part of something greater than himself. He helped establish the largest locally-led humanitarian organization in the Middle East, the White Helmets (also known as the Syria Civil Defence), won an international peace award, became an international public speaker on peace and humanitarian response, and realized his personal dream of being easily Googleable. Now, after many difficult years, the next part of Nedal’s life is beginning here in Canada.
