KaVersations

In this second part of my Kaversation with Maychee Mua, she shares how her son has progressed, how her journey has affected her mental health, some of her anxieties about her son’s future, and why it is so important to build an inclusive and supportive community. Once again, I would like to thank Maychee for sharing her story, and for being a voice for her son and her community. May we all have the opportunity in our own ways to create change and to do better.

In this episode of Kaversations I talk with my niece Maychee Mua about her journey as a Hmong mother whose oldest son has autism. She discusses her role as an advocate for her son and addresses some of the cultural barriers she has faced. Maychee also talks about her own work in policy-making and how important it is to provide assistance in breaking through the cultural barriers. I hope Maychee’s story will resonate with some of your own triumphs and struggles, it definitely has resonated with me.

In this second part of my conversation with Phyllis we talk about healthcare and racism. I think it’s fair to say that here in America healthcare and racism are heavy-handed topics. Phyllis shares a bit of her own personal stories about what she’s observed and experienced in Africa, the Netherlands and here in America. I’ve always wondered about how functional universal healthcare really is and how racism manifests itself in the rest of the world. Let’s find out, and once again thank you for listening in on this episode of Kaversations.

I recently sat down with my good friend Phyllis to chat about life in Europe, specifically, the Netherlands where she currently works, and in Africa, specifically Kenya where she grew up. Phyllis & I met many years ago when we interned together in Washington D.C. Little did I know that she would become a life-long friend and I am so thankful for that. She often travels to America during the summer and during the winter holidays when I am lucky enough to visit with her. I’ve always wanted to talk with her about the similarities and differences that she’s observed in the three different countries she lives in. In this episode we talk about education and work, and how similar and different they really are in Africa, in America and in the Netherlands.

A few weeks ago, my nephew Ethan, was gracious enough to sit down with me and share a little bit about his life and some lessons on what it’s like to be a young adult today. We discussed topics ranging from superhero movies, to travel, to school and work, to relationships and more. After one year of college, Ethan chose to forgo school and is currently working as a pharmacy technician. He shares his story of making that choice, as well as what he is learning as a pharmacy technician, which I thoroughly enjoyed learning about. I hope you will too.

Episode 2 continues my conversation with my sisters-in-law Pang and Chee. We share our thoughts on resolutions, travel goals, old habits, new habits, and what we are looking forward to in 2020. Let’s see if any of ours align with any of yours. My goal for this podcast is to provide a forum to share thoughts and ideas on different topics of interest. I hope this podcast will be a place where we can teach everyone a little bit about ourselves, so that we can learn more about each other. Thank you once again for listening.

Happy New Year! In my first episode, recorded on December 30, 2019 , I spoke with my sisters-in-law, Pang and Chee, about end-of-year reflections. We shared details about the different trips we took in 2019, the people we met, the new things we discovered, the most important lessons we learned, and the one word that summed up 2019 for each of us. I have to thank my sisters in law for taking time out of their very busy schedule to talk with me, and especially Pang since she had a very sore throat but still championed through. It is my first episode and you’ll notice that the sound quality is not the best, but I hope you’ll still enjoy the conversation. Stay tuned for episode two where we continued our conversation on thoughts about the new year 2020.