The Understory

One year after the Turkey/Syria earthquakes

In February 2023, a series of devastating earthquakes cracked the earth, killing more than 50,000 people and displacing tens of thousands more people in Turkey and Syria. One year on, for many, the ground is still shaking. In this episode, host Mohsin Mohi Ud Din reflects on how the earthquake impacted the Syrian refugee community and the #MeWeSyria volunteers who lived in the epicenter and who survived not just the war in Syria but also the earthquake. Pulling from audio text messages and voice notes from Syrian survivors of the earthquake in 2023, we look back to hear and feel how the earthquake destabilized an already unstable place. But we also hear and feel directly from survivors how they resiliently found ways to find shelter, food, and ways to lead community healing and community-building spaces in the aftermath of the earthquake. Through emergency aid funds from #MeWe International, Syrian earthquake survivors from 2023-2024 designed and led community arts and storytelling spaces in open fields and spare classrooms. These #MeWeSyria creative spaces for healing allowed children and parents to process what had just happened and attempt to repair minds and hearts through togetherness, collective problem-solving, and community connectedness. We hope you'll give this a listen. We extend our love and gratitude to our #MeWeSyria community heroes in Gaziantep, Kilis, Urfa, and Rehanliye: Sara, Shahed, Ola, Ayesha, Asmaa, Hadi, Hiba, Hoda, and many others.

Storytelling and Indigenous Medicine

For thousands of years, indigenous communities worldwide have utilized storytelling for healing, agency, and community-building. In many indigenous teachings, everything carries stories and energies. The rock. The trees. The human being. In this episode of The UnderStory, host Mohsin Mohi Ud Din (#MeWe International Inc.) interviews Jasper Younger Bear, a member of the indigenous Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation. Jasper Young Bear is a friend, father, husband, and community builder. He leads people through ancient indigenous ceremonies that use storytelling as a portal for compassion, courage, prayer, and hope. In speaking with Jasper Young Bear, we uncover how a person can change the fabric of time and space by speaking stories. How can we better use this power to further resilience, kindness, and hope in our everyday lives? Join Mohsin and Jasper Young Bear in episode 2 of The Understory to find out!

From meeting Muhammad Ali to building 'MeWe'

One missed plane or revoked visa and Mohsin Mohi-Ud-Din’s life would look completely different. His father immigrated to the U.S. from the embattled region of Kashmir. Throughout his childhood, Mohsin returned to Kashmir during the height of war in the 1990’s surviving bullets and bomb blasts. Years later, Mohsin discovered storytelling practices to heal and reclaim agency of his health and human rights. In surviving his story, he also bears witness to the stories untold of his community, stories of resilience and resistance. For over 15 years, he has traveled to Syrian refugee camps in the Middle East, migrant shelters in Central America and juvenile detention centers in the United States, to architect spaces of creative expression and narrative change. In doing so, Mohsin witnesses something extraordinary. In each seemingly forgotten place there are artists, medicine men, activists, and storytellers who refuse to be invisible. These voices are fighting for the light. Follow Mohsin to these sacred spaces of the compassionate unseen, and discover how stories and words can be medicine for healing, perspective taking, and positive change. Hear first-hand how forgotten people and places are placing curiosity above fear, and upholding perspectives above conclusions to remodel the world.