Najwa Zebian | You Are Your Home
Good Life Project
Jonathan Fields / Acast
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2021
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Najwa Zebian is a Lebanese-Canadian activist, author, speaker, and educator who developed a passion for language at a young age, immersing herself in Arabic poetry and novels. As someone who found herself repeated displaced, leaving Lebanon for Canada when she was 16, not realizing it wasn’t just a trip, but rather a permanent change, would she’d find herself searching for a home—what Najwa describes as a place where the soul and heart feel at peace, a quest that continues into her adult life.
Her passion for language, quest to understand her place in the world and compassion for those who’ve been displaced and disenfranchised led her to pursue a Ph.D. in education. But it was an experience teaching young refugees that rekindled her love of writing, after having left it behind because of an association with pain. She began to heal her sixteen-year-old self by writing to heal her students. Since self-publishing her first collection of poetry and prose in 2016, Najwa has become an inspiration to millions of people worldwide, and a trailblazing voice for women everywhere.
Drawing on her own experiences of displacement, discrimination, and abuse, Najwa uses her words to encourage others to build a home within themselves; to live, love, and create fearlessly. Her new book, Welcome Home, invites us to explore how to create that feeling we so yearn for within ourselves first, before looking outside.
You can find Najwa at: Website | Instagram
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | to the heart and you don't be afraid to feel, to the sun and you don't be afraid to shine, |
| 0:06.0 | to the ocean and you don't be afraid to rage, to the love and you don't be afraid to heal, |
| 0:11.7 | to the silence and you don't be afraid to break. |
| 0:17.6 | Hey, so my guest today, Nezra Zemian, is a Lebanese Canadian activist, author, speaker and |
| 0:23.6 | educator who developed a passion for language at a really young age, immersing herself in Arabic |
| 0:29.3 | poetry and novels and as someone who found herself repeatedly displaced, leaving Lebanon for |
| 0:35.2 | Canada when she was 16, not even realizing at that moment that it wasn't just a trip, but rather |
| 0:40.4 | a permanent change, she would find herself searching for a home. What Nezra describes as a place |
| 0:46.4 | where the soul and heart feel at peace, a quest that continues into her adult life. |
| 0:51.6 | And her passion for language and quest to understand her place in the world and compassion for those |
| 0:57.0 | who've been displaced and disenfranchised, led her to pursue a PhD in education, but it was an |
| 1:02.8 | experience teaching young refugees that rekindled her love of writing after having left it behind |
| 1:09.0 | because of an association that she had with it. And she began to heal her 16 year old self by |
| 1:14.0 | writing to heal her students. Since publishing her first collection of poetry and prose in 2016, |
| 1:19.6 | Nezra has become an inspiration to millions of people worldwide and a trailblazing voice for women |
| 1:26.3 | everywhere. And she's been featured widely in the media, collaborated with everyone from Google |
| 1:31.6 | to RBC, Coles and even Cirque du Soleil. And drawing on her own experiences of displacement, |
| 1:37.4 | discrimination and abuse, Nezra uses her words to encourage others to build a home within themselves, |
| 1:43.9 | to live love and create fearlessly. And her new book Welcome Home, it invites us to explore |
| 1:49.6 | how to create that feeling we so yearn for within ourselves first before looking outside. |
| 1:55.0 | So excited to share this conversation. I'm Jonathan Fields and this is Good Life Project. |
| 2:08.7 | It is so nice to be able to spend some time with you. I've been diving into you and your work |
... |
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