S1/E07: #Feeling Lonely Abroad? – How to Build a Sense of Belonging with Jawahara Saidullah

Show notes

When was the last time you felt lost? Lonely? Disconnected? The desire to belong, also known as belongingness, is a fundamental human need that motivates our human behavior. Especially expats may be struggling with loneliness, loss of identity and lack of direction after moving to a different location. The feeling as if we don't belong while also losing traits of our original, unfolds the urgent need for belonging in this new environment. Losing our sense of self can be a very difficult journey BUT it can also provide an opportunity to explore and grow.

Episode Highlights

(00:03:22) Culture Chat: Frauke and Marie-Christine welcome Jawahara Saidullah, President of the American International Women’s Club of Düsseldorf (AIWCD), an organization that creates an English-language speaking community for expats in the NRW. An expat and trailing spouse herself, Jawahara shares insights from her own life-journey on how to find a sense of belonging and how to create a support network and community.

(00:22:40) Deep Dive: In the Deep Dive, Frauke & Marie-Christine further discuss the positive impact of belonging and explore how to develop a sense of belonging based on their own international experience. Stepping into the unknown is hard but the good news is that there are steps everyone can take to increase a sense of belonging: make an effort, put yourself out there, seek out activities and groups of people with whom you have common interests and engage with others. Above all, be patient, it might take time to connect to others, and always remain open to new ways of thinking.

Our interview Guest: Jawahara was born and brought up in a small town in India and moved to the U.S., to Lexington, Kentucky at the age of 20. She went to the University of Kentucky and after teaching Intercultural Communication at College Level she worked in book publishing. Jawahara has always been a storyteller, starting out with short-stories and non-fiction articles before progressing to book-length works. Her first novel was The Burden of Foreknowledge published by Roli Press. She also wrote some shorter articles and stories for book anthologies and literary journals. Her novel, Where the Rivers Meet (Tara Press) will be published in late-2023, as will the non-fiction book, We Are…Warrior Queens (Scarsdale Publishing). Nostalgic for the oral storytelling traditions of her childhood, Jawahara launched Kissa: A Story Podcast, in 2022.

References: The American International Women’s Club of Düsseldorf, Germany https://www.aiwcduesseldorf.org/

Kissa: A Story Podcast, Jawahara Saidullah https://open.spotify.com/show/441YPA9Bn0thOUxzOgGRW3

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