GOAL NextGen X-Change podcast season two launches. This season sees a new host, TV presenter Katja Mia speak to activists and creatives on their perspectives of home. Last year, the GOAL NextGen podcast launched and shared some amazing conversations from our GOAL NextGen events from Earth Rising to the creative collaboration, Spark. This year, the podcast takes on the theme of belonging. The podcast explores the culture of different people’s homeland in order to celebrate our shared values and also what makes us unique.
Katja, an Irish immigrant whose parents brought her to Ireland from war-torn Burundi when she was a baby, has a unique understanding of what it’s like to share more than one cultural heritage and the challenges and beauty that come with that. Katja will bring her unique perspective of home to these discussions - the home culture her parents brought her up with and the home culture of Ireland that she has grown up in. She will uncover the food, music, poetry, stories, traditions and challenges that are synonymous with what home means to podcast guests.
This season sees Katja speak to activists, campaigners and creatives from around the globe to share their perspective on home. Season Two guests include:
- Palestinian, Dublin-based artist, Tuqa Al-Sarraj. A graduate of the National College of Art and Design (Ireland) and the International Academy of Art Palestine (IAAP). Tuqa’s practice combines mixed-media, found objects, collage, photography, video, performance and installation, navigating themes of memory, loss, and exile through social dialogues and personal conversations.
- Nhial Deng is a South Sudanese/Ethiopian refugee, writer, youth advocate, community activist, and organiser. His journey from a refugee camp in Kenya to international platforms advocating for education and peace is a testament to his resilience and dedication. The UN has recognised Deng’s work helping other refugees. He was invited to speak at the UN general assembly in New York, he’s also been featured in global news from CNN to Al Jazeera.
- Social Activist and Environmentalist, Angel Arutura from Belfast, Northern Ireland and of Zimbabwean descent. Angel is a multifaceted creative at the intersection of activism, education, music, and wellness, renowned for her impactful work as a speaker, content creator, and advocate for racial equity and climate justice.
The theme of home was inspired by GOAL NextGen commissioned quantitative research*, exploring how people across Ireland feel about the subject of belonging. In the Republic of Ireland, citizens identified:
- The World Feels Increasingly Polarized: 67% agree that the world feels ‘more polarized than ever before.’
- A Need for Greater Acceptance: Nearly half, 45%, disagree that Ireland ‘accepts everyone for who they are’, highlighting the need for generating cultures of belonging.
- A Belonging Age Gap: Older adults are more likely to say they feel like they belong, with 37% of those aged 35+ agreeing with the statement they feel like they belong. For those aged 18-34, this falls to 27% - over two thirds of this cohort don’t feel like they belong.
- What is Belonging to Irish people? The words used most commonly when asked about belonging were: community, family, friends, home, accepted, music, sports and local.
Host of the podcast, presenter Katja Mia has this to say on its launch “It was a great honour to be part of the GOAL NextGen podcast series and navigating really honest conversations. As someone who comes from a fusion of cultures, the theme of belonging and identity is one I’m passionate about and I believe listeners will feel the same.”
Podcast guest Tuqa Al-Sarraj said this about her conversation with Katja “The GOAL NextGen podcast explores aspects of home and belonging, it creates a space for sharing the unique stories and cultural threads that connect us. I was especially glad of the opportunity, as a Palestinian voice, to discuss the concept of belonging through my favourite films, literature and artists. These cultural observations enabled us to dive deeper into the personal and global meanings of home, cultivating empathy and understanding across borders.”
Speaking about the launch of the podcast, Victoria Walshe, GOAL Global Citizenship Manager, had this to say: “We want to tackle challenges of loneliness and social polarisation by creating an opportunity for people to share what home means to them, so we can see the ways in which we can all relate to each other and celebrate the different ways we experience the feeling of home. We all yearn to belong and help others to feel like they belong too. The theme feels more crucial than ever before. As a Humanitarian and Development Agency, GOAL encounters daily the challenges facing the global community. It is not possible for any one country, community, or sector to end poverty, fight inequality, tackle climate change and provide sustainable livelihoods. We must collaborate united in our ambition to improve our world, our collective home, together.”
Subscribe to the GOAL NextGen X-Change podcast and listen to season two today on Spotify, Apple or anywhere you get your podcasts.
GOAL NextGen X-Change drives global citizenship by bringing cross-cultural creative collaborations to life. The aim of X-Change is to harness the power of creativity to deepen the understanding of global justice issues, connecting the voices of young people around the world. Discover more about GOAL’s NextGen Youth Programme’s mission here: www.GOALglobal.org/youth/ or follow @GOALNextGen on Instagram for news.
