Rama Yigit, of Rama’s Bread, on baking, village life & shepherding in Kurdistan, seeking asylum & the bittersweet freedom of not being able to go home again

Rama Yigit is a baker of Kurdish bread and baklava. He’s a circus performer and a paralegal who helps fellow asylum seekers document their stories. He also is a shepherd and farmer from Kurdistan, a region in eastern Turkey that is not recognized by Turkey.

Rama is most of a decade into the process to gain U.S. citizenship as an asylum seeker. He talks with Adam Williams about the how and why of that, what his fears are and how he feels about not being able to return home to see his village or family, who he’s not seen in many years. They talk about life in that village where Rama grew up.

Rama and Adam talk about what it means to be Kurdish in Turkey, where the mere existence of Kurds is an inciting incident for many Turks, and certainly for the government. The Kurdish language and culture are effectively illegal and socially intolerable.

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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is supported by Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health. You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the podcast at wearechaffeepod.com and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.

We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.

Credits

Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; and Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator.