Echo Of The Unheard: The Podcast

In this episode, host Senada Sokollu speaks with Palestinian peace activist and author Aziz Abu Sarah. Raised in East Jerusalem as the youngest of seven children in a religious Muslim family, Aziz’s life was shaped early on by the realities of conflict. At just ten years old, he lost his brother after he was tortured in Israeli detention—an experience that left him with deep anger, grief, and a de...

In this episode, host Senada Sokollu sits down with Jihan Alomar, a 21-year-old Yazidi activist and survivor of ISIS captivity. Jihan shares her harrowing experiences of being kidnapped and held by ISIS for 10 months along with her family, their miraculous escape to Germany, and how she has transformed her suffering into powerful activism. Now a prominent voice in the fight for Yazidi justice, Jih...

In this episode, host Senada Sokollu sits down with Serkan Yildirim — the first victim to survive the far-right terrorist group NSU. At just 18 years old, a bomb disguised as a flashlight exploded in his hands inside a Nuremberg bar. For years, he wasn’t recognized as a victim of terror — but treated with suspicion, left to fight for truth and dignity on his own. Today, Serkan speaks under his rea...

In this moving episode, Senada speaks with Maoz Inon — Israeli peace activist and entrepreneur whose parents were killed by Hamas in the October 7 terror attacks. Instead of choosing hatred, Maoz answered with something far more radical: a commitment to peace. Since then, he has met with Pope Francis, spoken on TED, and traveled across the world to share a bold vision: that peace is not naive — it...

In this emotionally charged episode of Echo of the Unheard,host Senada Sokollu speaks with Kamil Safin, a queer and Muslim individual who courageously left Russia to live in Germany. Kamil shares his survival tactics growing up in a hostile environment, the struggles with internalizedhomophobia, and the cultural complexities of balancing multiple identities. Active with Munich Kyiv Queer, Kamil di...

In this powerful episode, host Senada Sokollu sits down with award-winning filmmaker and activist Waad Al-Kateab for an intimate conversation about war, home, identity—and the dreams that refuse to die. Waad opens up about her emotional return to Syria after eight years living in the UK, the legacy of her Oscar-nominated documentary For Sama , and the message behind the Arabic words embroidered on...

In this episode, I sit down with Irvin Mujčić—a survivor of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide—who has transformed unimaginable trauma into a mission of healing, reconciliation, and renewal. Forced to flee Bosnia as a child, Irvin returned decades later to the very land that once symbolized loss and built something extraordinary: an eco-village and peace project called Srebrenica: City of Hope . You’ll...

Today on the podcast, I am joined by Reid Maki, the Child Labor Advocacy at the Child Labor Coalition in Washington, DC. As child and teen labor violations in the US reach alarming levels, Reid draws on his decades of experience fighting against child labor. He offers valuable insights into recent legal changes, the current state of child labor in the US, and the ongoing efforts to address this cr...

In this episode, I am delving into the complex and fragile state of Bosnia and Herzegovina almost 30 years after the Bosnian War. I am joined by Jasmin Mujanović, an American-Canadian political scientist and author who brings both personal experience and deep expertise on the Balkans. Jasmin fled the Bosnian war in 1992 and eventually made it to the US. He wrote two books and together we explore t...

Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Father Firas Lutfi, a Franciscan priest based in Damascus. We delve into the changing landscape of post-Assad Syria, a nation scarred by 14 years of war and now under the rule of a new and controversial leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa. What does this mean for Syria’s shrinking Christian population? Father Lutfi offers powerful reflections on faith, fear, and the uncerta...