Podcast: Listen by Heart Podcast

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In everything, once you have set your heart on a purpose, intentions will flow downstream through tributaries into the big blue sea. In this case, the South China Sea.

Let’s begin with intentions.

My family and I were emotionally hurtled down a cliff and we buckled in to the carebear carer seat when dear mum Shirl received news in 2013 about a brain tumour. Her diagnosis caught us surprised from a routine visit to the ophthalmologist for a eye-check and instead of a cataract operation we had prepared for, she had to be checked in for a (second) non-malignant brain tumour the size of a Babolat. We soon learnt that with any dreaded non-communicable disease, life and lifestyle had to change not just for Shirl, but for all of us.

Now my father has always been the healthy one in the house; advising us all on nutrition, what to eat and what not to. He looks great for an 80-year young chap and besides, he also cares for his 102 year old mum! Thanks to his ongoing interest in health and longevity applied, we’re now six years in on Shirl’s long road to recovery.

In the earlier post-op years from 2014-2016, Shirl’s diabetes mellitus (insulin resistance) advanced her dementia (inability for brain to absorb glucose) and chronic kidney disease (20+ years of ingesting Metformins to control blood sugar levels, BSLs). She was dependent on a cocktail of pills red, blue, white and orange as the surgeons had to have her pituitary deftly removed, it was a craniopharyngioma. I became obsessed or shall I say passionate about health and wellness. It was one after another just like that river. Grandpa Winston once told me, Jasmine, life is like a waterfall… water flows down. He refused to let me pay for lunch when all I had wanted was to give him a treat. He was such a sweet man to me and was unlike the man mum remembers as a very strict dad with a hot temper. Coming from a close-knit family, things somehow magically fell into place so that each of us would be able to undertake the challenge of nursing mum back to health, even though we were informed by her surgeons of personality change, memory loss and cognitive decline. What was important was to not give up on her.

So when we found ourselves stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, I had an idea to bring Shirl along to the podcast studio and include her in my recordings. Why not just record conversations with her, I thought. So I started recording our little conversations in bed, she’d tell me stories, respond to all of my questions as if she was starring on a show already, and in the doing, I realised how important and necessary it was to document and archive voices of other women so their stories could be shared as well, bringing together herstory.

At that time, I was keenly researching the South China Sea kerfuffle, the cold war and the intriguing reports coming out of this area. I zoomed into Google Maps to study the area and found lots of very interesting images of activity in the South China Sea.

I thought about the women before me. The ones who sought passage across the seas, leaving a war-torn country, or poverty and despair in search of a better land for their children. I was drawn into the idea of liminality of that passage, that moment in time and the idea grew and became magnetic. I could not stop thinking about my great grandmother, did she travel alone, with children or with her siblings? What thoughts did she think? How did she feel? Who did she leave behind? Who was she travelling to meet? It must have been terrifying for anyone male or female, traversing the ocean to lands unknown. Surely it must have been terribly exciting at the same time!

When intentions flow far

I’m on a mission to document 99 voices of women with heritage from countries that surround the South China Sea, the Nanyang – may their stories flow like water down an imaginary waterfall that perpetuates peace, prosperity and purpose. If you are such a woman with a tale to share, I would love to hear from you. Reach me via email.

[podcast] Listen by Heart out now

About

Our purpose: Listen by Heart Podcast is an audio project that sets out to record and archive stories from women of the South China Sea, an area of much interest lately. As we document and record all of these stories, we will also be digitising and creating an online presence for women of Southeast Asian heritage and honouring the women who came before them.

Our Mission: Listen By Heart Podcast aims to serve as the Sentinels of the South China Sea, keeping our region at peace.

Support the podcast: We’re an independently funded podcast. Encourage us on, find out how you can support the production.

Subscribe to Listen by Heart podcast on your preferred platform:

#listenbyheart

Production Credits

An open-source project created, narrated and produced by Jasmine H. Low (jasminelow.com).
An AsiaFitnessToday.com Podcast Production.
Supported by GoInternationalGroup.com.
Website by WebPROjx.com.

#ListenbyHeart | https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com

Would you have a tale to share or know somebody who does? Do you identify as a woman with heritage from the nations encircling the South China Sea? Wherever you are in the world, we’d love to hear from you…

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