The Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of caregiving work — and the ways that this work is overlooked, under-resourced, or placed as a burden on families without a sense of fairness or compassion. In this episode we’re sharing two stories that show people taking on the role of caregiver, and asking: Who gets to be healthy in a world that leaves so many people with family as their only lifeline?

“My Heartbeats”: When Indian American filmmaker Tanmaya Shekhar moved his life from Kanpur to New York City, he was running away from family and dreaming of standing on his own two feet. But when the first wave of Covid in India put both of his parents in the hospital, he found himself in a race against time to reunite with them — and then a slow process of rethinking his life’s path, as an immigrant and as a son.

“Delma and Delvin”: Guest contributor Angela Edward shares a day in the life of her aunt Delma, a middle-aged Micronesian mom whose full time job is taking care of Delvin — her 30-year old son who has always lived with cerebral palsy. After being hospitalized for Covid, Delma invites Angela over to spend time with Delvin and share how it feels to be senselessly locked out of the American healthcare system.

Resources, Reading, Viewing, and Listening

• Take our listener survey!
• LISTEN: For Micronesians by Micronesians podcast
• READ: “How Decades of Advocacy Helped Restore Medicaid Access to Micronesian Migrants” and “Hirono Seeks to Restore federal Benefits for Pacific Islanders from COFA Nations,” by Anita Hofschneider for Honolulu Civil Beat
• READ: “A Historical and Contemporary Review of the Contextualization and Social Determinants of Health of Micronesian Migrants in the United States” by Davis Rehuher, Earl S. Hishinuma, Deborah A. Goebert,and Neal A. Palafox for the Hawai’i Journal of Health & Social Welfare
• READ: The Husk, a newsletter covering Micronesian people and happenings
• WATCH: “Reflections at 29,” a documentary short by Tanmaya Shekhar about the costs and regret of living as an immigrant filmmaker in the U.S.
• SUPPORT: Donate to the Hemkunt Foundation, which has been helping Indians survive, recover from, and weather the impact of Covid-19

Credits

• Produced by James Boo, Emily Cardinali, and Angela Edward
• Edited by Julia Shu
• Fact checked by Tiffany Bui and Harsha Nahata
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love
• Our Executive Producer is Ken Ikeda

About

Self Evident is a Studio to Be production. Our show is made with support from PRX and the Google Podcasts creator program — and our listener community.