SASIC Series, The Rest of the Story, Episode 2: Two Case Managers, Hadi and Zarmina

Send us Fan MailBefore they spent their days helping Afghan newcomers navigate insurance forms and bus routes and appointment texts, Hadi and Zarmina were newcomers themselves — lost in the same city they now guide others through.The SASIC program deliberately hired case managers who were themselves Afghan, and this episode is about why that choice was both its greatest strength and its hardest problem. Hadi, from Herat, couldn't figure out how to cross the street his first week in America. Zarmina, a dentist from Kandahar with a public-health degree, arrived alone, eager to find a job to support her parents in Afghanistan. Both had lived the exact disorientation their clients now face — and both had to earn trust in a community that, at first, didn't want an Afghan case manager at all.Interlacing their two interviews, this episode explores the surprising diversity of Afghanistan — the many languages, ethnicities, and "different versions" of a single country — and the humility it takes for to learn your own people. Hadi and Zarmina describe the day-to-day of the work: the morning flood of phone calls, the mismatched expectations, and mental-health support quietly folded into sewing circles and soccer games, because you can't put the words on the flyer. And they reflect on what the job gives back — why, in their experience, a short-term service so often becomes a long-term friendship.SASIC was funded by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and delivered by the International Rescue Committee in partnership with HealthPoint and Harborview Medical Center.Thank you to Zarmina Sidiq and Hadi Ebrahimi for their generosity in sharing their insights with us.Thank you to Safa Aynoor, medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine, for editing assistance.Hosted and produced by Dr. Duncan Reid.Visit EthnoMed.org for additional resources. Follow us on YouTube and Instagram @EthnoMedUW