Written By: Jayme Face
Hanna Jaff Bosdet is dedicated to helping others through speaking out about discrimination and starting her own organization, The Jaff Foundation for Education. We learned more about her efforts and her show Made in Mexico on Netflix!
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your show Made in Mexico?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: Yeah, the show is about nine people. Not all Mexican, three of us were born in the states and one is married to a Mexican. So, it is about 9 people living in Mexico and all our own problems in our own circumstances, our families; there’s a little bit about everything. There’s drama, there is love, there is friendships, there’s a lot of things going on, but the thing I like most about the show is you can see another side of Mexico which I had never seen on TV. I had always seen the worst parts of Mexico on and we are showing our capital and some of the parts that have never been seen before on Netflix. That’s one of the things I like about the show.
upfrontNY: How can viewers from different countries and backgrounds relate to the show?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: I think a lot of other countries can relate to us. Us Mexicans, we’re very warm, family-oriented people; we’re hard workers. I think since I have spent time in the Middle East, a lot of people from the Middle East can relate. I think Europeans and Americans will watch and want to know more about us and want to visit us. I have heard so many comments from European and American friends saying “Oh wow I never really knew it was that beautiful!” They’re already booking their trip down here. So, I think people can relate in a lot of ways, all nine of us are so different.
upfrontNY: Your upbringing and your parents’ backgrounds have inspired you to go in the direction that you did; can you tell us more about that?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: Yes. So, my parents met in Los Angeles at University. They’ve been married for 36 years and I’ve always grown up in interfaith and everything bicultural, binational, bilingual. When I was growing up it was confusing for a young girl, you never really knew to say where you’re from when you’re asked. A lot of people can relate out there, when they have parents from different ethnicities and religions and cultures. For me, my parents are humanitarians and my mom was always about helping immigrants and my dad was always close to helping refugees. He always took me to the Middle East and I got to see up close the aftermath of war. That is what really pushed me to become a humanitarian and start my own NGO (Non-Governmental Organization). Learning different faiths, different languages and different ways of life was the thing that gave me an open heart and mentality. When I would meet someone that wasn’t I had to defend myself or defend that race or religion. Especially growing up in the U.S. where I was in high school when 9/11 happened or when you hear something about Mexicans or hear something about Middle Easterners it was always like I had to stand up for them or explain. It was constantly having to justify myself. That sort of frustration and visiting and hearing these stories made me want to be a voice for them, start a non-discrimination campaign, and be a conference speaker about it. I think the way to eliminate hate and eliminate racism is awareness. That is one of the things I decided to do thanks to my parents.
upfrontNY: In our current political climate have you seen any changes and how can we all come together?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: Thanks to my conferences I do all topics, bullying religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender, disabilities any sort of discrimination out there, I have probably talked about it. There’s always people in the audience afterwards that write to me saying “Thanks to your conference I read more about it and now I have more of a sensitive empathy towards it because I had no idea this was going on or I wasn’t so sensitive to other people’s feelings.” A lot of people don’t know what an immigrant or a refugee goes through. So, sometimes you can’t really blame someone for being against it or not being helpful towards it because they just don’t know or they haven’t seen enough. It’s from the other side of the world or they don’t have a relative close enough or they don’t have a friendship close enough. I have seen that it has helped. For instance, my NGO I started by myself. One person, one cause, one idea. I have 7,000 active volunteers. Many of those active volunteers told me if they never found my NGO on social media or if they hadn’t heard me speak at a university they would have never joined an NGO. I am a witness that if you truly believe in something and work for it you can accomplish it because for my NGO no one gave it to me or paid for it. I was literally one person knocking on every door just to make it happen. I have had positive feedback.
upfrontNY: You created the Jaff Foundation for Education that teaches English to immigrants and refugees, what made you want to teach English in particular?
Hana Jaff Bosdet: At first, I just wanted to help immigrants and refugees in general, but I’ve always been such a big activist towards education. So, for me my dream was always to work in politics. How I got there was because of my education and how I could communicate with other people. When that opportunity came, I got the job because of my education. When I got close to immigrants and refugees, they told me their stories on how they were figuring out how to live somewhere that wasn’t their home country. Most of the countries they were moving to were English speaking countries. A lot of the stories that I heard from those that had to go back or were deported said that one of their biggest difficulties was communication. The reason why they didn’t get jobs or the reason they couldn’t get around was because they couldn’t speak to other people or something so basic as ordering food. Refugees have a lot of waiting time around them because they are either waiting to be moved or sent back home or there is a lot of waiting around at refugee camps or immigrant homes. So, I said you know if I could give them a book so they could study in their spare time I think that would be better than me giving them food for the day or a blanket which is also very helpful and I wish I could do both, but I just said you know what I’m going to write my own English learning book. I know how to learn English I’m not going to pay another company for language books to give it to them. I’ll just do it myself. So, in my spare time I would write the book for Spanish speakers. Today we’ve given 60,000 of our books.
upfrontNY: Why not just use books already created?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: I didn’t want to get those fancy expensive books or programs. You go online for any of those companies that teach you a language in a month, it’s all very expensive. So, I just did it myself. I speak Spanish. I mean my book is very basic; it is not something that will have you speaking fluently, but it will allow you to speak a basic English for communicating and getting around.
upfrontNY: Now you have your own foundation and are heavily involved in others with many accolades, what advice do you give those who want to give back, but don’t know where to start?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: I think that whatever their passion is, for me it was immigrants and refugees because when I think of immigrants and refugees I think my mom and dad. There is a story behind it. For someone else it could be personal. It could be health, bullying, racism or gender, whatever your cause or passion might be for helping others there is always an NGO nearby. There’s so many in Mexico; there’s 33,000 NGOs registered. I can’t imagine how many there are in the U.S. I know everyone is busy, but whether you’re a nurse, lawyer, social worker, whatever you might be, everyone should be nurse/philanthropist or social worker/philanthropist, blank/philanthropist. I think everyone can give back. I’m so used to it is because my dad, being Muslim, one of the five pillars of Islam is to give a percentage of your income back. That’s one of the things I grew up with. I recommend that whatever your passion is just reach out to any NGO. There’s always NGO’s looking for volunteers.
upfrontNY: What is something you have learned from working with those in your foundation?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: Every day, I learn something different. The most beautiful thing in a foundation is the team, the family, the chosen family that you make. There are so many people that come from the north and the south of the country and different parts of the world that have joined my foundation. They have told me their stories and over the last five years we’ve become close friends thanks to the cause we have in common. Every foundation is beautiful because it helps others, but I think one of the best things about having a foundation is the team behind it because we are all in and we’re all working for free. There is not one person in my foundation that gets a salary. Everything I have learned in my foundation has been from the volunteers.
upfrontNY: When you are not helping the world, what do you like to do to just unwind?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: I write. I have a diary. I write prose. I really like to spend time with my family. I like reading. I like reading biographies on women, on women leaders of the past. I hang out with friends. I love writing and I’ve had a diary since 2004 that I write in every day.
upfrontNY: Could we see more books from you?
Hanna Jaff Bordet: We have it translated for Kurdish speakers as well as Purépecha. I wish to have it in other languages as well.
upfrontNY: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Hanna Jaff Bosdet: I invite everyone to visit weareonecampaign.com.
If you buy an item, we donate an item to an immigrant or refugee. It’s a world peace movement. It’s a clothing line I launched a year ago. I try to get all my causes on the website. It has everything and it’s all about tolerance and respect. It’s a clothing line with a cause. Hopefully people can read about it. The point of the whole movement is we can agree to disagree, but there is always respect. It’s fine to have your own beliefs, but don’t hurt others. Also, if they want to download my English book they can go on the Jaff foundation website.
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