The LahPai family’s arrival to Virginia from Myanmar was highly anticipated: the local resettlement agency prepped their home; the local religious community was ready to provide support; the family’s U.S connection lived just minutes down the street. Even with these support systems, resettlement was (and still is) not a straightforward, clean-cut process.

Why is that? In this debut episode from Resettled — a series by Virginia Public Media about the real experiences of refugees after they arrive to the U.S. — you'll meet the people helping the LahPais during their early days of resettlement... and explore some of the unexpected difficulties that arise when moving to a new country, a new culture and a new life.

Episode Credits:

• Resettled is a production of VPM
• Produced by Gilda di Carli and edited by Kelly Jones, with oversight from Angela Massino and Nate Tobey
• Hosted by Ahmed Badr
• Production management by Gavin Wright
• Steve Humble is VPM’s Chief Content Officer
• Music for this episode by Sandhill and Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks from VPM:

• Thanks to Catherine Komp, Zar Wahidi, Yasmine Jumaa and interns Safiya Ahmed and Helen Zein Eddine, along with the folks at NPR’s Story Lab for helping kickstart the podcast.
• Thanks to Leslie Bretz, Louise Keeton and Michael Hayes for web and digital support.

More photos and stories available at vpm.org/resettled.