Sarah Arachchi · 63 min
A Sri Lankan-born paediatrician and memoirist unpacks a lifetime of being othered, by schoolyard taunts, the relentless 'where are you really from?' and a medical system that keeps mistaking her for the nurse, and shows how embracing a 'cross-cultural kid' identity transformed exclusion into empowerment.
Hear this story
Sarah Arachchi grew up in Sri Lanka until age four, surrounded by family, temples, and the warmth she carried with her when her parents moved to Australia to escape civil unrest. What she didn't carry was a thick skin for what came next. At primary school in the 1990s, she was one of only three or four brown children in the entire school. Other kids excluded her from games because of her skin colour, called her names, and made sure she knew she didn't belong. She learned to speak back, to assert herself, but she never told a teacher or her parents. She kept it to herself and got on with the business of fitting in.
Decades later, Sarah is a paediatrician and author. She speaks like an Australian, thinks like an Australian, and holds an Australian passport. Yet strangers still ask her where she is really from, a question that stings because it implies she doesn't belong even now. As a doctor, she is mistaken for a nurse. As a woman, she watched colleagues move ahead while she turned down a job because she was pregnant and didn't want to burden the hospital. The sexism was quieter than the racism of her childhood, but no less real.
Writing her memoir gave Sarah something her schoolyard taunts never did: a voice. Not the thick accent she developed to blend in, but her authentic voice. Through that act of claiming her story, she learned to call people out on injustice, to advocate for herself and others, and to embrace what she calls her cross-cultural identity. She is not fully one thing or the other. She is both, and that is her strength.
“There were times where like I would break down in tears because I remembered a patient that had a huge impact on me.”
“just feeling like I belonged was something that I never questioned when I was in Sri Lanka.”
“calling me things like chocolate and oh, you're not allowed to play with us because you're brown.”
The hero, today
Sarah learned as a child that to keep memories of people she loved in Sri Lanka, she had to keep thinking about them, and that deliberate remembering was a way not to erase the past. The question 'where are you really from' stings because it implies you do not belong, and people asking it rarely volunteer information about themselves in return, creating an unequal relationship. Being a mother while training as a doctor was challenging, but Sarah says it made her a better paediatrician because she became more empathetic and understanding toward her patients and their families. Sarah describes herself as a cross-cultural kid and sees her Sri Lankan and Australian backgrounds as something to blend intentionally, not as an either-or choice. Writing her memoir gave Sarah the confidence to claim her authentic voice and taught her how to raise issues of injustice when they affect her, her family, or others like her.
Yes. Sarah Arachchi is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Sarah learned as a child that to keep memories of people she loved in Sri Lanka, she had to keep thinking about them, and that deliberate remembering was a way not to erase the past.
The question 'where are you really from' stings because it implies you do not belong, and people asking it rarely volunteer information about themselves in return, creating an unequal relationship.
Being a mother while training as a doctor was challenging, but Sarah says it made her a better paediatrician because she became more empathetic and understanding toward her patients and their families.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 00:17
Hello and welcome to From There to Here, the podcast where we talk about belonging, what it means to live in between cultures and everything that comes with it. I'm your host, Emma Bellamy, and my guest today is Sarah Arachi. Sarah is a pediatrician, diversity advocate, and the brilliant author behind the memoir Brown Female Doctor. She's spent years making a real difference through her work, yet Despite all that she has achieved, her Australian-ness and right to belong continue to be questioned. In this episode, we dive deep into her journey from her childhood in Sri Lanka to being the brown kid at an Australian school and later carving out her place as a doctor in a male-dominated field. We explore Her questions like, "Where are you really from?" shaped her experience of otherness, why asking better questions matters, and the quiet toll of sexism in medicine. All right, let's get into this episode. Sarah Arati, welcome to the podcast From There to Here. I'm really glad to have you with me today.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 01:47
Thank you, Emma. It's lovely to be here today with you as well.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 01:51
So the idea today is to cover your experience as someone who's migrated to Australia as a kid and has fully integrated into society. I mean, you are a doctor and a published author, but despite these efforts to contribute to society in a meaningful way, you are often reminded of your difference. The surname that you carry and the way you look are often enough for people to question where you are really from or whether to trust you as their doctor. In a sense, whether to doubt your legitimacy to occupy certain spaces or professions. And we'll get to the core of it. But before we do that, I'd love if you could transport us into your childhood, you know, to get a sense of who Sarah was as a kid in Sri Lanka? What were her circumstances? What's the blueprint?
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Sarah describes herself as a cross-cultural kid and sees her Sri Lankan and Australian backgrounds as something to blend intentionally, not as an either-or choice.
This conversation includes palm trees and lotus flowers, leaving because of war, the brown kid at school, learning to say something back, where are you really from and ask me what my cultural background is.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 02:51
Yeah, absolutely, Emma. So we moved to Australia when I was 4 years old. So before that time, what I remember is being surrounded, you know, in a country of warmth. I remember the palm trees that, you know, stretch for kilometers in Sri Lanka. The food, the people, my family, lots of warmth and lots of love and just feeling like I belonged. It was something that I never questioned when I was in Sri Lanka. So yeah, they, they're the memories that I carry, eating yogurt with my grandfather and going to the temple. There's a beautiful temple in Kandy, which is where I was born. So I remember going to that temple with my grandparents and my parents and taking offerings of flowers or the lotus flower, which is one of the reasons why in my book there's a picture of a lotus flower. And I remember playing with my elder brother in the garden that we had, the green grass, you know, being warned to watch out for snakes, um, which were not very common, but there was a story where there was a snake that slithered into our bedroom when I was a small baby. So that was something that my mother always recalls with fright.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 04:03
It's quite interesting that you have hold on to memories at such a young age, you know, before 4. Many people don't remember anything about their childhood. I wonder whether you kind of carry those memories with you because it was such a shift to move to Australia, to move to a new world that it contrasted with, you know, this experience in Sri Lanka. Do you think that there is an element of that?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 04:29
I think definitely there is an element of that, Emma, because it was a big change, you know, moving from a country to a new country and then having to adjust, going to a kindergarten in a different country. That also, but I think leaving behind the people that you loved and the people that surrounded you. So the Sri Lankan culture is very much based upon family and community, and so these are the memories that I carried with me when I moved one country to another. And I think part of me also wanted to remember and not forget my relatives. And so I did used to think about them a lot, even after I migrated to Australia. And at a very young age, I realized that in order to remember things, you need to keep thinking about them.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 05:16
It's a way not to erase the past.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 05:19
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 05:21
Yeah. Do you remember when your parents decided to leave Sri Lanka? Were you involved in the conversation?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 05:30
Yeah, I don't think I remember the exact conversations. I remember being told that we were moving to a new country. I remember the war in Sri Lanka and the civil unrest that often you hear some terms being thrown around in the house. And I remember telling my grandmother that I would come back and see her again.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 05:48
Mm. Okay. Do you remember how you felt about it? Whether you were excited or sad? What were the feelings that you had at the time?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 05:57
I think I didn't want to leave because I didn't want to leave my, I was very close to my maternal grandmother specifically. And so I didn't want to leave her behind. And I think there was a part of me that was excited to move to a new country, but I think, you know, 4 years old, you don't really know what to expect. Expect except that you want to sort of be with your immediate family and be with your parents and my older brother. So it was about staying together. And I was told that Australia was a land of, you know, opportunity and a good education. And my parents had returned from the UK, so I had been living with my grandparents for a period of time while they were away in the UK. And so I think part of me didn't want to be left behind.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 06:42
Let's talk about your life in Australia because at some point you have to go to school and I know that this experience was for you painful in many ways because you were seen as the brown kid at school. You describe this like that in your book and there is this sentence that you use that really stood out. You said that it was as if you were turning out to school with a Halloween costume on the wrong day. And so for me, that really painfully expresses how it felt like for you to stand out.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 07:20
Yeah, so when we went to school here, so I went to kindergarten first. I think those particular comments were made more so in when I was in prep. And in my primary school, I was one of the only brown kids in the whole school. Perhaps there was maybe 3 or 4 of us in the whole school. So it's going from prep all the way through to grade 6, and I think people reminded me that I was different. So it was often the other children that reminded me that I was different because I was brown, because I was, you know, dark-skinned. And it was used as a way of excluding me from games and from joining in, and it was just a thing that I had to sort of get used to. But in the 1990s, they— not just in my school, but generally in most of the suburbs, there was not a lot of brown people. And so my experience is probably very different to the experience of children currently because there's been a lot more, you know, waves of migration that have come through to Australia since that time. But certainly it was something that made me stand out from the other children, and it was them that sort of pointed out that difference.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 08:31
How did you experience it at the time? You said that you were excluded from some games, and you know, I feel that During this period, it's such an important thing to feel like you belong, to feel that you are accepted by your peers, and to be rejected because of the way you look, something that you cannot change. Did you get a sense of injustice, or what was it that was the pain point?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 08:54
I mean, it did sting, it did hurt, and I had to just learn to sort of deal with it and move on because otherwise I couldn't make friends. I had friends, but even when I was within my group of friends, even then if we joined some other children, it would still be a thing where that was what I got teased about. Some people would get teased about their name, you know, like Susanna Banana or something like that. But I think, you know, I mean, it's not nice to tease any child about anything, but this was always the sticking point for me at that point. And it was something I can't change the color of my skin. I didn't want to change the color of my skin. And, you know, calling me things like chocolate and, oh, you're not allowed to play with us because you're brown, something like that. And so I would say something back. I had to learn to say something back and assert myself in order to become stronger and I guess sort of stand up to the, the other children. And I never told the teacher. I never told the teacher. I never told on the kids that were teasing me. At the time, I think I didn't think it was important. I thought it was part of growing up, part of being a child. And I don't even remember if I told my parents about these kinds of taunts in the playground. Wow.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 10:08
So that must have been very isolating because you were basically living it, but not sharing it with any adults that could have protected you from it or been there for you.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 10:20
Yeah. And I'm not sure if because I, I don't remember if I did. It's possible that I might have, and perhaps it was dismissed, but I don't remember having, you know, any major discussions with anyone about it. And back then, it wasn't like something that people talked about. It wasn't something that people would say that, you know, this shouldn't happen, or it wasn't something that I was ever really aware of. I just assumed that I'm brown, you know, this person's got red hair, so they're getting teased because of their red hair. I'm getting teased because I'm brown. And it was just something I had to learn to deal with.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 10:57
And so one of the consequences of that is that you've done a lot of efforts to blend in. You know, you describe in your book that you really worked on developing a thick Australian accent, and that was perhaps a way, you know, to overcompensate, to be like, yeah, you know, like I'm a True Aussie, but even though you are speaking like an Aussie, people kept asking questions and even to this day, they continue to ask you the question, where are you from? How do you experience this?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 11:29
Yeah, so I get asked that question. It might be related to where is your surname from? And I think, look, I feel like there's an element of, it depends on who's asking the question and where it's getting asked and in what context it's getting asked, and in some scenarios it might be to have conversation, to try and get to know you a little bit more. But I think if there's an unequal relationship between the person asking the question and the person answering the question, where they're not giving information about themselves in that question as well, then it's a little bit different. Or if it's asked to sort of minimize who you are or put you in a box or say, where are you really from? Kind of question that's not relevant. So I think it is often a conversation starter for some people. In the context of working as a doctor, it's not really relevant to know where I was brought up. I mean, I was brought up in Australia and all of my education from kindergarten was in Australia, so it doesn't matter what my background is really. It's not relevant to practicing medicine and the information that I share with my patients. So it's not something that's relevant. And where I've been asked the question, sometimes not in a clinical setting, but often in a social setting by somebody who hasn't volunteered that information to me. For example, we were overseas in, uh, I think it was in Bali. We were having dinner, myself and my husband having dinner. And there was another couple that was sitting across the table from us, and they just kind of said, oh, where are you guys from? I said, oh, we're from Australia. And they said, oh, we're from Australia too. And then I said, oh, we're from— and then we're from Melbourne, what about you? And they said they were from Adelaide. And then they said, oh, okay, but where are you really from? I mean, that's not relevant in that scenario. I've just established that I'm from Melbourne, you're from Adelaide. We can make jokes about the cities. You know, so that's the kind of scenario where it's like, how is this information relevant to you?
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 13:32
Yeah, and it really feels like an interrogation. It doesn't serve any purpose other than putting you in a box, as you said. Perhaps let's dive into it a bit more because I'm sure that there are many, many people who think, oh, no big deal, it's just curiosity, and they don't really realize the impact that it can have, you know, like the the harm that it can have on the long term. And also it's not just one question, it's also a question that you've been asked so many times and that adds as well to the annoyance of it. So to make those people who ask this question out of curiosity understand, why do you think that they should not ask the question? Like, so there is a lack of relevance, but is there any other thing that can kind of convince them to stop doing it?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 14:23
I'm wondering, you know, I feel like people need to have a lot more understanding and acceptance of people from different cultures and backgrounds to begin with. And unless it's any piece of information that somebody shares with you, by the way, I'm from here, where are you from? And that's happened to me where, you know, someone who is of, say, like Indian background, for example, like, oh, I'm Indian, like originally from India. What about you? I think for me that's different because we're trying to— perhaps they've volunteered information already about their background and they're just asking me, and it might be, oh, I visited Sri Lanka when I was, you know, something like that. It might be a bit different. I think, as I said before, it depends on the context, the person, the power differential perhaps involved, and how it's somewhat relevant to the conversation that you're having. If you've never met this person before, it's not some conversation that you want to have, and people may carry certain traumas from wherever they came from. They may have moved from the country because of war. They may have lost relatives. They may have lost family, and it may not be something that they want to talk about. And so I think that respect is lost for the person when you're asking that question. It may be lost, not understanding that someone doesn't necessarily have to give you that kind of information about them unless they want to share it with you.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 15:44
Hmm, okay, so the two things here, it's one, the fact that it is a question that is very intimate and requires you to disclose some very personal elements of your story. So if you don't know that person, is it really appropriate to request that level of intimacy? And there is the lack of reciprocity. You know, like if you are not ready to disclose anything about yourself but you are requesting it from the other person, that also creates a power imbalance in a way, right? Where you hold all the information. And the interesting thing is that they don't even think of reciprocating the personal element of it because they think they belong to what the norm is.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 16:34
The problem, I think, is with the question itself. So if you want to ask the question differently, so instead of where are you from, which to me implies that you may not belong, versus what's your cultural background? That's a direct question. You ask the direct question, that's fine. I'll answer it. Hmm.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 16:55
So you prefer the question, what's your cultural background? You find it less offensive?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 17:00
Well, it's because it's more direct. It's getting to the point. Point.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 17:03
Okay.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 17:04
I feel like if that's what you want to know, you ask that question, what's your cultural background? I think I don't like the word from, partly because for me, people have said, go back to where you're from, those kinds of things, you know, later on. And if we're going to the technicality of the word itself, the word from, why are you asking from? Like, what do you mean by that? It's— if you're asking where someone's from, they'll tell you the location they live Yeah, you know what I mean? They currently live, like I live in Melbourne. I will tell you that I'm from Melbourne. That's the end of the conversation.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 17:37
Yeah, it's the question behind the question that bothers you and the tiptoeing and disingenuity of it, perhaps.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 17:46
Yeah, exactly. So I think if you want to ask the direct question, you ask the direct question and then it will be answered directly. That's my personal take on the issue. And as you said, like, you know, once you've been asked this question hundreds and hundreds of times over your life, it just gets a bit boring to continuously having to answer the same question over and over again. And the fact that they expect you to give them an answer to the question is the most annoying part of that question. So.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 18:15
That's a very interesting point as well, that it's not a very interesting conversation because you are going to say something you've said 100 times. Like a script that you've said over and over. It's not going to add anything new. And most of the time as well, once you basically gave them an answer, I don't even know if it's going to transform into a conversation that is really meaningful. It's going to be satisfying the curiosity of the moment and then we move on.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 18:43
I feel like a lot of Australians ask these questions and, you know, I remember I had a friend that came from America, and we went to dinner and my friend was Indian background, born in America, however, so had an American accent. And she, she came to dinner and the waiter was asking at the end where we were both from. And he said to, he could say, oh, you are Australian to me. Then he turned around and said to her, oh, where are you from? She said, oh, I'm from the States. And then she said the state that she was from. And then the guy was kind of asking further questions. I could tell that she was getting irritated with the questioning to put her in a box, even though she was from America. So I think that's where it gets tricky when you're born in another country anyway, not even born in the place where your parents are born, and then that question gets asked. So for a lot of people who are born in Australia that might have a different cultural background, how do they answer that? Just because because they look different, you know, to what the typical Australian should look like.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 19:45
Yeah. And it's even more annoying when it comes from a country where, because it's a question that is asked by white people most of the time who think that they, you know, Australians from several generations ago who think of themselves as Australian, but their family have migrated at some point and they don't consider themselves as migrant. I think it's even more complicated when they are migrant themselves, but they don't recognize themselves as such. I don't know if you agree with that.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 20:18
To some degree, yes. However, I have been asked this question, not just from someone who is white. I've been asked this question from people from any cultural background. I had a person of Asian background who said to me, you have good English. And they came to see me. As a patient, the parent asked this question and I didn't know what to say. She was giving me a compliment, but it was a bit unnecessary, I thought. But yeah, it could be anyone really that would try and sort of figure out where you're from. It is curiosity, it's human curiosity. They want to know where you're from, perhaps to put you in a box, perhaps to start conversation, and it might not be a conversation the other person wants to have.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 20:57
And have you ever ever tried to be a little bit provocative when you receive that question and say something like, I don't know, and you, where are you from? Let's talk about that first. I don't know, like, have you ever tried to make them understand, oh, I don't really like someone asking me that question so that they realize what they are asking of you?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 21:18
Yeah, maybe once or twice, or like, what about you? I might have asked that back, or sometimes I just can't be bothered. So either I'll say I'm from Melbourne and just sort of try and leave it at that. And if they keep prodding, then I might say I have Sri Lankan background and just sort of leave it, use the word background to say that's my background. And I've said I'm Australian. Interestingly, we moved to America during COVID for my husband's fellowship, and it wasn't until 2020. When I went to another country and people asked me, are you from Australia or Britain? They didn't ask me if I was from any other country. They just asked the two because of the accent. And it was at that point that I was thinking, hey, I'm Australian and there's all these things I missed about Australia. And I identified with being Australian when I moved from the country to another country. But I thought it's really interesting that when you go overseas to another country, they listen to the accent and they try and put you in a place based on your accent.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 22:22
Or the people I interacted with, somehow they made you feel more Australian than the Australians have.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 22:29
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's the thing, there is a preconceived notion of what an Australian should look like. And I mean, my passport says I'm Australian, nationality Australian, that's what it says.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 22:43
I want to talk about your experience as a doctor because racism has, you know, shaped a lot of your experiences in your personal life, but in the professional space it has been more about sexism, right? Tell us about the subtle ways that sexism has shown up in the medical field for you.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 23:06
Look, sometimes things happen to us especially when I was younger as a medical student, without understanding that this is happening to me because I'm a female and because I'm being treated differently because I'm a woman. Um, and so there were instances where, you know, my thoughts or opinions were dismissed because I was a woman. And it was only on reflection and seeing how the male medical students were being treated differently where it made me think, hang on a minute. This shouldn't be happening because we're both, we've done the same degree, we were in the same cohort. Actually, I have better marks than that person, so why am I being treated differently? And it was because I was a, a woman. So that's happened. And then there's been instances where I guess as a female I've been mistaken to be a nurse. And I always say I love my nursing colleagues. They're part of the medical team. They're an integral part of healthcare. And it's not in any way to minimize the nursing staff and their positions, but it's just that just because you look like a woman, why can't you be the pilot? Why are you mistaken as the air hostess, for example? The same thing applies in medicine where many times I've been, I've actually introduced myself as Dr. Sarah Arachi, and then they've said after the conversation, oh yeah, the nurse will come back later. And it's like, hang on, I just told you I was the doctor. And when I speak to my male medical colleagues who are also doctors, they will say that's very rarely ever happened to them, or they'll just go in and say, I'm Tom, without even mentioning the doctor, or I'm Tom the doctor, I'm Tom. That's all it is. And they just assume to be the doctor, they don't have to try as hard. So I think as women, we often have to try harder. We often spend a lot more time overthinking things, perhaps because of how society has previously perceived us. And we have, you know, equal qualities, equal education, which is great. But when you go into the hospitals, it's not necessarily how society sees you. And I use the broad term society because yes, there's been more women in medicine and it's happened gradually over time. The percentages of women have gone up. In medicine, percentages of women in different specialties has also gone up. In certain specialties, there's less women, and that's changing, but there's like almost like a lag on like what a doctor should look like and how people perceive that. And when I speak with my female colleagues, most of my female medical colleagues, they've all had some kind of experience where they've felt that they were treated differently because they were a at some point in their medical career. It's very common.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 25:49
Wow. It must be very difficult to deal with this lack of trust when it comes from your patient. I love this sentence in your book. You say, sometimes patients don't believe us, but they believe Harry. Harry looks like what people think a doctor should. It exactly illustrates what you were talking about, the fact that you face skepticism from your own patients because they don't think that the way you look is how a doctor should look like. And yeah, it's connected to this lack of representation. I know that you say that a lot more women are coming into the space, but at the same time, I think that there is a generation that grew up with a lack of female role models in those professional spheres. Fears. And so there is a collective idea that doesn't really match.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 26:42
Yeah, it's an unconscious bias, and people do it in many different trades as well. So even if you had like a female plumber turn up to your house, people might think, oh, where's the nail? Am I going to be able to do the work that I want you to do? Because you're a woman, you're being treated differently. Again, I think we need to make more spaces and places for women And it starts by changing how we think about women and, and where they should work as well. And look, in my current practice, I'm very lucky that the people who come and see me, particularly as a pediatrician, they know who they're seeing. And it's a little different now to what it was like when I was in my training years, where you were put into different hospitals, different environments, and it was often the comments made by a parent in my case because I deal with kids a lot of the time, parents, and in my very junior years as an intern and an equal student, it was often from the elderly or adult patients as well. So it is that sort of preconceived notion about women and the roles they should carry rather than the roles they can carry.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 27:47
And was being a mother as well an impediment to your career?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 27:52
I think it certainly made it challenging to complete my training time and it definitely makes the juggle of work and, you know, caring for kids is always a challenge, right? Like, because you're doing so many different things at once and it's always tricky, but I think it made me a better doctor. It made me a better pediatrician, much more empathetic and understanding towards my patients. So in all, it's, it's been a positive thing having children. It's certainly something that I've been able to connect better with my, not only my patients, but also with the parents that come and, you know, the families that I look after.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 28:28
Okay, so it's an asset because I'm thinking about, you know, the progression that you can have as well as a woman who's a mother and whether in those spaces they would probably more be inclined to promote a man who, you know, doesn't have to take care of the kids in the same way we expect women to take care of their kids.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 28:47
So I think there's always a time where you take time off So when I was pregnant and then I had maternity leave and then I had to go back to work, that is a tricky time when you have to go back to work and whether you go part-time or full-time and what are the options available and the pressure that puts on you as a parent and as a doctor in terms of sort of trying to do both or trying to do all of it at once and trying to progress in your career. And you look at your male counterparts and they're just continuously going along. And so, yeah. They've finished before you have, even though you started at the same time and they've received their fellowship letters and they've already started practicing, perhaps because you've taken time off to have children, which is your choice, and they've been able to continue getting their, you know, their jobs. And so if you look at the senior leadership positions in many fields, the amount of women at the top are a lot less, and it may be because of all of the other load that we carry and all of the other things that we do. You know, there's a vertical segregation that's present around the world, not just in Australia, around the world it's present. And it's something that has to be continuously worked on. I mean, society has changed. It's very different to 30 years ago, isn't it? So it's going to take time to make those changes and women make workplaces better. And I feel like women spend a lot more time with their patients as well. It's a huge amount of mental health burden, and a lot of the time people prefer a female doctor to help with those issues, from what I've heard from my medical colleagues. And so a lot of women prefer to see women doctors as well. And so that's an asset to the medical profession, having more women in the field.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 30:29
And yet many women feel guilt about pursuing careers like yours. But men don't necessarily have the guilt because they are expected to, you know, have those careers. Did you ever felt that, the, you know, like not the guilt or perhaps the weight of having an incredible career and being a mom at the same time? Was that conciliation difficult? Yeah.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 30:53
So when I was pregnant with my first son, I turned down a position, a job, a job that I wanted to do. I was off of the job. I went to the interview and I was given the job, but because I was pregnant and I didn't want to come back to work after 6 months and I didn't want to leave the hospital in a position of not having someone and they have to find maternity leave cover. So I declined the job. And at that point, the job went to the next candidate who was a male. And I remember I felt jealous, like, oh, how come it's so much easier for you guys? And not for me, and I have to. And look, I don't regret being a mum, very lucky to be a mum, but there was one point in that time where I felt it for a second. I felt jealous of all the men that could just continue in their careers, not take time off. And I was just like, oh, it's so much harder for us to continue to not only work when you're pregnant, but also to have a baby, to go back to work after that, to juggle having children and being a doctor. It's really hard, and I think that women deserve a lot more respect for being able to do all of those things. And it just goes to show the strength of women when you really look at what they're doing with their outside lives and their medical work as well.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 32:11
Yeah, to be doing both successfully is very hard. I remember my grandfather said to me, and I disagree with this because I'm a bit of an idealist, but he said to me, Emma, in life you have to make a choice on whether you want to be successful and, you know, completely focused on your career, or if you want to be a wife and have kids and, you know, succeed at a relational level. And it was a very outdated view of the world, but, you know, there is a kernel of truth in the fact that it's really, really hard to do both very well.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 32:42
It's hard to do both, but I think that unless you try, you know, you won't know. And also, like, for my children, when they see the things that I do, it's good for them because they can see that Mummy can do all of these things. And so they see that I have so many different hats as an author, as a doctor, you know, as a mum as well. And so it's good for our children to see that. And look, yes, it's a bit of a struggle, but I think for me it made me a better mum and a better doctor. And I don't think that I could not have picked this career. And I never thought about not doing medicine because I was a woman. I was certainly told that, you know, medicine's gonna be hard because you are a woman. And I don't think I quite understood how hard it would be until after I went through it myself. But it didn't stop me from pursuing medicine because the passion for doing medicine was much stronger than the worries of what it may look like completing the degree and then becoming a doctor.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 33:43
What is it about medicine that carried your passion? You know, what is it in medicine that you love the most?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 33:51
Yeah, I think it's the human touch, like being a part of changing people's lives and being there for all those very special moments, from like the birth of a baby to caring for people with chronic you know, sort of medical conditions and helping patients or children when they've had medical emergencies. And I think for me, like, it is that human element, right? So giving back to the community and making a difference in people's lives is what really drew me to medicine. And it's a very fascinating career and the people you work with are all very inspiring people. So when I got into medicine, it was like I met my people.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 34:29
Oh, I love that. Something that I've been curious about is the process of writing your memoir, because I find it's such a courageous thing to do, to write about very personal experiences for the public to read. How has this process been for you?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 34:50
It was hard. It was rewarding to some degree as well. And there were certainly elements of um, I guess past trauma that I had to revisit, particularly when I've, you know, had written about family members as well as of patients that I've cared for. And all of the stories about my patients have been changed to maintain confidentiality of those people, and stories have been blended. But the whole process of remembering and writing it all down, it can trigger your own emotions. Because I'm a human being just like everybody else, even though being a doctor is my profession. And so we walk through life with people. Mm-hmm. And when I was, say, 22 years old and I got my medical degree, I'm hoping 21 or 22 by the time I finished, I had experienced a lot of life experience through medicine and witnessed a lot. And so I think to some degree medicine ages you. And I think that I really tried in writing this memoir to show that life experience in my book. And that real sort of appreciation of humanity is, is what I was trying to, to get out there, that we care. There are so many doctors that care about their patients. And for me, that was important because the patients in my stories, they they all changed the doctor that I became in a good way.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 36:19
Did you find it therapeutic to write about those experiences?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 36:24
There were times where, like, I would break down in tears because I remembered a patient that had a huge impact on me. And then reading parts of the book out loud has certainly brought me to tears in different settings where I've been asked to read parts of the book in front of people, and even when I try really hard not to cry, the tears sometimes do fall. And so I think it's very emotive. My writing is very emotive and really sort of touches on heartstrings. And the feedback I've received from other doctors that have read the book is that they can't stop crying. I mean, it's not all sad, but a lot of people have said that there are parts in the book that really resonate with them, and then there are parts that really touch them.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 37:05
Yeah, and I wonder about the contrast because when you are a doctor, I feel that you can't really let yourself feel in the moment because, you know, you have to take decisions, you have to be this trustworthy authority, and you can't just cry, you know, and be completely immersed or overwhelmed by the emotion. So to give yourself space to explore how you felt must have been perhaps sometimes the first opportunity for you to really reflect or to really process the loss.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 37:41
To some degree, yes, Emma, but I think like as doctors, we typically do reflect on patients and clinics and people that we've seen. And it's part of the medical training process where you are encouraged to discuss confidentially, you know, cases. And if there's a difficult case, we often will discuss it amongst clinicians, sort of dissecting that specific case and trying to understand or learn from it. Because as doctors, we constantly learn. When there's been certain traumatic events or situations in a hospital, there's always a debrief as well. Okay. And so that's part of the process because even as health professionals, you can suffer trauma through work. Um, first responders, you know, like a trauma nurse. That's a big thing. Some of the things that you see, you'll never forget. And there were things I didn't include in my book. There are experiences with patients I didn't include in the book as well. So I had to be careful with what I picked and why I chose it and where it was relevant as well. For example, I still remember having to resuscitate a child who had died from drowning, and I will not have a swimming pool in my backyard. This is how sometimes you may be affected by things that you do. As a doctor, what you see, it can affect what you then do as a parent as well. So there's a lot of things that we see, and, um, I think we have to process it at the time because otherwise you're going to end up carrying a lot of this trauma, perhaps. And even though you are there with the patient, often you do experience emotions and you just learn how not to necessarily show it on your face. Perhaps you will show it on your face, like It really depends on the scenario. Like, I know doctors that have cried and held their patients' hands, and I've been in scenarios where I've had tears in my eyes and the patients, the family's seen it because they can see that we're human beings. And being in that scenario, you can't not, because you're a human being, but it doesn't affect the decision-making process. It just shows that you're human. And so we learn, like, there's things that we see all the time, for example, us here, kids that are sick with sort severe asthma exacerbations, for example, and I know what that looks like, but I also know they're going to get better. And so I'm not going to look really worried when they present because I know what I need to do to help them. And then I can, I'll go and check on them, make sure they're getting better. Um, this is in like a, in a hospital scenario. And so I think that, yeah, medicine does teach you to look after yourself as something that's important. Part of looking after other people is looking after yourself. As well.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 40:12
Yeah, and I think it's important to say that because for non-doctors, there is this preconceived idea that perhaps doctors don't feel, but they do feel. And I think it came across in my question, and I probably, you know, as a patient, I felt sometimes, you know, that they didn't suffer to the extent I suffered, you know. And so you make assumptions on the fact that they are not with you emotionally, but I I think it's not true. As you say, you are a human, right? So you do have feelings, but it's just that, yeah, you can't be completely overwhelmed, otherwise it would be unprofessional as well. So, um, Sarah, do you have any word of wisdom for migrants who are, or, you know, people in general who are reminded often of their difference? Perhaps there is something that you've done in your life that you think could help people in their journey?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 41:05
Look, I think for anyone, and I, and you know, with the word migrant, for example, if you don't mind if I start there, I think once you've migrated to another country, when do you stop being a migrant? It's a question that we should ask because birds migrate all the time. They migrate from one place to the next. Whales migrate too, you know, so when do you stop being a migrant? Migrant typically technically means you've moved from one place to another, that you're not a migrant forever, especially if you put your roots down in that country. There's an expiry date. I feel there's an expiry date. Yes, everybody moved and migrated to Australia except for the First Nations people. That I accept. And in some ways, we've all migrated. And so I think it depends on the way that term is used as well, Emma. Even if you migrated to another country, my advice would be to not forget your cultural background because it is, it may be part of who you are. I see myself as a cross-cultural kid, someone who has elements of my Sri Lankan background and my Australian backgrounds. I'm somewhere in between, and it's okay to be somewhere in between. You don't have to be fully Australian or, you know, fully whatever other cultural background you are. You can be somewhere in between and you can blend them both and become this person called Cross Cultural Kit. And so I think that you should celebrate your differences. And I was asked by a parent recently who asked me the question, oh, we've got children from two different cultural backgrounds, but they don't want to learn the language of our background. It's really hard to do that. And I said, oh, well, what about the food? Why don't you take them to your parents' country on holiday? And then they hadn't actually thought about that. So through music, through food, through community, you can experience those traditions, and those important parts of who you are will not be lost.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 42:57
Yeah, integrate the heritage culture with the host or adopted culture and blend it in a way that feels like you.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 43:08
Yes, exactly. You can blend in, but only because you want to, not because someone else wants you to, um, and you can also celebrate all the other parts of you. So I see myself as an Australian with a Sri Lankan background, and I think that I will always be, you know, a cross-cultural kid, and I relate very well to people who are also of other backgrounds for that reason, because we're somewhere in the middle.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 43:33
How do you deal with this in-betweenness? Do you feel conflicted by it, or do you feel at peace with it today?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 43:41
Well, the term cross-cultural kid, I feel at peace with it because it gives me a different sense of identity. I feel like a lot of people may be stuck in that in-between where they're not sure. I have to be this or that. Why can't you be both? Um, and so for me, I feel like I am both. And yes, people will still ask me where I'm from, and that's okay. And people will ask me where I'm from when I go to Sri Lanka on holiday too, you know, that's actually more irritating. Um, I find that that's very irritating, but, um, because I don't look like typical person who's been brought up in Sri Lanka as well. And so I think that's where sometimes people feel like they don't belong anywhere. It's like, where is my place? Where is my home? This is my home too, you know. So I think it's okay to have places where you feel connected to home. For me, that's the beach where, you know, in Sri Lanka they have the beach, Australia we have the beach. It's a very common place that you feel at peace and feel like you belong. And I always felt drawn to the ocean. So I think, you know, finding your place as well is important where you can feel like I can go and be in this place and feel like I belong. And It can be here or it can be there, but I do belong somewhere.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 45:02
It's not about belonging to a country, but it's about belonging to places that resonate with you.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 45:11
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the thing, like, you know, the anti-immigration rallies at the moment, you know, they talk about this assimilation. One of the problems that people have with assimilation is that when they try to assimilate, people said, you don't look like me, go back to where you're from. So that's the reason why people have made these communities, because they need that to survive. They need that to be who they are because they're being told they don't belong. Hmm. Yeah.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 45:42
Even when they work so hard at assimilating and they don't even carry a lot of elements from their heritage. Culture.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 45:50
Yeah. And contributing to society. I mean, that's all I've ever done. All I've ever done is contribute. All of my values come from my family, and they always taught me that to make a difference in the community that you live in. And that's the general community, you know, like the Australian community where I live. Be a good person, be kind, you know, honesty, respect, all of these things. This is how I am brought up. These are very, very close to the Australian values. And so I think that, um, one of the songs I used to, we used to hear, we are one, but we are many, you know, that's a song that I sung as a child. And I used to believe in that. And I still believe in that. And it's true. We are one, but we are many. We come from all the lands on earth. I think that's the song, but it did resonate. It does resonate. You know, with me. And I think that makes Australia a better place, and that sense of multiculturalism actually makes us stronger as a country, as a nation. And understanding people from different cultural backgrounds and understanding people's perspectives and being non-judgmental about people's cultures, religions, it's part of being a good Australian, I think. That's my personal belief. And even as a doctor, it's part of what we do.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 47:13
To do what? To see humans beyond their social labels?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 47:19
We have to see humans for who they are. So it doesn't matter if they're a prisoner or whatever they're, you know, you have to treat them as a human being. It doesn't matter about their cultural background or what they look like or their religion. We are taught that we need to treat the human. And if you take all the layers of skin off, we are all the same underneath all of that. We have the same organs. Yes. Male and female, yes, they're different. But, you know, generally we, we have the same. I have done, you know, dissections on human cadavers. We are all the same. There is no, you cannot differentiate between one human being and another. So underneath all of the melanin that we all carry, we're all the same. Ultimately, I love that.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 48:03
Do you have a book, a movie, or any other resources that you would like to recommend?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 48:09
So one of the books that I absolutely loved growing up, which really helped me in that sort of emancipation or understanding that I was an Australian, was Looking for Alan Brandi. The book is better than the movie, but it was a book that I really loved. So generally, even for teenagers, it's recommended from about year 9 onwards. It's a really great book and I recommend that to, you know, anyone who wants to feel like, I guess, a cross-cultural kid and what it felt like. So yeah, definitely have a look at that. And the other one is, um, it's a story by Mem Fox, Where Is the Green Sheep? And that book, you know, there's so many different sheep in the book and essentially basically saying that you can be any kind of sheep. You don't need to be the same one. Different colors, different sizes, different backgrounds. And it goes to show that everyone has a different skill and quality and really celebrates that sense of diversity.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 49:05
Is it for kids?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 49:06
It is a kids' book. Yeah. Yeah.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 49:09
Oh, that's good. You know, you are giving books for all ages, which is a good thing to do. So Sarah, I have two last questions to ask. And you've partially answered the first one. When I say the word migrant, what are the words that come to mind instinctively?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 49:29
So to me, it feels like not belonging. And then the other one is freedom. So there's two. So it's freedom from moving to a new place. And then the other one is, if it's used in a negative context, not belonging.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 49:44
One that is very difficult to carry and another one that is a real opportunity to explore who you are.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 49:51
Like a yin and a yang.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 49:52
Yeah.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 49:53
Yeah.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 49:53
There really is a duality, I think, in moving to another country. You have a loss and a lot of the journey is about accepting that loss, but it is also a renewal of the self.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 50:08
Hmm. Absolutely. Yes. It's got positives and negatives, right? So The fear of not belonging is there, and then the freedom to move to a new place is there. And so it's just sort of trying to find some kind of balance between the both and being accepted for who you are.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 50:24
And perhaps you cannot have one without the other because it's very difficult to feel this sense of freedom if you stay in the comfort zone where you have always belonged. So I feel that sometimes when we feel the unbelonging, we also can have more freedom in it, you know. So I feel that there is an interdependence of the concepts.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 50:47
And if you look at birds, I keep going back to birds, you know, I used to wish I was a bird because you can fly and see everything around the world. If you look at birds and birds that migrate, right, they look the same and they can migrate wherever they like. It's because They're not claiming the land.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 51:09
Hmm.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 51:09
And I think that when people feel like they have some kind of claim to the land that they're on, which, you know, we know, I mean, Australia belongs to the First Nations people and it was living on stolen land. And I think that when you believe that you own the land that you're living on, that's perhaps where people become territorial. With who it belongs to and who's allowed in and who's not allowed in. Whereas with birds, they migrate wherever they like, and the other birds— we don't speak bird, but the other birds are not like, go away. Maybe they are, I don't know.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 51:42
I'm back to where you're from.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 51:44
We're allowed to travel and they're allowed to migrate and they're allowed to do what they like. And so why can't people do the same thing? Like, the world is so big. I think that we need to be more accepting of others. And I think the problem that comes with people who are not is it comes from a place of fear, ultimately. Yeah.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 52:05
And your metaphor about birds as well ties to the idea that borders, ultimately, they were created by humans. They are just an abstract concept, but you know, it's an idea. It's a fictive thing that we created. So yeah, it's the idea itself of a nation is interesting. Philosophically speaking.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 52:26
It is, isn't it? And I guess people, to some degree, they want to have a place of belonging. And I think that, you know, in a place like Australia, which is so multicultural, you do become more used to accepting and bringing in people from other backgrounds and cultures and becoming more accepting than perhaps a country that has less people that migrate. And I think when you look at what that allows you, it allows you a lot. It allows you to some degree, not necessarily freedom, but it allows you acceptance and to become a better human being. That's my personal perspective. And there's so much that people gain from living in a multicultural society, like the food that you get to eat. There's so many choices in Australia.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 53:11
You can't just enjoy the beauty and the benefits of multiculturalism, but then say, come back to where you're from. You know, you can't eat Chinese food and enjoy the Thai food and all of these things that migrants offer, but then say, hey, you're not part of the culture. You know, like you can't have it both ways.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 53:29
No, you can't. You can't have it both ways.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 53:31
I think you guys have a very interesting saying. You say you can't have a cake and eat it too.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 53:36
I always get it wrong.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 53:38
Okay, so I have one last question for you. As someone who has often felt pressured to blend in, do you feel that you can be your authentic self wherever you go today, or is your authenticity confined to safe spaces?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 53:59
I feel like now I can. Certainly, I feel like this book has given me a lot more confidence. For people to have read my story and come to me and say that, you know, it really made an impact on them and it really helped them. I feel like I've come to a point in my life where I can be my authentic self. Am I reserved in certain settings?
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 54:26
Yes.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 54:26
I think we probably all are to some degree, and I will choose when and where to, I guess, be my authentic self. Myself and who and whom I share personal information is something that I will choose. And so I say that I'd have a lot more control over those elements. And when I feel a sense of injustice based on certain things, and I know better how to raise those issues. And so I will raise issues if I am concerned that they are impacting on me or my family, particularly when it comes that sensation of, you know, acceptance of diversity. I'll call people out on it as well. So that's something I've learned to do better.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 55:09
Advocating for yourself and advocating for others.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 55:12
Mm-hmm. And advocating for other women and advocating for other people like me and certainly going into spaces and places and speaking about these issues. It's not easy. And it's something that a lot of people struggle with, right? And I think that some people have said, if not you, then who? If you do not raise these issues, then who else will? And so I think part of that is finding not only the voice within the book, but my voice and my authentic voice, and not being afraid to speak.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 55:43
I love that. So your memoir was a way to find your voice, your authentic voice.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 55:49
Yeah, and I think that voice was always inside me, but being able to put it into words certainly made a huge difference, not only for me, but all of the people that have read the book. I've had, you know, even young girls that have read the book and they've told me how it really helped them. You know, students that want to become doctors one day or pursue other professions, perhaps where there are less women, and they've mentioned how much it's helped them. And then there's other people who have migrated to Australia who've read the book and said, wow, this book is great because it really helped me to understand that those feelings that I had were shared by other people. And what you've gone through, I've gone through similar things, similar challenges, other brown female doctors as well. And it's not necessarily just brown female doctors. There's people who are white males that have read the book that have said how much they really found not only the inspiration about like being a doctor and having those patient stories discussed and sort of that pathway in medicine, the humanity of it. Really touched them too. So the book was not intended just for brown female doctors. The word brown female doctor was used to describe me as a person because I feel comfortable with that description of myself, identifying that I'm a brown female doctor.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 57:04
Did it take time for you to feel at peace with that?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 57:08
Um, not really. Like, I remember I addressed myself as a brown female doctor, and I think it was in conversation with a journalist, and then she said, oh, tell me a bit more about that. And I thought, oh, this is a great book title. And the thing is, when I wrote the book, the reason I have biscuit brown dot female dot doctor dot— so it's different parts of who I am. So I'm brown, I'm a female, and I'm a doctor, and each of those paths is different. So it's that intersectionality concept that I was really trying to put in the book, to say that yes, I'm brown, yes, I'm a female, Yes, I'm a doctor, but this is what it means to me, and these are the different elements, but actually I'm all of these things and there's some bits that intersect. And then my lived experience is different because this is who I am. And I think that it can be certainly extrapolated into many different settings. And I hope that it can help people when they do feel underrepresented. Like one of my friends recently told me, she works at a bank. I think she works at a bank and she's quite senior. And she said, I'm taking your book with me to discuss with the leadership team what this means, because I've found it very valuable reading this book. And being a woman in a career where there's not a lot of women, and actually there's not a lot of brown women in her field. And that's really nice to see that it's not necessarily just medicine, it's other fields that can also take some value from the book that I've written. But it's also for teenagers and children growing up in a Australia, where they may have certain traditional values at home and then Australian values, and trying to sort of find that middle ground.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 58:42
What are the things in the book that you think have helped the people you talk about, the readers? Is it the way you have faced those challenges? I don't know whether you've perhaps wrote about some strategies to face the things that you faced. What is it that you think really kind of helped them?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 59:01
I think perhaps the honesty and the truth in which I wrote parts of the book, and then how it resonated with them and validated their story and made them feel like what they went through was validated, I think. And the reason I also wrote this book was to start conversations and to start allowing people to share their stories. And so I think that it's really nice when people reach out to me and say, how it really helped them. So I think probably just different elements of the book and how it was written and written from the start where I was a young child growing up. So they would see it from my eyes. This is how I feel. So I think this is that sort of journey and following that journey and kind of understanding that even as a child growing up in Australia, it was difficult, but I was a child growing up in Australia and perhaps the reason I am the way I am is because of the experiences that have shaped me to become who I am. And they've had their own separate challenges and experiences, and it's allowed them to reflect on that. Hmm.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 1:00:04
A lot of what you say makes me think that this book has been a way to really claim what you've been through as part of your identity, as part of your strength. So yeah, it's like claiming back your power, claiming back your voice, your authenticity. You know, there is so much about it that I think we could dissect, but for people who would love to follow your work and keep up to date with all the things you are doing, where can they contact you or follow you?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 1:00:32
Yeah, so @kidsdoctor, so A at kids and then D-O-C-T-O-R Sarah, all one line. That's my Instagram handle. I often share updates or places I'll be speaking.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 1:00:45
Do you have any final words to conclude the interview? Perhaps something that we haven't talked about that you think is very important to share or that I have missed?
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 1:00:53
No, I feel like you've covered it. It's been really wonderful having this chat with you.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 1:00:57
Well, yeah, no, thank you so much to you. I have made the decision not to read your book before I did this interview because I didn't want to know too much. I wanted to preserve the element of surprise. But now that I have had this conversation with you, I really, really want to read the book. So I recommend everyone read it as well. And I hope that this conversation will motivate many others to learn more about your story and read this book. I will include a link in the show notes. Please feel free to get in touch with Sarah if you like the book or if you even like this conversation. I'm sure that you would love to receive some lovely feedback. So, yeah, thank you so much for being my guest. It was a pleasure.
Sarah Arachchi (Guest) · 1:01:39
Thank you, Emma. Thanks very much.
Emma Bellamy-Dodd (Host) · 1:01:46
Thank you for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Sarah. If our discussion resonated with you in some way, please share this episode with a friend, leave us a review, or add stars in the rating of the show. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn, it really helps this community grow. In 2 weeks, I'll be interviewing Zozan Balci, an award-winning academic and sociolinguist who has incredible insights on what it's like to be ambiguously brown, what it takes to navigate many cultural and linguistic worlds, and what shapes people's decision to reject or embrace their heritage. She has many interesting strategies to help people with mixed identities, what she calls "inbetweeners," to feel more included in society. So stay tuned. I was your host, Emma Bellamy, and I cannot wait to bring you on another journey from there to here.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
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