VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 221
AIR DATE: 04 08 2022
TRANSCRIPT

OPEN ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Banner))
On the Road
((SOT))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
There are many plus points to trucking, like you make good money. You get a chance to go to different states and meet different people.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
In the City
((SOT))
((NATS: Kianee Truvillion))
Your hair is so cute and curly.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actress, Singer))
Being a nanny in New York City, you can make definitely enough money to live off of. You can make anywhere from $20 dollars an hour to, I mean, I’ve seen people make $45 dollars an hour before.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
On the Farm
((SOT))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I am really driven by the social need of farms and to utilize the land for the benefit of our neighbors in the form of really good food.
((Open Animation))


BLOCK A


((PKG)) PAKISTANI TRUCK DRIVER
((TRT: 09:12))
((Topic Banner: Trucking, For Now))
((Reporter: Imron Jadoon))
((Camera: Farhan Alam))
((Adapted by: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Norwich, Connecticut))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 3 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
During COVID, when places were locked down, people were locked in their houses, when no one had anything, we were on the road. The proudest moment for me during that time was when a woman stopped and saluted me at a Walmart store. She told me, “Here you guys are, under these circumstances, away from your families, bringing goods and helping people.” That day I really felt proud.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
I never thought of becoming a trucker. But my father was in the field. He was a trucker. One of my childhood friends from Pakistan came to the U.S. and went into trucking. He kept pushing me to go into trucking. But I was terrified of trucks.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
He said, “You’re struggling at the other place anyway. Give it a try. You’ll earn twice as much.”
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
After being pushed so much, I said, "Okay, let me give it a try.” And I came into this profession.
((NATS: Bilal Javaid))
Got a call from the broker. I have to carry cargo from Massachusetts to Minnesota. Let me do the inspection of the truck so that everything is ready. God willing, we’ll leave tonight.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
In the beginning, believe me, it was very tough, very hard. I felt that maybe I wouldn’t be able to do it. But after two or three months, by God’s grace, I started enjoying the work.
((NATS: Bilal and client))
You want me to show you your freight? You can count it and then I’ll load it.
Yeah. Thank you.
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Honestly, my English is not that good. Sometimes I get a hard time from the companies but not everywhere. There are excellent people in many places who totally ignore that you are not an American or you don't know English. They help you as much as they can.
((NATS: Bilal and client))
All set?
All set.
Have a good one.
You, too.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes I'm on the road for more than a month, a month and a half, and then I go home for a week.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
I miss my family a lot.
Last week there was an event at my oldest son's school. He got a certificate for best student. My wife went. I wasn’t able to go. After getting the award, I got a call from my son and he said, "I was missing you and I was trying to find you in the crowd, thinking, maybe, you were down there with everybody."
((NATS: Bilal Javaid))
There is an update from their school that there was a fire at the school…
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes [my wife] tells me, “You’re gone for one or two months. The kids and I need you.” But she understands that it's the start of my career. If I'm seeing some hard times, she’ll also have to see some hard times too.
((NATS: Bilal and his daughter))
Foxy.
Foxy. Foxy.
((Asma Javaid

Wife of Bilal Javaid))
It never occurred to me to ask him to leave this job because we came here for our kids’ future. The more you work, the more reward you get here.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
The day I leave, me, my kids and my wife, everyone is sad because I am going away from them.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes when I feel very lonely, I call my family.
((NATS))
((Bilal and his children))
Assalamu alaikum, Baba.
Walaikum salaam, my kitty, my wolves. How are you all?
We're good. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you.
Do you know where I'm right now? I'm in Idaho, near Washington [state].
Yeah.
Idaho.
Near to Washington.
You are near Washington?
Yes, I am. It's so cold.
How many miles is Washington from here?
Washington to our house?
Yeah.
3,000 miles [4800 km].
Wow!
Yeah.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
It really affects your mental health because you are all alone while driving. You don't have your friends with you. You don't have your family. Whatever you see on the road, you wish someone were with you at that moment.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
On the way, sometimes you see accidents that after looking at them, your mind gets stuck on them for a long time and you start experiencing a strange fear. "If it was me instead of him and had it happened to me, then what would my family, my children, my parents have to go through?"
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
There are a lot of advantages with trucking, like you make good money. You get a chance to go to different states and meet different people.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
There are many facilities for drivers on the road. There are rest areas. If drivers are tired, if they don't want to drive, they can stop their truck and rest. They can take a shower, do laundry, buy food and eat it there.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
During Ramadan, we fast, do iftar [breaking of the fast]. It feels really good when at a rest area, you meet a Somali, a Pakistani or a Muslim from a different country. They have the whole dastarkhwan [meal] there. You sit and break fast with them.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
I'm not driving it for the long term. In five years, seven years, you make enough money to start a business, so you can be with your family. My goal is to have a small workshop and [own] a small house and that’s enough.
((NATS))


TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Becoming an Actor
((SOT))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actress, Singer))
Unlike when you get a job, you're like told ‘you didn’t get it.’ That’s not necessarily the case in the art world. You kind of just, if you don’t hear anything, you probably didn’t get it.

BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK B

((PKG)) MY ORDINARY LIFE: KIANEE, ACTOR & SINGER
((TRT: 06:27))
((Topic Banner: Making a Living: Kianee Truvillion))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Ailin Li))

((Camera: Laura Luan))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Note from Phil: Do Not Play this piece on YouTube))

((NATS/MUSIC))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))

To me, a New Yorker means walking fast, just being a hustler, like being able to do multiple things, having a variety of streams of income. I would consider myself a New Yorker and I think I will always be even if I don’t live here anymore.

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))

My name is Kianee Alexis Nycole Truvillion and I’m 24 years old and this is my ordinary life.

I’ve lived in New York for three years and I’m here to pursue acting, singing, dancing, that whole shebang.

((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))

I want to be on Broadway.

I currently live in Harlem, New York and I love it. There are just so many different cultures around.
I live in a two-bedroom apartment, a six-floor walk-up. But I love it. It’s my peace, my zen.

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))

So, as you enter into my home, this is the living room and my couch is also a couch-bed. So, very nice when I want to have visitors.
And this is my roommate, Tracy, here. My rent is $2,000. I personally pay $1,100 a month. I don’t think that’s a good deal but I don’t think it’s a bad deal either for what New York is.

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
When I first moved to New York, literally one week later, I had an audition, an audition for Spamilton, which is an off-Broadway show or was an off-Broadway show here in New York,
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: “Hamilton”/ Disney))
the parody of Hamilton and
((Courtesy: “Spamilot”/ Paramount))
of Spamalot. And I booked it.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
I did that show for about six months and then it closed and then I didn't book anything for almost a year and it was devastating.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
When I was in final callbacks for a show that's on Broadway and I thought I was going to get it, everyone that I auditioned with thought I was going to get it, the music producer said I was going to get it, the choreographer…and then, I didn't get it. And I was devastated. I did not audition for a while after that. I just, it like broke my heart.
After that, I started taking acting classes to…so no one could ever give me that note again, hopefully.
((NATS/MUSIC))

((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
So far, my career is going okay. Pre-pandemic, it was ordinary. Now, post-pandemic, it’s non-existent. But I still have some auditions, which is cool. I actually just had one a few days ago.

((NATS/MUSIC))

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
Obviously, right now during COVID, there aren’t a lot of in-person auditions, so everything is online and virtual.

((NATS/MUSIC))

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))

This one, there was no dialogue, so I was just drinking the coffee, blissfully. And I made sure that I stood out by making a very loud noise while drinking, like this.
I hope I booked it.

((NATS: Reporter))

When do you know the result?

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I’m assuming I’ll know that I didn’t get it if the start date happened and I didn’t hear anything, so.
Unlike when you get a job, you're like told ‘you didn’t get it.’ That’s not necessarily the case in the art world. You kind of just, if you don’t hear anything, you probably didn’t get it.

((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I have not currently been making money acting. I have made money acting before.
((NATS/MUSIC))

((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
And for people who are pursuing arts, they have their side jobs. Audition during the day and work at night has been a very common way to do it. I have been a server and a bartender at a restaurant and then I have been a babysitter, nanny for a few families and that’s how I’ve made my living.
((NATS: Kianee Truvillion))
Your hair is so cute and curly.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
Being a nanny in New York City, you can make definitely enough money to live off of. You can make anywhere from $20 dollars an hour to, I mean, I’ve seen people make $45 dollars an hour before.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I generally make about $3,200 dollars a month. Most of my expenses are obviously rent, which is $1,100 a month. Student loans that come out to about $250 a month, subscriptions and HBO [video]. I spend probably most of my money on food. I love to eat and it varies. I eat wherever I’m babysitting. So generally, I only have to buy or figure out one meal a day, if that. We would say a couple hundred a month of that as well.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I am a very good saver. I feel like I’m pretty frugal. I save about $800 a month. I was taught that and I think saving is great. And I just love looking at my account and when the number keeps going up, it makes me feel really good.
((MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I am Black and White and I do identify as mixed. When someone asks me, I say I’m biracial.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
My mom is, she's a preschool teacher and my dad is a pastor. We are a family of eight. I am one of six children.
My grandmother is half Chinese, half Vietnamese. I love that I have an Asian grandmother that throws down in the kitchen. I love that I have a Black grandmother that throws down in the kitchen. I love that I have a White grandmother that throws down.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
Truly everything, I'm realizing, comes back down to food. And that's something that I love about being mixed and just having so much diversity in my own home.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
So, I’ve, in the past few weeks, started learning the piano. I’ve been practicing almost every day.
((Start Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
((Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG stays on until the end and other courtesies are to be added on))
Tell me something, boy.
Are you tired trying to fill that void?
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I am to Atlanta, Georgia, to focus on the TV and film world and just pursue that and give my all into that. And I thought, what better time than when Broadway is closed? I think that
((Courtesy: “Black Panther”/ Marvel Studios))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
Atlanta is becoming the new Black Hollywood.
((Courtesy: “Atlanta”/ FX Networks))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
I just really want to be a part of it
((Courtesy: “American Soul”/Black Entertainment Television))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
when it takes off.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
This career path is incredibly hard. And I think people give up. And I think many people give up too soon. I know I won’t ever give up. I know I will make it. So, there is no reason to even talk about if I didn’t. Because I will.

((End Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
((NATS/MUSIC))


TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Farm Fresh
((SOT))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I belong to a couple of rural economic groups here in our county in Loudoun. And we are working really hard to let people know how important it is to save properties like this one from being developed.

BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))

BLOCK C


((PKG)) MOM’S PIE, A FARM FAMILY’S SECRET RECIPE
((Previously aired November 2021))
((TRT: 06:26))
((Topic Banner: Family’s Secret Recipe))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera/Editor: Mike Burke))
((Map: Leesburg, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 2 male))
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
Our bakery is known as Mom's Apple Pie Company and we make pies. We make really genuine pies with a lot of fruit and not too much sugar.
((NATS: Avis Renshaw))
Which ones are we picking? The purple ones?
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We are a truly farm-to-table bakery in that we make it all from scratch.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
When we were younger, our farming business did not succeed. It was in the late ‘70s and as a means to stay on our feet, we started baking pies with a friend of mine who had started making a few pies on weekends and selling them to our farm market. And she said, “Why don't we do this together?” And so, we started doing this together. And she lost interest and moved on with her husband and we stayed doing that.
((NATS))
((Steven Cox
Farm & Bakery Co-Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We got really efficient. My wife could make a pie in a matter of seconds and I could peel a bushel of apples in eight minutes. Actually, within a year or two, we supplied one farm market with 900 real pies in one day. Of course, that took working around the clock.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I've always wanted to be a part of a farming community and be part of growing food. I met my husband when I was a teenager working at a farm market that he and his brother co-owned. And I very much enjoyed that job, both in the farm market and in the fields, picking produce. So, I’ve liked the concept of this very much, also because it's a steady life.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We bought this farm in 1997 and we're on the banks of the Potomac right across from Maryland. It's a somewhat a historic location in that during the Civil War, the Confederate troops marched through the end of our farm across the Potomac to Antietam [Battlefield].
((NATS: Steven Cox))
There’s some orange pumpkins.
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
At this point in my career, I am really driven by the social need of farms. I try to work to educate people on the importance of farms. I belong to Farm Bureau. I belong to a couple of rural economic groups here in our county in Loudoun. And we are working really hard to let people know how important it is to save properties like this one from being developed and to utilize the land for the benefit of our neighbors in the form of really good food.
((NATS))
((Steven Cox
Farm & Bakery Co-Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
The Community Supported Agriculture, the CSAs, seem to provide a means to capture a certain market of people that still want to cook. Even though the population is, maybe, five times greater in this area than it was then, the number of people that want to cook isn't.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I’m Tyson Cox. I am Avis and Steve's son. Most of the year, I am the farm manager and that is mostly with the rotation of crops, prepping fields, planting and organizing what produce we need throughout the year for our CSA.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We didn't think that he would do that. He wasn't too happy about doing that as a teenager. It took him away from his friends a lot of times and it was hard work. But ultimately, he ended up deciding that this might be a really great thing for him to do.
He works with his dad and we have all the commensurate joys and terrors of farm family and an intergenerational business that we are working through. And for the most part, we still love each other. It's sort of interesting.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
It's pretty good. It's got its challenges. You know, sometimes I just want to yell at them. And sometimes I do yell at them. But all in all, it's, I wouldn't trade it for anything. [I’m] incredibly lucky for all the sacrifices they've made in buying this farm and keeping their family business going.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
As we go into the latter half of the year, October, November and December, I transition from that into, you could say, head baker.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
Even though it's called Mom's Apple Pie Company, we do many more than just apple pie flavors. We do blackberries and raspberries and strawberry rhubarb pie, all of which we grow on the farm. We also make quiches that we use our own fresh farm eggs for.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We're about to harvest all the corn for our corn quiche, which we also incorporate fresh sage and bell peppers and onions that we grow here on the farm.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
This is my daughter Ansa, who's usually in the office managing all of the important affairs that none of the rest of us want to do. But once in a while, she's in the kitchen when we need her. And her forte is wrapping. And she's the one that usually ends up overnight wrapping the pies so that they're ready to go in the morning when the truck shows up.
((NATS: Tyson Cox))
Try the yellow kind? This is your grandpa’s favorite.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I have a 10 month old now and, you know, I guess it'd be really nice to farm with him when he grows up.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I certainly didn't expect to be in the business for 40 years but it ended up marrying nicely with the farming business.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
It's authentic. You know, nothing we do is that crazy. It's a really simple recipe. You know, I think our apple pies got seven ingredients but it's using really high-quality butter and making it on an all-butter crust and baking them fresh every day. So, a lot of it is just doing something simple very well.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We're all still looking for the secrets of staying happy. Nothing is more important than the relationship that you have with your family.
((NATS: Tyson Cox))
Oh, my gosh. It’s so good.
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
And making sure to retain that at all costs is really important for the business and for the family.
((NATS))

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect


BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))

SHOW ENDS