Tears for the Country He Left
In a small town in the northwest part of Cambodia called Chongkal, the 5-year-old boy could not cry. His father had been taken by Khmer Rouge soldiers, bound for
Author: Elizabeth Mehren
Grandma Jessie’s Scottish Shortbread
My grandmother, Jessie King, was born in 1889 in a house on Holburn Street in Aberdeen, Scotland. Jessie was one of 13 children, 11 of whom survived childhood.
A Doctor with No Cure for His Country
The rigid, highly competitive public education system of Syria sent Hisham Amin Bismar into engineering. Leaving his country and then watching it
A Career Wrapped in Banana Leaves
The first thing to know about Phet Schwader is that his first name is pronounced “Pet.” Unless it marks the start of a word, the letter “H” is typically
Leaving a Land of Chaos
Toys are everywhere in the small apartment in Vancouver, Washington. A sheet of paper posted at a child’s eye level shows the first, impressive attempts of a
Abdi Nor Iftin: Call Him American
Abdi Nor Iftin knew just what America would look like. It would look like a giant New York City. Tall, tall buildings would soar to the sky. Humans would scurry
“I Lived in Order to Tell the World”
The guy on the MAX train shot an angry glare at a younger man sitting nearby. Emmanuel Turaturanye was dressed in the plaid shirt and down jacket of the Pacific […]
Be a Blade of Grass, Not a Tall Tree
Among a total of 13 siblings, it was Sivheng who most resembled their father. Kilin Ung was a businessman who traded in the teak and rosewood
Love in the Midst of Mayhem
It was a simple wedding and, but for the bombs exploding outside, a quiet one. She wore a plain gray skirt, a white blouse and a white hijab befitting a […]
Fleeing a 21st Century Genocide
It was such an idyllic childhood for Mohammed Husson Ali. Nearly all the 1300 families in the Burmese village of Myo Thu Gyi were farmers.
Miracles, Memories and a Message
Life’s hardest lessons can come at a steep cost. Tragedy, trauma and misfortune often breed bitterness, anger and hatred. Les and Eva Aigner, octogenarian Nazi
“Camping” at a U.S. Concentration Camp
Tough new rules from the Trump administration produced graphic photos of children torn from their immigrant families and housed in detention centers
Determination Born in a Refugee Camp
After generations of peaceful living in the mountainous country of Bhutan, the family of Nabin Dhimal was abruptly forced to flee in 1989, when the Bhutan government
When the President Was Shot
She was a young assistant professor of medicine who had changed her specialty from surgery to anesthesiology when she moved from Connecticut to