A Life Shaped by War
Tim Tran is quite the jokester. “Old professors never die,” he told an otherwise serious meeting at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Category: Refugee
Shirt, Makamba, Burundi
Olive Bukuru: This was the shirt I was wearing when my family first got on the 1st bus from Nduta Camp to another camp to be screened before we arrived […]
Dodge Ball, Kanembwa, Tanzania
Divine Irambona: Life in the camp was hard for me. The only thing that kept me excited was playing a game with my friends. My favorite game was dodgeball
Leave Home and Don’t Come Back
Reza Uddin was born in the epicenter of the Burmese government’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims. For the first years of his life,
A Way Around Closed Doors
“Always find a way to climb back up,” says Souleymane Adam, reflecting on what he has learned as a survivor of genocide. “And not back up to where we came […]
A Continued Love for Learning
As Rekesh Subedi’s family prepared to leave Nepal for the United States, he talked excitedly with his friend about travelling on planes. “I told him, when you see a plane […]
Finally A Place to Call Home
Every time someone asks May Lui Tike where she’s from, she answers: “I am not from anywhere.” She has a good reason for this response:
A Key To The American Dream
“I was pregnant when the U.S. invaded,” recalls Murooj Alshawi. “When I heard the bombs, I started shaking and didn’t even feel my daughter in my stomach.
There is still work to do
Divine Irambona loves to challenge herself. Maybe because her life was a struggle from the moment she was born. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to
Say Goodbye to All Your Problems
It’s 2010 and Johana Amani is 10 years old. She is speeding through the Congo in the middle of the night on the back of a stranger’s motorcycle. She and […]
The Elusive Feeling of Safety
It was dark when they left. They walked and walked, women, children, parents, elders, through the woods, up hills, until his feet hurt and his grandfather had to scoop
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
There Is a Hopeful Tomorrow
Things were going well for Jenny Munezero in Portland, Oregon. She was working in a rewarding career and engaged to a man she adored.
Turning Pain Into Ambition
Lisa Amani is a driven 18-year-old. This fall, she will start her first year at University of Oregon, with $130,000 worth of scholarships.
Tending a Garden and Her Dreams
Salsabel Al Masri’s garden was the center of her world. She and her five brothers spent every day after school chasing each other among the olive, orange, apple,