When A Dream is Born
Walking down the halls of his middle school, Wilson Nitunga was eating an apple. The bell rang, and students around him rushed to class. A teacher approached
Category: Story
Counting on Math and Soccer
Mussa doesn’t remember much from the night his father was killed. From where he stood in his crib he could hear men’s voices in the room next door,
Building a Thriving Community
Selling matches and chewing gum on the rough streets of Mexico City, Jaime Miranda learned early on what it took to survive. “I guess at the age of 9 or […]
Making Her Way in Art and the World
Surrounded by shimmering glass beads, a rainbow of colored fragments, and vibrant glass masterpieces in her studio-gallery, Kurumi Conley confesses,
A Heart in the Right Place
Ever since grade school, Abel Getachew has known what he wanted to do with his life—heart surgery for those in need. “When I was in elementary school,
Reprogrammed Like a Cell Phone
Amidst the thick darkness of a city just before sunrise on the day he arrived in Portland, Abdulelah Aldabea imagined his brain was an iPhone restoring to
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
Fighting for a Better Life
Life in calm Clackamas, Oregon, where Hamada Haaji Chamada lives with his family is very different from the war-torn city of Mogadishu, Somalia,
A Resilient Daughter of the Arab Spring
When Rama Yousef was born in the Syrian capital of Damascus in 1999, her father cursed and cried tears of frustration. She was his fourth child and not the son […]
Planes, Trains, Ships – and Physics
As a school boy in Poona, India, Anant Ramdas dreamed of becoming a professor. Dr. Ramdas’ father was a physicist, and he encouraged his son to study under his old […]
How to Save a Life from the Rumble
To some people, the rumble of a motorcycle down the road is nothing more than noise, a slight variation on the commonplace hum of a car motor. But for Victor, […]
Come Up and Speak Up
Wearing a crisp business suit and foregoing the traditional Muslim hijab, Hameda Dil Mohamed, 21, spoke last September at a rally in Portland’s Pioneer
She is a Girl-Power Grandma
When Michael, age 9, was asked to identify the girl-power women in his life, his first choice was his surrogate grandmother. Vera Moroz, 76, was an immigrant
Reveling in Koto in the Pacific NW
“I’m Japanese — how come I didn’t know this music?” That’s what Masumi Timson thought as she sat captivated by her first koto concert. “It’s a treasure of Japan,” she […]
Desert to Oregon, a Paintbrush in Hand
Hussein Al-Baiaty was about as far away as anyone could be when terrorists crashed two airplanes into New York’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.