Ricardo Nagaoka

Brown is Beautiful, but is also Painful

Looking around the primarily white city of Dallas, Oregon, Cindy was five years old when she asked her mother in hushed Spanish, “Are we not supposed to be here?”

Sankar Raman

Making Her Family Proud

When remembering her childhood in Nepal, Anisha Ginshing reveals that her own mother has not seen her parents in 20 years. When Anisha’s mother fled Bhutan,

Ricardo Nagaoka

Everybody has Potential Inside

Rosi might have been a rebel without a cause when she was young, but she believes that she was also an unwitting product of growing up a Latina in a […]

Sankar Raman

In Search for a Safe Haven

18-year-old Yasmin was walking to her bus stop on her way to school on Inauguration Day in January when she heard angry yelling behind her. As she turned to see […]

Sankar Raman

The Dawn of a New Life

Nawid  considers his arrival in the U.S. six months ago as the dawn of his life. He was born and brought up in the war-torn and dangerous Halmand Province in […]

Sankar Raman

In the Land of the Free

Mariamou thought she was leaving behind hatred, violence, and fear when she arrived in America. But now in Portland, Oregon, she once again fears for her life.

Sankar Raman

Coursing the Meandering Paths

By the time Abdikarim settled in Kakuma Refugee Camp at age 11, he had already lived in three countries. He was born in 1990 in Somalia, when it was on the […]

Sankar Raman

To See the World Outside

As a young child, Naw Bi could see the mountains from afar.  She often dreamed of escaping the refugee camp where she lived and climbing them up,

Sankar Raman

A Reunion in a New Land

Holding dreams and taking the steps to realize them has been a theme in Kemle’s family. For many years, her father dreamed of making a life in America. When the […]

Sankar Raman

A Future That is Yet to Come

Baghdad, during the ‘Iraqi Insurgency,’ was not a place to have a happy childhood. In 2007, at the height of its sectarian violence, it seemed as if everyone was fighting […]

Sankar Raman

Overcoming Fear and Opening Doors

The oldest child of Somali parents, Fowzia was born in Kenya and spent her early years there in east Africa. At the age of three, her family left the poverty […]

Sankar Raman

Going Up North to Pastures New

Growing up on his great grandfather’s ranch in a small rural farming town outside of Morelia in Michoacán, Mexico, was a typical rustic childhood for the