Once Home, Now a Jungle
For the first 18 years of his life, Reza Uddin was a citizen of Burma, now officially known as Myanmar. And then, suddenly, he was not. That’s because Uddin is […]
Category: Survivor
Dignity in Helping Others
One might not expect someone who has been bullied and shot at to pour all her energy into helping others. But Divine has been defying odds and expectations
Hope for a New Generation
Jenny Munezero was two months old the night the soldiers attacked, and the only one left alive in her family’s house. “To this day nobody knows why I wasn’t killed. […]
Creating New Narratives
When Naskah Zada immigrated from Iraq to the U.S. in the fall of 1997, she was expecting to eat pizza in front of a big-screen television in either a mansion […]
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
Speaking Out: From Poetry to Politics
Don’t let 17-year-old Belise Nishimwe’s petite stature fool you. Measuring in at just 4 feet 9.5 inches tall, she is bursting with confidence, charisma and big ideas
Finding His Footing on the Pitch
Wilondja Mashimango spent his childhood on the soccer field. One day on the pitch, he heard someone greet him and turned around to reply. However, what he
The Architect of Her Own Future
It was her birthday, an especially happy one because she got to see her mom. Johana Amani and her sister rarely saw their mother because
Doing Everything With Her Own Hands
Ayan Salat can teach you all about scorpions. She can make fluffy injera bread and cook meals for an entire household. Ayan could ghost-write your next
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 […]
A Candle in the Darkness
Dr. Baher Butti’s earliest memory dates from 1963, when he was just two years old. His uncle took him to visit his father in prison, where he was serving time
Choosing Survival, Again and Again
When your world is torn apart around you, you have to decide whether to give up or to keep going. Peter Magai Bul has had to make that decision a […]
Be Whoever You Want to Be
Like her journey as a refugee, becoming who she is today has not been easy for Irakoze Diane. That is why “Irakoze” is not just a name — it is 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.
Let Nothing Hold You Back
Beneath the star-studded sky of Makamba, Burundi, 6-month-old Olive Bukuru clung to her father’s hip as they fled on foot for roughly 100 miles to Tanzania.