Something To Be Proud Of
Felix Songolo does not remember much of what he left behind in Africa. His family left the Democratic Republic of Congo before he was born
Category: Survivor
A Lifetime Across Canvases
Even in primary school, Farooq Hassan remembers, “I would copy pictures of cartoons or pictures of kings and presidents of that time.”
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
Escaping Through the Back Door
When Eva Simons Rickles arrived home from school one day in November 1937, she was greeted by an unfamiliar nurse and was told her mother was sick in bed.
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,
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
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 […]
Come Up and Speak Up
When Hameda Dil Mohamed, 21, spoke in Pioneer Square last September at a rally in support of Rohingya refugees she hoped
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.
Rebuilding Her Life to Reconcile
One of Dijana’s earliest memories is of sleeping in the woods with her family. They weren’t camping for fun though — they were hiding. “We were attacked in Bosnia
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 […]
Starting Anew, Shaping a Future
Born in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon in 1975, two-year-old Vu Nguyen experienced what seemed to him at the time “the end of the world.” He, his five months […]
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.
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 […]