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
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.
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
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.
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.
I Had to Earn my Way
Dr. Rahel Nardos’ credentials as an M.D. from Yale are not enough for some people, who question her status as a medical professional
Broken Glass to Breakout Senior
In 2013, when a bomb exploded and shattered all the windows of 15-year-old Sara Mohamed’s classroom in Damascus, Syria, she better understood
Woman Without a Country
By the time Eman Abbas and her two sons made it to the United States in 2015, her Iraqi heritage had cost her admission to her dream school, a fair-paying […]
I am Here, and I am Not Sorry
“I will never be seen as an American. I don’t even know what being an American looks like. Is it being lighter? Is it having my hair out? Or is […]