Building a Home and a New Life
Neither Govinda nor Januka ever expected to own a house. Govinda Dhimal and his wife Januka Bokhrel both grew up in refugee camps in Nepal.
Tag: American Dream
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 […]
Undocumented and Unafraid
When Efrain first sauntered into his AP literature class in high school, something triggered him: He noticed that he was the only student of color in the room.
Leaving Cuba for a Brighter Future
In 2011 at 16, when Ruben left the bright, sunny and festive Santiago de Cuba for an unfamiliar life in Portland, Oregon it was bittersweet.
In Limbo O’Er the Land of the Free
Depressed and undocumented, Jhoana knew she needed to change her life around. Born in Pachuca, Mexico in 1991, Jhoana grew up in a small house that her
Feminist Blooms Under the Headscarf
For Hanin, wearing a hijab and being a feminist go hand-in-hand. The 18-year-old Forest Grove college student, born in Saudi Arabia, has lived in the United States
It is the Only Way to Succeed
Alejandro was barely 10 years old when his father died. He was devastated, his world suddenly turned upside down. Alejandro was born in 1980 in Bryan, Texas.
The Best Of Both Worlds
When her 10-year-old daughter asked her, “What will happen to us? Will we be shipped out?” Sabina neither knew what to say or how to respond to her when she […]
The Marathon Continues
For Carlos, getting a kidney transplant at the age of 20 was probably the most difficult time of his life. But his hardships did not start there. His earliest childhood […]
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