Sankar Raman

Tending a Garden and Her Dreams

Salsabel Al Masri’s garden was the center of her world. She and her five brothers spent every day after school chasing each other among the olive, orange, apple,

Sankar Raman

Giving Back to Move Forward

Ferrer has always had a driven mentality that leads him to make the best out of each situation that comes his way. “I can always learn

Sankar Raman

Believe in Yourself and Go the Distance

Elizabeth Flores always knew that it was up to her to solve her own problems.  “I realized pretty early in high school that I wasn’t going to get out of […]

Sankar Raman

From Zim Kid to COVID-19 Advisor

When Bukhosi Dube recently took a big pay cut to work as a physician at the Multnomah County Health Department, his goal was to ultimately find work in public

Desert to Oregon, a Paintbrush in Hand

Hussein Al-Baiaty was born in Iraq during the first Gulf War. To escape the dangerous living conditions, he and his family fled to a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia.

Determination Born in a Refugee Camp

During the 1990s, Bhutan’s policy of “One Nation, One People,” forced Nabin Dhimal, who was just a young child at the time, to leave his home with his family and […]

Woman Without a Country

As the daughter of an Iraqi, Eman Abbas and her family faced severe discrimination in her home country of Kuwait during the 1980s when the country enacted

Jim Lommasson

Shirt, Toajlaj Tectitán, Guatemala

Yesica Pérez Barrios: “THE SHORT BUT THE MOST SPECIAL STORY OF MY SHIRT” I will wear and care for this garment wherever I go, because just looking at it reminds […]

Sankar Raman

Expert in Languages at an Early Age

“Being American means hard work and being involved in your community,” says Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student Marcela Morales. 

Sankar

Britany Cano-Briceno

Britany Cano-Briceno is a freshman at Portland Community College with the eventual goal of pursuing a degree in social work at Portland State University. 

Sankar Raman

Seeking out the “How”

“Being settled is such a privilege. But when you’re new (somewhere), every second is a thinking second,” says Mekdes Hilete, describing the feeling of becoming a

Sankar Raman

Learning to See a Future

“I’m never going to get out of this place,” AyeChan May thought as a young teenager. In Mae Ra Moe refugee camp in Thailand where she grew up, she saw […]

Sankar Raman

Dora Totoian

Dora Totoian is a senior at the University of Portland, majoring in Spanish and political science and minoring in gender and women’s studies. She has worked  

Sankar Raman

Going Public with My Story

For many years, Xiomara Torres avoided telling people she had come into the US as an undocumented immigrant. “There’s so much shame with knowing you were

Sankar Raman

The Journey of a Lifetime

When 25-year-old Nader Rezvani saw the Statue of Liberty from a tourist boat in 1963, he recalled the poem inscribed on the statue’s pedestal and thought,