Sankar Raman

Making Her Way in Art and the World

Surrounded by shimmering glass beads, a rainbow of colored fragments, and vibrant glass masterpieces in her studio-gallery, Kurumi Conley confesses,

Sankar Raman

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,

Sankar Raman

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,

Sankar Raman

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.  

Kim Oanh Nguyen

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.

Sankar Raman

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.

Sankar Raman

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 

Sankar Raman

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  

Sankar Raman

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 […]

Sankar Raman

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 […]

Paige Stoyer

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.

Sankar Raman

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.

Sankar Raman

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  

Sankar Raman

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  

Sankar Raman

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.