Sankar Raman

Shall we Dance Bollywood?

DJ Prashant may look like a typical Indian immigrant, but if his dance moves are any evidence, his story has a quintessential Bollywood plot written all over it.

Sankar Raman

In Search for a Safe Haven

18-year-old Yasmin was walking to her bus stop on her way to school on Inauguration Day in January when she heard angry yelling behind her. As she turned to see […]

Sankar Raman

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 […]

Sankar Raman

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 […]

Sankar Raman

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.

Yuriana Aguilar

A Cardiac Scientist with Heart

In a country that has historically celebrated its scientific community, a scientist with an uncertain future is not that common. But Dr. Yuriana Aguilar is an undocumented

Sankar Raman

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 […]

Sankar Raman

To See the World Outside

As a young child, Naw Bi could see the mountains from afar.  She often dreamed of escaping the refugee camp where she lived and climbing them up,

Sankar Raman

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

Jean Paul was three years old when his family decided to flee their fertile home land in North Kivu in Congo.  The next seventeen years they

Sankar Raman

A Reunion in a New Land

Holding dreams and taking the steps to realize them has been a theme in Kemle’s family. For many years, her father dreamed of making a life in America. When the […]

Sankar Raman

A Future That is Yet to Come

Baghdad, during the ‘Iraqi Insurgency,’ was not a place to have a happy childhood. In 2007, at the height of its sectarian violence, it seemed as if everyone was fighting […]

Sankar Raman

Overcoming Fear and Opening Doors

The oldest child of Somali parents, Fowzia was born in Kenya and spent her early years there in east Africa. At the age of three, her family left the poverty […]

Sankar Raman

The American Dream Is Never Easy

Sumitra was born in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal “without a country and without an identity.” Beldangi I, where she was born and grew up, was one of seven […]

Sankar Raman

Going Up North to Pastures New

Growing up on his great grandfather’s ranch in a small rural farming town outside of Morelia in Michoacán, Mexico, was a typical rustic childhood for the 

Arabpour

On Becoming a Cardiologist

In 1983, Mehran Arabpour was a 17-year-old high school graduate with exceptional grades unwilling to settle in his native Iran. Having lost both his grandparent