Sankar Raman

Music that Lifts the Spirit

When you think of courageous living, playing music is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But Dijana Ihas, a professional musician and refugee

Jim Lommasson

Coffee Pot & Grinder, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Imam Abdulah Polovina: In this photo you can see an old traditional handmade coffee bean grinder and the traditional coffee called “dzezva” for making Bosnian  

Jim Lommasson

Photographs, Ngoma, Rwanda

Emmanuel Turaturanye: My family my Pride Daddy was killed on 9 April 1994 I carry this picture because it keeps his memory and spirit alive in me.

Jim Lommasson

Photographs, Chongkal, Cambodia

Saron Khut: In 1980 my mother, my sister and I escaped Cambodia carrying only a few things, as we walked to the Lumpook refugee camp in Thailand.  

Jim Lommasson

Qur’an, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Imam Abdulah Polovina: This is the opening part of the holy Qur’an that I brought with me from Bosnia and Herzegovina where it shows my birth

Jim Lommasson

Books, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Imam Abdulah Polovina: This is the photo of an old collection of Mawlid poems and recitations. The term Mawlid is part of the daily vocabulary of the Muslim population  

Jim Lommasson

Wedding Photograph, Rwanda

Emmanuel Turaturanye: My father preached that Easter Sunday, April 3, 1994 The genocide started that Thursday, April 7. My family was killed the following day, 

Jim Lommasson

Viola, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

Dijana Ihas: This is the photo of my viola that my parents bought for me when I was 14 years young. I carried this instrument first, for 7 hours  

Sankar Raman

Jewish Children Please Stand Up

Leslie and Eva Aigner’s childhood were marked by horror. Born in different parts of Czechoslovakia as Nazi soldiers took hold, the two took very different paths to  

John Rudoff

The Elusive Feeling of Safety

It was dark when they left. They walked and walked, women, children, parents, elders, through the woods, up hills, until his feet hurt and his grandfather had to scoop

Sankar Raman

Be a Blade of Grass, Not a Tall Tree

Among a total of 13 siblings, it was Sivheng who most resembled their father. Kilin Ung  was a businessman who traded in the teak and rosewood

Sankar Raman

Love in the Midst of Mayhem

It was a simple wedding and, but for the bombs exploding outside, a quiet one. She wore a plain gray skirt, a white blouse and a white hijab befitting a […]

Paul Fardig

Escaping Through the Back Door

When Eva Simons Rickles arrived home from school one day in November 1937, she was greeted by an unfamiliar nurse and was told her mother was sick in bed.