Sankar Raman

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling

The Honorable Chanpone Sinlapasai does not know when she was born. Her Lao tribe did not document any life cycle events. For her American immigration paperwork, 

I’m Not Supposed to Be Here

Chanpone Sinlapasai was born in war-torn Laos and came to the US at age four. As a child acting as interpreter for her parents, she soon realized  

Sankar Raman

Call Me Dr. Olive Bukuru

When Olive Bukuru was six months old her and her family fled their home country of Burundi in search of a safe life. They ended up in a refugee camp 

Jim Lommasson

Painted Letter #2, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: This is the second letter from Peter, expressing the joy he felt to receive my parents’ response to his first letter written from Shanghai. 

Jim Lommasson

Painted Letter #1, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: Jou and Peter’s Departure (Text below the letter) This picture depicts the exodus of friends of my parents who had to flee from Germany in 1938

Jim Lommasson

Document, Myo Thu Gyi, Burma

Mohammad Ali: This is my Family Registration Card which the Myanmar Immigration and Population Department issued.  Description about the Registration  

Jim Lommasson

Dog Wippi, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: My beloved friend and “canine sibling” in Berlin was my dog “Wippi” ~ the name a shortened version of the German word for “tail wagger.”  

Jim Lommasson

Photo, Battambang, Cambodia

Sivheng Ung: Picture of me and my siblings, 1973. Bettambang.  It’s a very rare survival picture of us, taken during my senior year.  

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

Baby Clothes, Damascus, Syria

Rama Youssef: When I was 12 years old and getting ready to move to America, I made sure to bring this jumper with me. All my older sisters wore it […]

Jim Lommasson

Ceremony Bowl, Cambodia

Sivheng Ung: My mother’s silver ceremony bowl.  This kind of silver bowl, my mom used it to collect blessing water or for special occasions such as weddings  

Makka Djibrine

Competition From Within

Education is a prized commodity for Makka Djibrine Khatir. But it hasn’t always been this way. Indeed, for most of her early life, education was the same as suffering.

Brooke Hoyer

It’s All a Matter of Perspective

His left arm lay dangling from his body. The angle was alarming–entirely unnatural. His midsection was in shreds, ripped apart by Serbian shrapnel that had punctured  

Nothing Else But Miracles

Samir was a teenager in love, his days full of farm chores, school and walking his girlfriend home. When war came to his corner of northeastern Bosnia,  

John Rudoff

There is Surviving and There is Living

Saron Khut was only ten years old when he and his family fled the Khmer Rouge-led genocide in Cambodia. His mother’s strength and a key decision one scary