Just Waiting for a Miracle
“Just waiting for miracles. That was pretty much my day,” Marceline Washikala reflects on her life growing up in a series of refugee camps.
Tag: Story
Standing Against Injustice
As a young boy growing up in the unrecognized African state of Rhodesia, Tapiwa Kapurura was faced with injustice. He was born in the town of Mount Darwin
A Focus on the Possible
For Emiliano Ruelas Sosa, the doors to the American dream began to close when he was 15. Due to his legal status he was not allowed to get his driver’s […]
Life Through Her Eyes
For 98-year-old Bertha Lee Saiget, Portland’s Chinatown is more than a mark on a map or a tourist destination. Its history is her life, and she has borne witness to […]
Creating Peace Amid Conflict
Djimet Dogo will never forget seeing the boy, no more than 8 years old, who had been whipped by a soldier until he was bleeding from the chest.
A Rebellion Against Silence
Sindy Avila-Gutierrez looks back undaunted on her life as an undocumented immigrant. “I’ve always been a rebel in that way,” she says. “You tell me
Struggling to Stay in the U.S. of A.
Sometimes persistence pays off–especially when wending one’s way through the morass of the U.S. immigration system. Zhou Fang learned this lesson first-hand
East-West Encounters
The first time Susan Chan saw snow was also the first time she spent a winter in the United States, away from her childhood home in Hong Kong.
Choosing the Road Less Traveled
From the start, Barbie Wu was determined to forge her own path. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1986, she comes from a family of scientists.
A Lifetime of Listening
One of Margaret Stewart Clark’s earliest memories is of sitting, at age two or three, with her sister, who was blind, as the older girl taught Clark how to
Finding Identity in Resilience
Looking back on the many changes in her life, Sara Houranpay likes to quote her father’s advice: “When life throws you down, you get up,
Past Passions, New Horizons
For Ningshu Fang, the lessons that her grandmother taught her as a child are an invaluable part of who she has been, and who she has become. “She was a […]
Spreading Love Through Coffee
When Hector Mejia Zamora lost his father, he made a bargain with God. “I was only fourteen,” he says, “But I told God that if he gave me my dad […]
Portland Ukrainians’ Plea
Fighting back tears at a rally she organized a few days after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tatiana Terdal still managed to draw laughs from the 300
A Musician’s Education
As he was relaxing on the beach at sunset, beer in hand, Gerardo Calderon Garcia was startled when a stranger approached. After a short conversation, the stranger