“Did you ever wonder about living anywhere else outside your hometown?” I innocently asked my father. “Yes” he replied. A middle-class family would often visit his neighborhood every six months and they arrived in a pick-up truck. They came from San Antonio, Morelos Chihuahua located in the Western Sierra Madre. This family had a farm and my father always wanted ... Read More »
What was your life like in Ethiopia? Saba (name changed) was born in 1982 to loving parents in the capital city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. The city name, translated from Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia) to English means new flower. The city name is apropos as Saba’s essence reminds me of a new flower by shedding beauty and ... Read More »
Tom Chiu is a first-generation immigrant who has lived in the Bay Area for more than 40 years. He is currently a resident of San Jose. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chiu came to the U.S. on a F1 student Visa after graduating from high school. Tom later graduated from San José State University. His career path has been ... Read More »
Herlinda Zavala’s story is one of passion and determination captured both in her personality and how she maintains her small business in cosmetology while also giving back to her community, family, and friends. Zavala lives in San Jose, California and migrated to the United States from Zapotitlán Jalisco, Mexico at the age of ten with her family via a temporary ... Read More »
Carlos Da Silva is a humble man who is proud of the work he and his family have done here in Santa Clara County, including actively supporting and contributing to the Portuguese community. As a nine-year-old child, Carlos came to the U.S. from Portugal with his parents in the 1950s. In Portugal, Carlos’s family owned ... Read More »
Some folks become lawyers because it is a profession that runs in the family, others find their way into the legal field through a different path. Byron Abraham Suarez, Deputy District Attorney for the County of Santa Clara, remembers that he and his sister served as translators for their parents, like many immigrant children, both even trying to explain contracts and ... Read More »
Robert is a first-generation Laotian refugee who has reached his American Dream of owning his home, being active in his children’s lives and saving for his children’s future. He has overcome many obstacles in order to be where he is now–working as a Chief Of Construction Services. He began his journey here in San Jose, where he attended primary schooling and then started working when he was ... Read More »
Kareem Khogali’s Story Abdelkareem Khogali is originally from the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt where he lived with his mother and younger sister until 2017. He grew up in an apartment residing in a compound with a tightknit community and went to school with the same children all throughout elementary and high school. It would have been ... Read More »
Amy Martinez came to the United States on a bus as a small child with her family. They all had misconceptions about life here, believing that everyone would be wealthy. Amy’s parents came to the United States to seek a better life for their children, so Amy and her siblings have a strong sense of ... Read More »
Don Long came to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam when he was a child. In reflecting on his journey prior to coming to this country, he talks about images from a refugee camp that was very crowded with over 30,000 individuals in a limited space that restricted their freedom. Although ... Read More »