Mayra Pelagio was one of the storytellers during Welcome Week in San Jose. Her story begins in a village of 800 in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. Surrounded by nature and unpaved roads, streams and birds, Mayra pursued environmental studies in the US. Currently she works for an immigrant rights agency. Read More »
Sameh Khalatbari is a San Francisco Bay Area based Artist, born in Tehran Iran in January 1980. Sameh is a Contemporary Surrealist painter, teacher and entrepreneur. Her art reveals her life experience and thoughts often incorporating familiar Persian traditional symbols. Here she tells the story of why she decided to stay in the US as ... Read More »
Margaret Petros’ family is Assyrian Christian and they noted ominous changes soon after Saddam Hussein took power in Iraq. At school Margaret had been in a class on Christianity while her Muslim classmates attended a class on Islam, but suddenly the class in Christianity was cancelled and she was given a Koran to study. Neighbors were fleeing in the night ... Read More »
Toukhig Arabian tells of her family’s harrowing escape from war-torn Aleppo, Syria, and how they are rebuilding their lives in the US. She was one of five storytellers at a Media Center event in May, 2018, from different countries who had to leave due to violence or repression and build new lives. Read More »
Ever is a teacher who was one of our featured storytellers at the “Walk of DREAMers” event. He shares personal stories of what it is like to grow up undocumented – facing loss and disappointment while determining to to keep his dreams alive. After two major setbacks, Ever opens a new door that gives him freedom and hope. Read More »
Myriam was one of our featured storytellers at the “Walk of DREAMers” event in April 2017. She’s a high school student in Redwood City and an active member of the Dream Club there. She wonders about a classmate from the Republican Club who gives her pause. Read More »
Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca is a resident of East Palo Alto with her husband and 17 month old daughter. She is The Founder and CEO of Dreamers Roadmap a mobile app that helps Undocumented students find scholarships for college. Her passion is to connect people to information needed to make them happy and successful. In this video she tells some stories ... Read More »
Karolina is a high school student who works as many hours as she can at a grocery store. She’s not saving money to buy a car or a prom dress. She’s working to help her family survive. Karolina was one of the storytellers at our “Walk of DREAMers” event and here is her emotion-filled video. To view the other five ... Read More »
Dey Rose was one of 8 featured storytellers at the Media Center’s salon called “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys.” Her story, recorded in this 10 minute video, is about her grandmother. She has also submitted this story in writing here. Dey is an instructor in the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Read More »
Chike Nwoffiah was one of 8 featured storytellers at the Media Center’s salon called “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys.” His story, recorded in this 10 minute video, is “Reflections of a Nigerian American: A Third Identity.” Chike is an adjunct professor at Menlo College, director of plays and films, and founder of the Oriki Theater in Mountain View. Read More »