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 »
Tracy Nguyen was born and raised in San Jose. Growing up with refugee parents from Vietnam largely defines who she is today: a driven community organizer with a creative, entrepreneurial spirit. Tracy received a B.A. in Media Studies and Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley. Tracy’s story grapples with the meaning of the war ... Read More »
Dr Lynn Ngo is a clinical assistant professor at Stanford medical school, practicing internal medicine. She considers herself a melting pot of Vietnamese, Chinese and American. Her story includes an escape for Vietnam and over a year in a refugee camp before coming to the US. She spoke at a Welcome Week event in September 2019 ... 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 »
Quy Lee tells a gripping story of his escape by boat from Viet Nam, along with 264 passengers he took along. Also, time in a Malaysian Refugee Camp, followed by a new life in the USA. Quy was part of a storytelling event called “When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Stories of Escape and Refuge.” It was co-sponsored by the ... Read More »
Ghezae Kidane tells his story to an audience in Palo Alto. He fled his home country of Eritrea when his stint in the national service looked never-ending. He is part of a mass exodus of young Eritreans who have become frustrated with the arbitrary rules of their “President-for-Life.” They risk their lives to escape. AUnited Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded ... Read More »
Rona Popal shares her story with an audience in Palo Alto, CA – about leaving Afghanistan and beginning from scratch in the US. When the Soviet Army marched into Kabul it meant the end of life as she and her family knew it. Her work with successive waves of Afghan refugees in Fremont, California is sobering and emotional. So too, ... 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 »
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 »
Dulce chose a college that was about as far from her environment and comfort-zone as she could imagine….and what a great choice it turned out to be. Dulce was born in Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico and immigrated to the Bay Area when they were 8 years old. Dulce’s family settled in Hayward, which is where Dulce attended middle school and high ... Read More »