Stories
Indian Immigrant Fosters and Shares Indian Culture in the Community By Founding a Monthly Print Magazine
In 1986 at age 23, Vandana Kumar left India to marry a fellow Indian immigrant in San Jose. It was a tough transition. “I felt so lonely, and I longed for the sights and sounds of home,” she says. Then her brother-in-law invited her to a traveling exhibition about India. Read More
Mexican Immigrant Advocates for Immigrant Rights Through Poetry and Storytelling
In 1988 when Yosimar Reyes was three, his family brought him from Mexico to San Jose. Though undocumented, he felt at home in the city’s Kollmar neighborhood and especially in his apartment complex, where the majority of residents were immigrants. “I loved the communal feeling of the apartments and my… Read More
Vietnamese Refugee Invests in Future Generations to Help Them Grow Up as Successful Vietnamese and Americans
In 1981, 16-year-old Quyen Vuong and her family came to America as Vietnamese refugees. They took a harrowing sea journey, encountered Thai pirates and nearly capsized. Then, once the family arrived in the states, they were constantly at risk of eviction. “My dad worked at a convenience store, and my… Read More
Canadian Immigrant Finds a Welcoming Home in Fort Wayne
Vivianne Belanger had a comfortable upper-middle-class upbringing in Montreal, became an accomplished flute player, and earned a bachelor’s degree in musical performance at McGill. After graduating in 2008, she came to the United States to continue her studies at DePaul University with the principal flautist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Read More
Immigrant from the Dominican Republic Constructed Vibrant Architecture Firm in Greater Salem, and Lays the Foundation for Other Young People to Pursue a Career in Architecture
Darguin Fortuna grew up on his grandparents’ rice farm in the Dominican Republic, but threw himself into schoolwork to pursue a degree in architecture. At 20, he was two years into that program when he and his mother received green cards. “My mom had first applied years before, and… Read More
Cameroonian Immigrant and Family Plant Resilient Roots in Massachusetts
Cameroonian-born and French-educated computer scientist, Laurier Hamidou Tabayi, received a diversity visa in 2011, and arrived in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. But it wasn’t the transition she expected. The visa program provided no guidance about how to get established with housing or work. Soon after arriving, for… Read More
Mexican Immigrant Founds Food Business
When Gretel Barrita was ten, her parents divorced. Her mother, a restaurant cook in Oaxaca, México, moved to the United States for more opportunities, leaving her three children, including Barrita, in the care of family. “It was heartbreaking,” she said. “I missed my mother terribly.” So, at 15, Barrita crossed… Read More
El Salvadorian Immigrant Invests in Community to Make Santa Fe Welcoming for All
When Ana Magaña was 12, her family fled civil war in their native El Salvador. “My mother was worried that we would be killed if we stayed,” she said. However, Magaña faced significant challenges coming to the United States. She didn’t speak English and couldn’t read or write in Spanish. Read More
Mexican Immigrant Helps Secure Sick Days for Everyone in Santa Fe, Regardless of Immigration Status
In 2005, Verónica Velázquez and her husband moved to the United States from the rural state of Michoacán, México, for better opportunities. They landed in California but had trouble finding work. “I wanted to be able to send money back to my family in Mexico,” she said. But “no one… Read More
Guatemalan Immigrant Works to Secure a Safe and Humane Environment for All Workers in Santa Fe
Iris Madely Alay was born to a single mother in rural Escuintla, Guatemala, and dropped out of school at age ten to help raise her siblings. “I liked school, but I had to leave,” she said. “I had a sad childhood because I didn’t have my father around, and my… Read More
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