Many Roads to Here

Balamurali Balu, who goes by Bala, immigrated to the United States from Southern India. He completed his PhD at Georgia Tech.  Landed his dream job at Intel in Portland, Oregon. Married the woman he loved. And had two young daughters. He was what his family called “settled”, living the life his parents had always wanted for him. But six years into his career, he was burnt out and he missed doing t...

Mitzi Asai Loftus and her son Toby talk frankly about her memories of growing up in Hood River, Oregon; her childhood incarceration  in a Japanese-American internment camp; dating and racism; changing and reclaiming names; and what it means to grow up mixed-race. Please note this episode contains mentions of suicide as well as racial slurs against Asian-Americans. Mitzi was born in Hood River, Ore...

Sindy Avila Gutierrez was born in Morelos, Mexico. At the age of two, she was brought to the United States to live with her parents in Oregon. Arriving without formal paperwork,  Sindy's family was considered "undocumented." Without any legal protections, they faced hardships and uncertainty. These experiences fueled a fire in Sindy, who became an advocacy leader in the growing movement for DACA,...

Twenty-one-year-old Samir Mustafic was in the small orchard behind his home in Bosnia when Serbian bombs rained down upon his family’s property. His mother and sister died in the bombing on June 30, 1993, 14 months into the Bosnian war. Mustafic’s injuries were so severe that few gave him any chance of survival. But a series of unlikely events—miracles or coincidences, depending on one’s perspecti...

Portland artist Roberta Wong is the daughter and granddaughter of Chinese immigrants. She grew up partly in Chinatown, itself a product of segregation. She spent her childhood developing close ties to her heritage. As she grew up, she experienced racism firsthand, as well as the decline of Chinatown and the cultural history that is maintained there. Through art and volunteerism, Roberta now seeks...

Chanpone Sinlapasai was born in Laos during a bloody civil war, and narrowly escaped to the US with her family at just four years old. Her experiences growing up in the United States have now propelled her into a staunch advocate of immigrant rights in her community.  Many Roads to Here is a production of The Immigrant Story.  This episode was produced by Natalia Lopez Audio editing was done by Gr...

Ghaith Shahib fled Iraq as the United States prepared to invade his country. Instead of finishing high school, he left home on a harrowing journey across the globe  in search of safety and a life away from conflict. It’s been years now since Ghaith has felt the confrontation of war in his daily life, but an unexpected incident in the relative comfort of the city he now calls home, brings a new per...

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is one of the nation’s leading scholars of Islam in the United States. In this conversation, he sat down with writer and educator   Flamur Vehapi  to talk about the often ignored presence of Muslims in American history, from Revolution-era figures to Beyonce’s children’s names. Many Roads to Here is a production of The Immigrant Story. Many thanks to Kambiz and Flamur for thei...

Emmanuel Turaturanye was born and raised in a small town in Rwanda called Ngoma. His whole life he was taught by his parents to love and respect everyone,  regardless of their background.  At an early age, he learned that wasn’t true for everyone. Out of the 11 people in his household, he was one of three that survived when the Rwandan genocide took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in...

Saron Khut was only ten years old when he and his family fled the Khmer Rouge-led genocide in Cambodia. His mother’s strength and a key decision one scary  night to take a risk for freedom has guided his sense of purpose ever since. Many Roads to Here is a production of The Immigrant Story, a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon. This episode was written by Degen Larkin and Fran Silverman. Our audi...

Originally from Taiwan, Janet Liu's family spent years trying to build a home together in the United States despite restrictive immigration policies at that time.  Janet had always wanted an opportunity to build a relationship with her father, who had left to study in the United States when she was only four years old. After six years, they were finally able to reunify and connect, until a single...

Sara Houranpay describes herself as a child of the revolution. She grew up during the Iranian Revolution. Her family fled to the United States,  hoping for greater freedom. But they instead found themselves again at the center of conflict, when the protests of summer 2020 threatened their family livelihood. Many Roads to Here is a production of The Immigrant Story.  This episode was produced by Ma...

In the early 1900s, Rani Bagai’s grandparents arrived in California ready to start a new life. But citizenship requirements and prejudice against   Indian-Americans made settling in more difficult. In this conversation, historian Johanna Ogden speaks with Rani about her grandparents’ fraught immigration history, anti-colonial movements on the American West Coast, and how the goalposts for American...

Growing up in the bohemian beach town of Encinitas, near San Diego, California, Priti Gandhi showed early interest in music and performance.  But she was a first born child in an Indian immigrant family that placed high value on job security, so a career in the arts was not even a consideration. In college, Priti signed up for voice lessons to counter the demands of her journalism courses. The mom...

Welcome to Many Roads In Conversation, where we look deeply at issues affecting communities within the United States. This inaugural series focuses on the roots  of anti-Asian violence. Joining us for the third episode are Dmae Lo Roberts and Patti Duncan, who talk about growing up mixed race in America, as well as the politics, terminology, and gender issues surrounding mixed race families. Dmae...

Rama Youssef was 12 years old when she left Syria, escaping violence caused by the beginning of the Syrian Civil War. But life didn’t get easier for Rama when  she arrived in the United States. Conflict followed her from a young age and she had to learn how to overcome fear and trauma to create a new life. A content warning: this episode contains descriptions of war and violence that may be sensit...

Belise Nishimwe was 5 years old when she arrived in the U.S. She was born in a Tanzanian refugee camp, the daughter of genocide survivors. In 2007, her family moved to the United States as refugees. Their new home would be Portland, Oregon. In her first moments in the United States, Belise noticed a man writing. She was captivated by the movement of the pen. This pen would become a metaphor for Be...

Leslie and Eva Aigner’s childhood were marked by horror. Born in different parts of Czechoslovakia as Nazi soldiers took hold, the two took very different paths to  survival; both were saved by their families’ strength, shocking kindness by strangers at key moments, and their own inner audacity to survive. Leslie Aigner died in August of 2021. We are grateful to be able to share his story with you...

Ricki was born in 1993 in Quzhou, China, but was adopted when she was four years old by a White American family living in Seatac, Washington.  For the rest of her childhood, Ricki would be raised in SeaTac, Washington, with eight siblings. Her roots would eventually lead her back to China and her birth family in a series of life changing events. In this remarkable journey of self-discovery, Ricki...

Liani Reeves spent the first months of her life in an orphanage in Seoul, South Korea, before an American family adopted her. She describes her early years as those of a typical American childhood – she loved cats, building snow forts and playing outside with friends. But Liani was also very angry. She battled deep-seated fears of abandonment. And over the years, buried a mix of emotions while try...

Welcome to Many Roads In Conversation, where we look deeply at issues affecting communities within the United States. This inaugural series focuses on the roots  of anti-Asian violence. Joining us for the second episode are Peggy Nagae and Chris Ling, who talk about major civil rights cases and legislation in American history. In this episode, we will hear two voices in dialogue, talking through m...

Farzad Larki was born in Iran prior to the Revolution. He grew up in a comfortable middle class family, but when the Shah was overthrown, everything changed.  Between 1979 and 1996, Farzad, his parents, and his siblings all emigrated to the U.S., though each family member traveled a very different path. Farzad’s journey was the longest. From Southern Iran to Portland, Oregon, Farzad’s voyage spann...

In middle school, Yamini Rajan dealt with bullying, isolation, and a sick parent. Her mental health suffered, and destructive habits and self-harm nearly ended her life.  As she healed, she committed to telling others about her story. Now Yamini helps start conversations about mental health in immigrant communities. A note to listeners: this episode contains references to suicide and self-harm. Ma...

Reza Uddin was born in the epicenter of the Burmese government’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims. For the first years of his life,  Reza wasn’t aware of the institutionalized discrimination against the Rohingya. And then, when Reza was in high school, the Burmese government began denying citizenship to its Rohingya population. When he graduated college, Reza’s father gave him a...

It took Dr. Elizabeth Flores through high school, college, and medical school to really understand herself. Born in America, raised in Mexico,  her identity is wrapped up in both places. As it turned out, the physical United States was never her final destination. Many Roads to Here is a production of The Immigrant Story, in collaboration with Portland Radio Project. This episode was written by St...