Pursuing dreams

Teens Jyoti, Fatuma and Win immigrated to the United States with their families, where they had to overcome lingual, cultural and social obstacles to succeed. Pursuing Dreams is a series of stories of overcoming odds. That of survival, resilience, and cross-cultural friendships. Stories in this series will highlight moments where opportunity was unlocked and a challenge overcome. At Refugee Transitions, we work with refugee and immigrant clients every day who have stories that follow this arc.

Pursuing Dreams follows three young immigrants to the United States who have settled in the Bay Area with their families. Jyoti, Fatuma and Win share stories of overcoming odds and stories of survival, resilience, and cross-cultural friendships. The students, originally from Bhutan, Somalia and Myanmar, highlight moments where opportunity was unlocked and a challenge overcome. All three students and their families benefitted from programs by Refugee Transitions, a community-based nonprofit agency serving high-need, low-income refugee, asylee, and immigrant newcomers from over 50 countries. Working closely with home-based and after school tutors, all three students not only began to succeed in school, but began to see the Bay Area as home.

Now more than ever, it's important to get to know our newcomers and welcome them to our country. These students are AMAZING and are working hard to make their communities stronger. It was a privilege to help them tell their stories.