Aida Abdul-Wali was born in Ethiopia. She has lived in Alexandria since 1980. She talks about leaving Ethiopia to the sound of machine-gun fire and escaping to Yemen and Egypt before finally reuniting with her mother in the United States. She discusses the differences in culture, schools, and food of the many places she has lived. Years later, she revisited all those places with her daughter.

Mehdi Aminrazavi, Philosophy of Religion Professor at Mary Washington University, was born on September 22nd, 1957 in Masshad, Iran. In the interview he recalls his youth in Iran up until his decision to pursue a college education in Seattle, Washington. He reflects on his first impression of Washington and how he adjusted to American culture. While Mehdi was studying at the University of Washington, the Iranian Revolution began. He explains his student activism and describes the effects the conflicts had on him and his family. About half-way through the interview Mehdi’s wife, Marylynn explains the manner Mehdi and other Iranian students were regarded in Seattle, Washington during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. In 1985, Mehdi and Marylynn moved to Alexandria, Virginia to start their family. He recalls his various jobs, raising his children multi-culturally, and participating in the developing Iranian community.

Vineeta Anand was born in India and has lived in Alexandria for twenty-seven years. During this interview she accounts growing up as the daughter of a military officer and her frequent moves within India. She discusses coming to the United States to attend graduate school for journalism, her subsequent job search, and her life in Philadelphia and then Alexandria. She explains how she has maintained her connection to India through Indian cooking, culture, and connection with family members, as well as staying involved in the neighborhood community of Del Ray in Alexandria.

Rodrigo A. Guajardo was born December 31, 1957 in Chile. He immigrated to the U. S. in 1980 fearing for his life living under the Augusto Pinochet regime. During the interview he recalls his childhood and youth, life under the Pinochet regime, his early struggles here, his involvement as a volunteer for twenty-four years with the City of Alexandria Police Department, his extensive work history, and his invention that, can significantly solve the problem of corrosion while providing jobs for thousands of people all over the world. He speaks passionately about the freedom he has enjoyed since coming to the U.S.

Maggie Holley has lived in Alexandria for more than twenty years. During the interview she discusses her childhood in Ireland, as well as leaving Ireland to volunteer in Guatemala and Honduras. She recalls moving to the United States and maintaining connections to Ireland, and talks about adopting her children from Guatemala and China.

Priscila Izar was born in São Paolo, Brazil, but has lived for several years in Alexandria with her husband and daughters. In the interview she talks about growing up in Brazil and earning her degree in urban planning. She discusses coming to the United States for her master’s degree, and then the time she and her husband spent working in South Africa, Brazil, and Albania before moving to Alexandria.

Irina Kosinski came to the United States to study. She grew up in a middle-class family in Novocherkassk, Russia, which is in the southern part of her homeland. Her mother was a university professor, and her father was a research scientist. Irina now works for the National Institutes of Health. Irina remembers her childhood as happy, with good, moderate weather. She is the middle child of three. Irina first came to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1994, when she was twenty years old, to work on her degree. After returning to Russia for two years, Irina moved to the United States permanently in 1996 to marry her husband, whom she met at Chapel Hill the first time she came to the United States. After five years, his architectural firm transferred him to Alexandria, Virginia, and they moved to Alexandria two weeks before the attacks on September 11, 2001. Irina loved Alexandria from her first time here and continues to enjoy her life here. She tries to maintain aspects of Russian culture by celebrating Russian Orthodox holidays, cooking Russian foods, and teaching her children the Russian language.

Myriam Lechuga, whose father was a Cuban diplomat and whose mother was a journalist, immigrated to the United States in 1967 when she was twelve years old. Ms. Lechuga recalls growing up in Havana, Cuba, and her journey to the United States with her mother and maternal grandparents. A long-time resident of Alexandria, she speaks of the challenges her family faced in their new location, her experience in Alexandria Public Schools when they desegregated, her college education, and her subsequent career. She also discusses possible plans for returning to Cuba to reconnect with family members who are still there.

Jonathan Liss was born December 11, 1958, in Brooklyn, New York. He has lived in Northern Virginia since he was approximately five years old. During the interview he recalls his childhood and ongoing work as a community organizer and advocate for immigrants and low-wage workers. He speaks passionately about causes such as affordable housing, workers’ rights, police violence, and voter rights in both Alexandria and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Barbara Lunati was born in Germany in 1964 and has lived in Alexandria for the past eighteen years. During the interview she recalls her youth, her love for the outdoors, and meeting her husband. Upon her arrival, she explains her first impressions of Alexandria, Virginia and the various ways she has remained connected to her German heritage. In response to a life changing event, she explains her decision to become an adoptive parent and the course she has taken to incorporate her daughter’s Chinese heritage in their home. Towards the latter part of the interview her daughter, Mia joins the conversation and recalls what her experiences have been learning about Chinese culture.

Narges Maududi was born in 1979 in Kabul, Afghanistan. She arrived to Alexandria, Virginia in 1991 as a refugee with her immediate family. During the interview she recalls her first impressions of Alexandria, her education starting in the sixth grade at Francis C. Hammond Middle School, and her various jobs within the city. Narges explains how her family has succeeded in remaining connected with not only each other, but their traditional culture and family traditions.

German Mejia was born in El Salvador. He first came to the United States in 1980. He worked in restaurants in Houston, Texas, and Washington, D.C., before creating his own restaurant, Los Tios, in Alexandria, Virginia.

Tu-Anh Nguyen was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam. In about 1984, after years of hiding from the Communists, Tu-Anh’s family escaped by boat and came to the United States. They lived first in New Orleans then joined family members in Alexandria Virginia. She went to school in Alexandria, then moved to New York for education and training in the fashion industry. In her first interview, Tu-Anh talks about growing up in the government-sponsored housing, helping other relatives get settled in the US, growing up here and going to New York for school, then her return to Alexandria.

In a second interview, Tu-Anh Nguyen talks about her time in Charlottesville working for a bridal gown designer. She also discusses moving on to New York City, where she struggled in the fashion industry, and finally finding her way back to Alexandria, where she opened her boutique in Old Town.

Nora Partlow, owner of St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in Del Ray, Alexandria, was born in 1949 in Cuba. She has lived in Alexandria since 1985. During the interview, she recalls growing up on her grandfather’s farm outside of Holguín, Cuba, before moving to New Jersey, attending school in the United States, getting married, and coming to Virginia to live her dream: running her own business, St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub.

Vasilios (Bill) Patrianakos was born in 1954 in Greece and has lived in the United States since 1969. He is the restaurateur of the Atlantis Pizzeria and Family Restaurant located at the Bradlee Shopping Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Bill recalls his childhood, growing up in Greece, and the events that led his family to move to the United States, as well as the beginning of establishing a family restaurant.

June Shih was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia by parents who immigrated to Alexandria from China and Taiwan. She worked as a speechwriter and went to law school before moving back to Alexandria to raise her own family. She recalls her parents’ life and school years in Alexandria, her time in China during college and after working for a newspaper, and moving back to raise her daughters and take care of her parents.

Evelin Urrutia was born in 1977 in El Salvador. Her mother immigrated to the U.S. in 1988 during the Civil War. Evelin and her sisters stayed in El Salvador until her mother was able to bring her to Alexandria. Her mother worked cleaning hotel rooms, and while Evelin recognizes how hard her mother worked, she decided that working as a cleaner wasn’t for her. So she concentrated on school. At the time Alexandria schools didn’t provide an environment for high achievers who spoke Spanish as their first language. Evelin and others organized to demand a bilingual guidance counselor. While in high school, Evelin began working at Popeye’s restaurant, where she worked for seven years, eventually becoming manager. Now she works for Tenants and Workers United, a grassroots organization. Evelin insists on a better life for her children.

Vaso Volioti was born in Cyprus on 1957 and immigrated to Alexandria, Virginia with her family in 1969. In this interview she discusses her extended family in Alexandria, her school years, cooking Greek-inspired Italian food, running her family's restaurant, and the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Her son John (Johnny) also talks about his mother's experience as an immigrant and adds his own thoughts on the situation in Cyprus and growing up in a bi-cultural household. Several other family members are occasionally present. Most do not speak often; Johnny's wife and other family members speak, but most are not identified by name.

Afomia Wendemagegn moved from Ethiopia to the United States with her parents when she was seven years old. She is now eighteen and about to graduate from high school. During the interview she recalls her early memories of living in Ethiopia, her school years in Alexandria, and several trips back to Ethiopia. She also shares her favorite Ethiopian foods and music.

Rhoda Worku was born in Ethiopia and migrated to the United States for asylum in the early 1980s. She was the first in her family to migrate here and she has a restaurant business.

In a second interview, Rhoda Worku talks about games she played growing up in Ethiopia, and her family’s role in Haile Selassie’s government. She talks about raising her two sons in Fairfax. She has a restaurant business and talks a little about cooking for the holidays.