Bersabeh Ray

Glad to be here.

Glad to be here.

Glad to be here.

Let's see, the formative years, it was full of violence. One of my first childhood memories is bombs being dropped in our neighborhood. Imagine you go out in your street, count five houses down and having a bomb drop on it. And it was missiles dropping or missiles being shot out or gunshots or people being killed.

Let's see, the formative years, it was full of violence. One of my first childhood memories is bombs being dropped in our neighborhood. Imagine you go out in your street, count five houses down and having a bomb drop on it. And it was missiles dropping or missiles being shot out or gunshots or people being killed.

Let's see, the formative years, it was full of violence. One of my first childhood memories is bombs being dropped in our neighborhood. Imagine you go out in your street, count five houses down and having a bomb drop on it. And it was missiles dropping or missiles being shot out or gunshots or people being killed.

And it was around the same time, close to, that the whole so-called revolution happened in Iran. where the Islamic Republic took over. And so when they took over, they started giving a very hard time to people who were Baha'is, Jewish, Christians, throwing them in prison, raping the women, killing people. I mean, it was a horrific scene. And given we couldn't...

And it was around the same time, close to, that the whole so-called revolution happened in Iran. where the Islamic Republic took over. And so when they took over, they started giving a very hard time to people who were Baha'is, Jewish, Christians, throwing them in prison, raping the women, killing people. I mean, it was a horrific scene. And given we couldn't...

And it was around the same time, close to, that the whole so-called revolution happened in Iran. where the Islamic Republic took over. And so when they took over, they started giving a very hard time to people who were Baha'is, Jewish, Christians, throwing them in prison, raping the women, killing people. I mean, it was a horrific scene. And given we couldn't...

The military kicked down our door and took my father and threw him in prison. And the prison sentence there is that you may not come out. It's a death sentence. My mother was raped by the guards there. I was also experienced sexually abused by the same system. Parents are not there. So that environment, not only because of everything I just described, on top of that, women don't have any rights.

The military kicked down our door and took my father and threw him in prison. And the prison sentence there is that you may not come out. It's a death sentence. My mother was raped by the guards there. I was also experienced sexually abused by the same system. Parents are not there. So that environment, not only because of everything I just described, on top of that, women don't have any rights.

The military kicked down our door and took my father and threw him in prison. And the prison sentence there is that you may not come out. It's a death sentence. My mother was raped by the guards there. I was also experienced sexually abused by the same system. Parents are not there. So that environment, not only because of everything I just described, on top of that, women don't have any rights.

You can't work. You can't get an education. You couldn't go to school. So all of that led us to leave the country. There's no life for a human being to have any sovereignty there. And the way you got out was you had to find people to smuggle you out of the country. So you had to escape. And we found some people that we had to pay and they smuggled us out of the country.

You can't work. You can't get an education. You couldn't go to school. So all of that led us to leave the country. There's no life for a human being to have any sovereignty there. And the way you got out was you had to find people to smuggle you out of the country. So you had to escape. And we found some people that we had to pay and they smuggled us out of the country.

You can't work. You can't get an education. You couldn't go to school. So all of that led us to leave the country. There's no life for a human being to have any sovereignty there. And the way you got out was you had to find people to smuggle you out of the country. So you had to escape. And we found some people that we had to pay and they smuggled us out of the country.

And then at night, through the desert, at the risk of being killed, we made it out and we had to live in Pakistan for almost two years to be able to get our visas, our legal visas. Aliens to be able to come to the States. And when we came to the States, given that parents had to work full time jobs, they weren't never there and the we didn't have a very good income.

And then at night, through the desert, at the risk of being killed, we made it out and we had to live in Pakistan for almost two years to be able to get our visas, our legal visas. Aliens to be able to come to the States. And when we came to the States, given that parents had to work full time jobs, they weren't never there and the we didn't have a very good income.

And then at night, through the desert, at the risk of being killed, we made it out and we had to live in Pakistan for almost two years to be able to get our visas, our legal visas. Aliens to be able to come to the States. And when we came to the States, given that parents had to work full time jobs, they weren't never there and the we didn't have a very good income.

So the neighborhoods we lived in were there were bad areas. And given that I was raised by the television and my environment, I got into gang behaviors and so forth. So I went down the wrong paths of doing drugs and drinking and so forth. And the time, and I'll fast forward just a bit, when I met James, he had just recently gotten out of prison.

So the neighborhoods we lived in were there were bad areas. And given that I was raised by the television and my environment, I got into gang behaviors and so forth. So I went down the wrong paths of doing drugs and drinking and so forth. And the time, and I'll fast forward just a bit, when I met James, he had just recently gotten out of prison.