Oballa Oballa, a native of Ethiopia, is the child of civil war.

“We were the minority; and the minority are nothing, they do not exist” in his native country, he told a crowded audience at Riverland Community College on Tuesday.

His government worked to displace his people, grabbing land and killing those who opposed it.

“I watched my uncle die in front of me; I kept asking, ‘Why are we being killed?’” he said.

Oballa’s story was one of several heard at the “Immigrant Voices, Immigrant Stories” event, held as part of the Welcoming Week in Austin.

It was sponsored by Riverland Student Senate, Multicultural Club, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and the Austin Human Rights Commission. The event is part of a national Welcoming Week designed to bring immigrants and U.S.-born residents together to raise awareness of the benefits of welcoming everyone, including new Americans.

On hand to offer comments were Riverland multicultural adviser, Edelgard Fernandez, Riverland President Adenuga Atewologun, Chief Diversity Officer and Director of Institutional Effectiveness Dani Heiny, and Jason Baskin, head of the Austin Human Rights Commission.

Henry Morris, dean of institutional diversity at Minnesota State University, Mankato, also spoke. He praised Riverland and Atewologun for being a voice for diversity, and welcoming students of different cultures.

The stories told by students were both disturbing and hopeful.

After time in Kenya, Oballa had a chance to come to the U.S. Today, he is a RCC student, head of the college’s Student Senate, and a member of the Austin Human Rights Commission.

He has refused to be intimidated by challenges of a different language and culture. One of the first things he did, he said, was visit the Austin police station and City Hall.

“I did not want to be that kid that someone looked at me and saw ‘crime,’” he said. “I want to go outside and make my mother think I will be safe, and do something positive … a kid who can change someone’s life.”

“I want to be a positive voice for those who cannot speak for the themselves,” he added.

Jonathan Sandoval, from Mexico, echoed the thought.

“(To be in America) has been such a great experience … it has given such opportunities, not only to me with an education, but to my parents, a job, and a house, to have a roof. They did this for us.”

“My parents want us to achieve the stars,” he added. “The sky and the stars.”

A few students were shy with their stories. Su Meh, a student who lived in the refugee camps in Thailand, only said, “I am pretty lucky to be here. People really try to reach out to us and welcome us.”

Amadu S. Sheriff, from Liberia, expressed his gratitude.

“I am a proud student,” he said. “I want to say thank you to everyone.”

Momen Salama said he “cried with joy” when he found he was one of 50 Egyptian youth chosen to be part of student exchange program to the U.S. some years ago.

He and his family had been part of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution that would help bring a new government to power. Unrest, however, continues in the country.

His trip to the U.S. gave him a glimpse of what could be, he said, when he lived for a year in Lyle with a host family. He returned home at the end of the year only to find he missed the U.S. and felt its opportunities were too great to ignore. With his parents’ blessing, he spent his senior year at Pacelli High School, staying with his Lyle host family. From there, he entered Riverland.

“I chose music” as his field of study, he said. “After the Egyptian Revolution, being in the middle of bullets, I asked myself, ‘What should I do to help bring hope back to my country? I think music will give them hope.”

Still, he wants to be a U.S. citizen, because the U.S. has been the country of opportunity, he said.

“This is the land that believed in me,” he said. “America believed in my dreams.”