Series

Oral history interview with Olive Bukuru

• 2018-12-04 (Creation)

1.09 gigabytes; 1 online resource (1 audio file (1 hr., 42 min., 33 sec.)) WAV

This oral history interview with Olive Bukuru was conducted by Sankar Raman on December 4, 2018. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. Monica Salazar was also present and occasionally contributed interview questions.

In this interview, Bukuru discusses her family background, describes the reasons her family fled Burundi in 1996, and talks about the family's journey to Tanzania, where they settled in the Nduta Refugee Camp. She discusses her early life in the refugee camp, including her education, living conditions in the camp, and her recreational activities. She describes the process of resettling in the United States and talks about adjusting to life in Newberg, then Beaverton and Hillsboro, Oregon. She discusses her education in Beaverton and Hillsboro, including learning English, experiencing racism, and taking advanced placement classes. She also talks about giving a speech at her high school graduation. She then discusses her experience at Portland State University, particularly her experience studying abroad in Tanzania. She talks about raising money to help Burundian students pursue education and describes her plans to start a nonprofit organization for that purpose. She closes the interview by talking about her plans for the future, her motivation to succeed, and health resources available to the African immigrant community.

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/.

• English

Gift of The Immigrant Story, February 2021 (Lib. Acc. RL2021-009).

An article about Olive Bukuru, "Let Nothing Hold You Back" by Monica Salazar, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at https://theimmigrantstory.org/hold-you-back/.

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with Olive Bukuru, by Sankar Raman, SR 12294, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.

Sarah Stroman

• English language--Study and teaching--United States--Foreign speakers
• Immigrants--Oregon
• Racism--Oregon
• Refugee camps--Tanzania
• Refugees--Burundi
• Refugees, Hutu

• Raman, Sankar (Contributor)

• Interviews