Eriko Hirokawa talks to us about finding her way to Arizona from Kyota. Her path was not a straight one - she came to the US to study and then found her way into the restaurant business.

She may not have intended to be an entrepreneur, but you can hear in her quiet voice a love of challenge.

What sounds familiar to you about her finally realizing her strengths when she was able to accept her differences?

Cieren Saadeh is a mid-westerner with a mid-east perspective who brings her extensive background in community journalism to Prescott College in Arizona.

She and the college's students are strengthening Prescott's roots - both literally (there's a gardening group!) and metaphorically (finding cultural history in old maps) .

And, depending on the recipe, there may be culinary roots as well. You'll find a link to the Peas & Justice Cookbook on our website: www.podcastCAMINA.com.

David Damian Figueroa grew up in Arizona along the border -- talent got him from the cotton fields to the big city. He still identifies with the "we" of the Mexican immigrants he grew up with and now makes documentaries to share their stories and those of the humanitarians building community in his home state.

Rita was 10 when her mother called from Arizona to tell her to come across the border with a few relatives. Luck, good and bad, and her own courage, brought her this American life she had never imagined.

It took years before her family's Spanish-speaking culture began to seem like a gift and not just something that made her "different" -- and not in a good way. What shifted for bilingual educator and interpreter Susan? What would a second language mean to you?

Children of Mexican immigrants are disproportionately likely to start their own businesses. In Northern Arizona, that work looks different depending on where you begin — and where your family began.

This episode introduces Anabel Arteaga and Manuel “Manny” Lugo. One is working with her family to keep a popular restaurant thriving, bringing food and culture to Arizona neighbors. The other is just starting out, shaped by the same inherited values of risk, responsibility, and self-reliance.

Together, their stories reveal what immigrant families pass down — and why entrepreneurship is rarely an accident.

Dora Rodríguez survived a deadly journey from El Salvador during civil war. By the time her group reached the Mexican border, only 13 people had survived the crossing of the Sonoran Desert. She has since spent more than 40 years helping migrants find freedom and dignity along the U.S.–Mexico border.

This episode explores survival, responsibility, and what it means to belong. Dora reflects on loss, border crossings, and the long work of making a new home more humane for others.