Every refugee comes with a personal history, a story of not only the problems faced by his or her people but also a story of what he or she is leaving behind. I have already provided a brief history of the Meskhetian Turks as a group. Coming from a more modern country, they also represent a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Some of these stories include:
 -An accomplished painter and art teacher whose talent allowed him the freedom to travel to Turkey but who knew his family would never be allowed to have a future in Russia;
-A farmer who regularly saw his crops trampled by hired renegades enforcing demands for taxes and bribes by local government leaders; 
-A mother who tears up as she remembers how she lived in fear every time her sons stepped outside their home knowing they faced harassment and possible imprisonment; 
-A trained livestock farmer who was a top sportsman in his technical college starting over in Atlanta as a landscaper in order to help support a family of seven;
-A single mother who went against community tradition by leaving an abusive and alcoholic husband and now is starting life over on her own;
-A surgeon's assistant and paramedic committed to restarting his medical career in Atlanta however long it takes; 
-A successful businessman forced to sell the home and possessions that were his life's work at a severe loss in order to leave to seek more security in a new land

At the annual Atlanta Turkish Festival