Refugees and displaced persons who experience war, trauma, violence, or other limiting circumstances are still able to exercise individual agency in a variety of ways, even in situations defined by a loss of control. Czeslaw Tomaszewski, Lynda Dyck, Umeeda Switlo, and her mother Lella Umedaly are all people who were able to exert control in challenging situations, and further exercised their agency by remembering and sharing their life experiences through oral histories.