Born in Thailand
Age: 20
September 16, 2021
I was born in a Thai refugee camp. It was hard to survive living in a refugee camp because you don't have a job and cannot even go out. If you want to go out you have to have a Thai ID. If you don't have a Thai ID they don't let you go out of the camp. So it’s hard to survive. We weren’t able to leave at all. I was born in Thailand, but we don't have the papers or the identifications like a citizen would. I lived there until I was about 15 years old. My parents are from Myanmar, they were born there and then fled to the Thai refugee camp because of the war. My parents met in Thailand. They lived in the camp for around two years. Over those two years there, they met each other, and then they had me. I have two younger sisters who were also born in the camp.
We have some people that are related to us that were in the US and they told us to come - that if we come we will get a good education and live a good life. We were able to apply and then we had to wait about four years to be able to come here. It's taken us so long to be able to come to the US.
I was probably around 11 when that process started and it finally ended when I was 15. It’s a big process. Once we applied, they had to check everything and they asked a lot of questions. I don't remember those questions because they only asked my parents. Then we had to go to this other place where they checked if we were healthy or not. If not, we would not have been able to come.
As someone growing up in a refugee camp it was hard because you aren’t able to live your purpose there - like we didn’t have money, so my parents had to go outside of the camp to find jobs so they could pay for us to go to school and to pay for us to be able to eat. Before they were able to leave the camp to work they had to go to the Thai army to ask if they could go out. It was hard to be able to go to school because it costs money - it wasn’t much, but for us, it was a lot because we didn’t have any money - and school was not really a normal school.
Me, my siblings, my parents, my grandparents, and my cousins were all in the camp together. My cousin’s family found out that they could come to the US first. They came about two years earlier than us. My grandma really wanted to come to the US but was not able to make it because she had heart problems and she passed away. Later, my grandpa, my aunt, and my family were able to come at the same time.
When we found out we had to leave in 2016, it was exciting but at the same time, I had to leave my country and my friends so it was sad. It also made me feel happy because I would be able to go to school, live in a good place, and be able to live with my cousins who had come here before me. When my cousins had arrived they came to Austin and I think my family knew that and came here for that reason.
I didn’t know where we were going. I think we took three airplanes, I remember three airplanes. The first one took hours, and the second one took two days. The food on the airplane we didn’t like, it was really bad. We flew to Houston first and then to Austin. The journey was scary because everything was new to us. It was crazy because we didn't know anything. Everything was new to us, like everything.
After we got to Austin our cousins came to get us at the airport. We were so happy to see each other again. I was so happy. We arrived at night time. In the morning, after I woke up, I missed my country and I wanted to go back again.
Now I’ve been here five years, almost six years. After my grandpa got here he passed away because he had cancer. I miss my friends and my family. Some of my relatives stayed there because they are still waiting to be able to come to the US. Right now there isn’t enough food for them and they might close the UN camp and they don’t know where to go. They just want to come to the US but the US isn’t accepting anyone right now. Some of my friends are in the US, some went back to Myanmar, some stayed in Thailand. I miss my old school, too.
The first day when I came here I didn't speak any English at all, so it's hard for me to communicate with others because I cannot understand what they say and I want to talk but I cannot speak English. When I arrived they put me in ninth grade. School was so hard. I noticed that I didn’t know what they were saying. I’m kind of a shy person and it’s hard for me to make friends. I didn’t speak to anyone besides people who could speak the same language as me, Burmese. Those friends helped me a lot. They showed me where to go, how to put my ID number in during lunchtime. I’ve stayed friends with them. I graduated high school in 2019.
Here in the US you have freedom so I don’t have to change my culture, I feel like I have the freedom to choose who I want to be. In my culture, if we are not married we cannot stay together, right? Where it's like here a girlfriend and boyfriend can live together even if they don't marry, even if they don’t have kids. In my culture, we cannot do that at all. I want to hold on to my culture - but the things here are okay if you have an open mind.
Here in the US, most people don't believe in anything when it comes to religion but in our culture, we have a religion. My religion is Buddhism. In Thailand we go to the temples all the time, but here we don’t get to go to temples a lot because the temple is so far away from us. People here are so busy. Over there it’s like we were able to go to temple almost every day. The house we have is a big thing that is better than how I grew up. I remember the house when I first arrived - it was big and clean. Everything about it was good. The food, too. Back in our country, we didn’t have a lot of money so we didn’t get to eat a lot but here you get to eat a lot. My mom always cooks rice and our traditional curry. When I first came here I didn't like pizza. But now I am obsessed with pizza.
I understand my own culture and the culture here. I would say I am in between two cultures. It’s hard to be an immigrant in the US. We can’t always understand words so when we talk we have an accent. I can’t always be with people who speak English very well. It's so hard for us because my parents cannot speak English and since I’m the oldest I'm the one who had to do it. I'm not really good at English yet so it's hard for me. Everything is on me because I am the oldest. Sometimes I have stress because my parents want me to translate something that I don't know how to say in English and I want to help but I don't know how to say it.
I just applied for citizenship. I’m waiting, you have to wait at least five years. I applied about three months ago. I have a green card. I am now going to community college part-time. I also work full-time at a preschool. I love to work with kids, so right now I am going to school to be an elementary or preschool teacher. When I was little my dream was to be a teacher. I love to teach. When I went to school and saw my teacher teaching, I wanted to be like them one day.
My hopes are to buy a house for my family and I want to visit my country. I want to take my whole family back to visit my country. I want to make that happen for them. If you have citizenship it’s safe to go back. Especially my dad, because he has to work and he can’t even communicate with others so he’s often tired and stressed. It’s a lot on me, I’m supporting my parents and my siblings a lot. But when I’m done with school I definitely want to stay in Texas. I love Texas.