Mulaw's Story

The picture on the top is me in America and the one underneath is me in Thailand.


I was born in Burma in a village called Han Tha Ku. We are Kayan people. All my young life we had to move from place to place because of the Burmese army. I had to cook, clean and watch my brothers and sisters. I have four brothers, two sisters and myself. I am the oldest. When I was ten years old I began to work in the garden growing vegetables. When I was 15 years old we didn’t have money so I went to work on a farm. I had to work the land and when the crop of rice came in, the owner paid me with six bags of rice. One bag would last for forty-five days for our family. My father also worked for farmers.

After working for the farm I left home and tried to find work somewhere else. I would go from farm to farm until 1992 when my mother decided to go to the camp. We didn’t have enough food. The army were always coming and burning our crops which left us with nothing to eat. They made my father be a porter. When my family left to go to the camp in Thailand I decided to follow them. When I came to camp someone taught me how to weave. So, I began weaving and
selling my things to help my family.

When I was twenty-two years old I met Lasu and we were married. We have been married for 14 years and we have two sons, ages 6 and 10. After I was married, I no longer gave the money to my mother and siblings instead I had to use all of the money for my family.

I decided we needed to come to America for our children. America is free and in the camp we are not free. Now that we have been in America our children go to school and they are learning a lot. We are very happy about our decision to come to America. I never dreamed I could one day live in America and now I am. I never want to go back!