My name is Thu Pi and I was born in Ga ti (Burma) close to Thu Muy Ni. I used to live in the jungle, and everything surrounding us was bamboo trees and mountains. The house was made out of bamboo and the roof was out of leaves. I have 7 siblings, and I am the third in the line. My siblings and I would get along sometimes and we would fight other times. I remember everyone was nice to me.

My parents were farmers and have a little garden. Some years the rice fields were good and some years not. When I was little, both of my parents passed away. My dad died first, then my mom. All of our siblings took care of each other. When it was time to cook we would take turns. Usually I was not at home, because I had to watch cows and take care of them. While taking care of cows I got blisters on my feet from standing in the water. The medication we used was (gi la min) and lime to put on our legs and wipe it with cotton cloth. It burnt a lot. I had a hard life over there. I was 10 years old when I started working. We lived in the jungle and we would get scared of ghosts, tigers and bears. Before I could work I had to take care of my cousin while his mom worked at the farm. While grinding the rice, I had to carry my cousin on my back. As a kid we would play coconut case pretending we were making rice or cooking something.

When I was little, I did not go to school because we did not have one back then. When I heard about school, I was already an adult. Still, we could not afford to go to school. There was a monk called (pu per lu) looking for children, so he could take them to school. He took my two younger siblings to go to school. I really wanted to go to school too. After taking care of cows, I told my oldest brother I wanted to go to school. I told him to find someone who can replace my spot. He said to me, “ If you wanted to go to school you can eat at school, and when you are hungry, drink the book juice you just soak in the water.” If someone told you something like that of course you would get scared and not want to go to school. There was a teacher who was really nice to me and loved me. She would ask me to go sleepover and the next day I would go home after I ate at her house. She knew I could not afford to pay for school and she told me I could go for free. She wanted to help  me out and really wanted me to go to school. She even mentioned to go live with her and she would support me, but I ended up working instead. I did not know why my brothers did not let me go to school, because all they did was work.

I knew how to cook when I was 10 years old and no one taught me, but I watched my older brother cooking and that was how I knew how to cook. We would make spices, salt, fish paste, ta ker paw, and vegetable soup. Our traditional clothes were long dresses made from cotton. We made them with our own hands and wore them. After taking care of cows we would go home and roll the cotton. We would also go work at (Tue Ga) for 1 kyat a day in Burmese money. For five days we would get $5 kyat. With the money we got from working hard, we would go buy string to make clothes and a blanket. Back in the day we sold a pig and it was only worth $70 kyat. We could buy 3 things, for example a pair of gold earrings that I liked was only $40 kyat. Now a day the stuff is expensive and we could not even afford it.

Back in the day a man would have to ask parent’s approval to marry their daughter and if they do not like him they can say no. I have never dated. I married someone who used to live in the same town as me. My brothers and his parents told me to marry him because he was a good guy for me. My parents did not teach me anything about relationships. My marriage, was more like an arranged marriage. I got married when I was 17 years old in my hometown. I lived at my own house with my siblings and my husband moved in with me. In my house there were not a lot of rooms. My brothers built a little tiny room for my husband and I. My husband’s parents passed away when my kids were old enough. We have a total of three children. After we got married, there were times when we argued. The hardest thing was that we had to give money to the people who owned the land to farm there. For an example, while farming a rice field we would get 200 yards, and they would take 70 of it for the Burmese government. We barely had money and the most money I got to hold was $100 kyat, and that was all. Sometimes we only have a dime, $20 kyat  and $30 kyat. We did not celebrate anything such as Birthdays or Christmas. and plus we were not Christian and that kind of stuff we did not celebrate. My parents were Buddhists and also my grandparents. I did celebrate wrist tying in my village. The point of the wrist tied was to protect and bless, so the string ties my spirit to my body to keep from separating or wandering.

Later on we ran away from Burmese soldiers shooting who were at our village. They killed a lot of people. (We left our country.)  We would go day by day and it took us five days to go to Mae La Camp by walking. When we got to Mae La camp, we bought some land and dirt. We had a little garden and we would sell the vegetables that we grew. For the vegetables that we sold we usually got Thai money, 400 baht or 500 baht for a year, and we would use it for my grandchildren and we could never afford to buy clothes.

My kid was 7 years old, and at that age he could go to school. I sent all my kids to school. I taught my kids to go to school and not to drink or do drugs. One day in the future it will be better for them. Since my husband and I did not go to school or read and have an education, so now we depend on our kids to go to school. I sent my kids to English school for two years. In Mae La Camp my neighborhood was nice to me. When we go visit each other we would just talk and laugh. One of my daughters went to Thailand to work and she sent us some money which was helpful for the family.