My name is Ka Pe Ma and I was born in Burma called Ba Gur. Living in my hometown was fun because that where I was raised. The house I used to live in made out of wood and the roof were leaves. I have 10 or more siblings, but only 6 of them alive. I am in the line above of the youngest sibling. My parents both work in farming and the garden. They would start working at 6 a.m and when it hits 12 a.m my parents would go home and ate lunch. Later on they continued their work till 4p.m. Both of my parents passed away when I was 10 years, so I did not get the chance to help them with money as I got older.

When I was young I help my parents with house cleaning, cooking, carry water from the well. Since I have a lot of siblings we would take turns to do chores in the house. The way I learned how to cook was by looking at my mom. Our culture and religion we would make beef, chicken curry, fish, shrimp, dry fishes and other vegetables. The food market we went shopping was really close to my house. The stuff I usually bought were dry fishes, onion, salt, spice and for the vegetables we would go buy at an actual garden.

I did not get the chance to go to school. My friends and I usually together, we would play pretend games such as making deep fried banana tree by cutting up in small pieces and dipped it in a coconut shell that has mixture of dirt and water. I have never been to a big city and the stuff that my parents gave it to me I used it all, because my family were sick and I had to sell it to treat them to get better.

My parents taught me that I should find a guy who was trustworthy, because if I do not they can cheat on me and leave when I get pregnant with his baby. I started dating when I was 15 years old and my husband was the only guy I have ever dated. We dated about 4 or 5 years. My husband and I met in my village and we got married when I was 21 years old. After we got married there were a few struggle we faced such as not having enough money for the family, so we had to work to support the family. The worked my husband did were carrying bags of rice to people houses and work in the rice fields. I would carry all kinds of vegetables on a basket to sell. The money we received from working those jobs, we would use it to buy and other vegetables for the house to eat. Somehow the work that we did it helped my family a lot to not suffer. I have five children. I taught my children to listen, do not get into a fight, the younger ones should respect the elders and if you do not like what people are saying they should tell me and I will go talk with their parents. Our family religion is Muslim.

We came to America because in our hometown or Mae La Camp we could not go to places freely and the police always arrest us if they see us crossing another side of the road. We heard that America is a free country and the police do not arrest unlike you do something unlawful. the hardest for us being in a new country were that not knowing the language. I really like being in United State, because it was easy for us to find food and we have a lot of rights compared to my hometown or Mae La Camp. Of course the weather is different here than my hometown. When it was raining, winter or summer we did not have anything to keep ourselves warm, afford the fan because it was hot. In the United State we have more opportunity to buy things and support the family.

The happiest memories I remember when it was the time of rice and sticky rice cutting season. We would help out strangers carrying bags of rice and whatever we could carry. My grandma would make us sticky rice with sesame seeds, sugar, and coconut. My friends and I were having fun eating, drinking hot water and laughing. Since I was very easy and helpful to my family, they really loved me. After we finished eating and it got dark. It was time to go to sleep and it was really cold at night, but we could not afford to buy warm blankets. We had blankets but it was not that warm. Over there it was really hard and we had a lot of struggle financially. There were not any warm blankets for us to keep ourselves warm, so my friends and I decided to sleep where the hay were at. Because hays does keep people warm at night. What we would do was put bamboo stick on top of the hay and put a cloth on top of it. We slept really good that night and it kept us really warm. Someone came and checked on us if everything ok and we told them we slept really good. After we all woke up we would start doing our chores such as carrying water from the well, cooking, and cleaning.

Once a year in my country we would have this Poe Karen traditional dances and I really wanted to go watch it. My mom would not let me go, so I sneaked out of the house as fast as I could. When I got to watch Poe Karen it was really fun for me and when I got home my mom kept scolding me. My mom said, “Someone could step on you because you are so tiny, and plus the Burmese soldiers could kill you.” Sometimes the Burmese soldiers would start shooting at our village, so we had to watch out. I told my mom everything was ok because I went with my aunt. We would have this big celebration for 3 days and 3 nights because (Kyaw La Thin) to dance for us in (Mae Brah). My mom did not tell me that she was going the next day, so what I did was I went there without her secretly. At night it gets really cold and since I was a kid I did not care where I slept whether on the floor or next to the hays. I was scared of my mom and I did not want her to be mad at me, because I was feeling sick. I got home and I pretended everything was fine. After I heard from my mom that she going the next day I still wanted to go again and I did not care whether I was sick or not. I wanted some to take but I was scared to tell my parents because I knew I will get scolding from and she might not take me with her. My dad had a wagon wheels and a horse, so I would go lay on the wagon wheel under the sun to keep me warm because I was really cold. My mom called and asked what I was doing there, so I told her I was playing and acting as if I am not sick. She wanted me to go eat and I started eating but I did not eat a lot. She noticed it and she was surprised that I did not eat that much. Since I was sick I did not like to eat that much, but I just told my mom that I ate some desserts before dinner. I was scared of her to say anything about

At night we planned to go see Poe Karen dances, so we dressed up and put some makeup on. My dad took us with the wagon wheels and we watched the dances till midnight. When it hit midnight my body felt more worse and I started feeling more sick. My parents began to realize that I was sick, so they gave me medication and my mom would ask strangers to borrowed sweaters and blankets to cover me to keep my body warm. When went to (Mae Brah) village to get medication and after I took some medication with hot water, I started sweating and I felt so much better. My mom was mad that I did not tell her I was sick and I lied to her that I did not know that I was.