My name is Keh Keh Bay and I am 28 years old. I was born in Burma, but my whole life I was raised in refugee Thim Him. I got the chance to go to school and my friends were always together with me. The happiest memories I remember were went to school together my friends and ate together. We would do homework together and help each others out. I made a lot of friends and there were a lot of free times compared to America, because I noticed people here are always busy and do not have much of free times. In 2000-2007.

My parents and I were original from Burma but we moved to Thim Him . I was 10 years old and came first to Tham Hin Camp and later my parents joined. There were a lot of jobs my dad did and my mom was just a stayed home mom. I have four siblings and I am the oldest. My parents and I religion are christian. There are two person I am the closest to are the one in the third line and the youngest one who is handicap.

The house I lived in was 8 feet wide, 8 feet high and it was really narrow and small. The house built out of bamboo and the roof were leaves. In Thim Him there were not a lot of jobs for us to find and work. We could not go passed the gate that was guarded Tham Hin Camp and if we do we would get arrested by Thim Him people. The worked I did to help the family, I would sell vegetables by carrying on my head and went to different area of the communities. My aunt was the one who grew the vegetables and I would be the one who sold them and she later gave me some tips. Since my dad worked outside of Thim Him and did not make much of money, so I had to work as well to support the family. The money I got I would buy eggs, vegetables and some milk for the youngest one of my sibling. One of my aunt sent her kid to Thai school and they would give them free bags of clothes and my aunt would get some us. All my young life there was only one clothe I bought for myself and I still have till today, but does not fit anymore. I learned how to cooked at 6 or 7 years old and my mom was the one who taught me. In the house we did not make much of Karen food, but Thai foods. The Thai foods we made were Pa Ka Paw, Papaya salad, and fried eggs.

The reason I came to America because I heard people were applying to and I really wanted to come to continue my education, because in Thim Him there were not much to do and we could not leave the camp. I was the only one who wanted to come but my parents did not. I stopped going to school at age 17 years old and at age 18 I got married. Later I came to America with my husband. I came to America in 2007. The hardest thing when I got to America was not knowing the language and the people I knew only were my husband relatives and no one else. I did not have a lot of friends because there were not a lot of Karen people in 2007 in San Diego. In America even when you are already married and have kids, people still have an opportunity to go to school and do other things as they wish.