My name Nya Paw and I am 60 years old. I was born in Ti Jue Ki, Burma. The house I used to live in was made out of bamboo and the roof was coconut leaves. The house was hot or cool, depending on the weather. I am the only child. Later on I got married and had two kids. My dad worked as a farmer, he would cut grasses and plant rice. My mom passed away when I was really young, so it was just my dad and I. When I was 12 or 13 years old, I got the chance to help my dad with farming. Since there were just my dad and I, I had to carry water from the well and cook. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, my dad taught me how to cook and showed me how. The food that I miss the most are those that I made when I was really young, and they were like jungle styles. For example, we would put little bit of salt and pepper in vegetables, as well as on bamboo shoots. I would go looking for those vegetables in the river, or the forest and searched for whatever else I could find.

I have never been to school because we were poor. I asked my dad to send me to school, but my dad could not afford it. Those who could send their kids to school, had to pay with rice and it was worth of 1 or 2 nights of gathering rice. I never have free time for myself because I always had to work. For example, after we finished farming we would go home and picked cotton to dry them later. From the cotton we picked, we would make clothes and asked someone to make it for us because we did not know how. Out of that cotton we would make string and thread. When it was  a rainy season, the wood would get wet, so we had to gather as much as we could and put them in a dry place. We would use the wood to cook food or make fire. It was not an easy life for me, when I was young and we would work everyday until we could not. When I became ill, there were no medications for me to take because we did not have any at the time. My dad would use roots or leaves, then rubbing them to get the juice out of it and we would drink it. Drinking the juice sometimes helped, depending on what illness we were suffering.

The community where I grew up had big trees, mountains, and hills. To go looking for woods or farming we had to climb up the hills, and it took us a long time to get there. Back then, we did not have watches to tell the time. What we would do was leave early where we need to go and come home late at night. To know the time we would look at the sun if it was noon, we would go home, eat, and rest. After resting, we would continue our work until it got dark. Around my community, we did not have schools, and the places that have schools were at (Gray Su Ta, Chaw Bue Der). If I  wanted to go to school there it would take me a night or I might have to spend the night there. When I was young, I would go to (Chaw Bue Der) to go find vegetables, and we would spend the night. It is true that I do not know how to read because we were too poor for my dad to send me to school. When I was younger, my mom passed away and I just lived with my dad. Later on, he remarried. He was with my stepmom for a year, and I got married after  that.

I moved to Mae La Moo Refugee Camp, and my dad passed away after I left. It happened 19 years ago. There wasn’t anything that I could keep from my heritage. I only made my own clothes, for example, long white dresses that were made out of cotton.

As I got older, I helped my dad with farming, made clothes, and worked together with my cousins. When one household did not have anything, we would share it and helped them out. I have never dated, but I met my husband when I visited my cousin’s house in (Dee Taw Ke). We knew each other for a year and then got married. The first thought that crossed my mind when I saw him was that my dad had already remarried, and I should too. I got married when I was around 21 years old and he was 23. He loved me and I should love him back too. We worked together, and he would visit me sometimes. Living with my dad was not easy either, because he was remarried and people around me treated me not very nicely. After I married, I would go visit my dad and stayed with him for 3 months.

My dad asked me about my relationship, if he was a good guy and how was he treating me. I told him not to worry, because wherever life takes me I just have to deal with it. We got married in (Ti jue Ki) and he was from (Char Bue Der). The relationship started because we worked together. Later on, he moved to where I lived. Before, I barely went to visit where he lived. After marriage, there were not any problems that I dealt with. I moved to live with my mother in law in (Char Bue Der) because my dad was remarried and he was living with a lot of people already. Since I am married, I followed my husband and lived with his family’s side for a while. After that, I went to go live with my dad, but I do not remember for how many years. I have two kids with my husband. As a living, we would cut grass and have a little farm. He has a lot of siblings and sometimes he would go help his family with farming because he is the oldest. After having two children, I did have problems. For example, sickness, not feeling well, or feeling sad. There were no celebrations where I used to live, for example, birthdays or Karen New Years, until I had two children and people invited me to go to those things, but I did not go.

My dad’s religion was animism, as well as mine. Before marrying my husband, I got baptized first and the next day we got marry. Now my religion is Seventh Day Adventist. My dad’s religion had a specific reason for the way the moon works, if there is a full moon or no moon, he would take a rest and not work. Some people worked and some others did not. I experienced war and we would run away everyday. Sometimes we would almost run into bombs. People would warn each others not go to a specific place where the bombs were. I moved Mae La Moo and lived there for 10 years. I came to America because people told me to. I could not go back to my hometown and there were a lot of problems going on there and it was not easy to go back, so I decided to come here. I really like America, but the language barrier is one problem living in the U.S.A. Everything else is fine, because we get to wear nice clothes and eat good food.