My name is Pa Blat Po and I was born in (Wa Gle Co). I came from the Mae La Camp. Every day, we would go cut bamboo, wood, grass, and farm.. I have 7 siblings, but all of them passed away. I did not have anyone close to me or see them. My parents were farmer and they would do all kinds of jobs such as cutting wood and bamboo. At the time, we did not have watches so we could not tell what time we started or ended. When I was young, I helped my parents by working with my brothers together. We all shared equally whatever we earned from work. Money was really hard to find because in order for us to have money we had to work for someone like a slave. The money we got we would use it all and shared it with the family.

I learned how to cook at age 5 or 6 years old. My parents were the one who taught me how to cook and show us how to do it. No one in my family had an education or graduated from a career. I missed the time when we cooked together and ate together as a family. When we did not have enough food, we would make spicy paste, salt, and fish paste. The Karen traditional food would be spicy, fish paste with vegetables and if we could find any fish, and pork. The places that I went shopping at were called (Lu Plen or in our little village) and we would walk there.

I have never seen or went to school, and that is why I do not know any English or even understand it. When shopping for clothes, we would go to (Lu Plen or Pa Ah). As I got older, there were nothing I could do to help my parents, besides working hard until my body sweat like rain. My parents taught me that a  relationship was to get along and have peace. The first time I saw my wife, I liked her and later on we got married. I do not remember where, when or what time was that. In my village we did not keep track of those dates. I got married at the age of 60 or 61 years old. I have never dated and she was the one coming on to me. I was really happy whenever I saw her. I have five children together with her. In our village, the way we taught our children was by spanking them, in order for them to listen, but now that we are here in America we do not do that anymore. There were a lot of celebrations going on in my village. My religion is Buddhism and we worship monks, statue of monks, and the temples. I do not remember anything else when I was a child. The reason I came to America was because we had to run away from Burmese soldiers to get to the refugee Mae La Camp and the next step is California. A lot of people who were in the camp knew about the hardships of the Karen people and what they  had to go through, because the invasion of Burmese soldiers in their hometown.