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I learned how to cook while helping and watching my mother cooked. My mother usually cooked chicken and gourds. I started learning how to cook when I was fourteen years old. I first learned to cook chicken and gourd curry because it was a common food and easy to cook. We usually had chicken curry, fish sauce, and vegetables. We got vegetable from the farm. The traditional Shan foods are Shan-style noodles, pickled lettuce, and tofu salad. We shopped at the near market and usually right in front of the farm. Sometimes villagers from other villages came to our village and sold the meat and other vegetable. We would also go to the Min Hla city to buy other goods for our family.

I went to school at the temple. I studied Burmese language from the monks. There were not many Shan ethnicity in our village, therefore everyone spoke Burmese to communicate. As children we played different kinds of games or toys with friends as our ages. We would form mud into balls and we played with it. We played border crossing game, rolling bike wheels, and hide and seek (we would sometimes climb the mango trees and hide in the trees. We also picked mangos and enjoyed eating it with friends). In my life, the happiest moment was the time I got married. The most memorable moment was the day my mother bought me a new shirt for my birthday and I still have the shirt. I kept it with me until now.  The happiest moment as a child was when I played with my friends at the monastery. We sometimes went down the river and swam together. We also enjoyed fishing at the river.

In Kyaw Tha Lu, I was 14 or 15 years old and I had an opportunity to visit other towns with my friends. We would visit temples and pray there. I still remember it till today how much fun I had during my childhood with friends. Some of my friends were here in America, and we would call each other and talked about our childhood. For Karen tradition we would celebrated wrist tie and drive the spirits away during August. We also honor our grandparents, parents and each other. Then we would eat together, and the food we ate were bamboo shoot soup, sticky rice, rice, and different types of curry.

My parents made a living by making net to catch fishes. They started work early in the morning around 6:00 Am and took a rest in the afternoon around 12:00 pm. Since our houses were close to the farm, we would go home to eat lunch their. We started to work again at 1:30 or 2:00 pm until it got dark, then we went home and got some rest. I worked together with my parents as making catching fish net.

After my eldest sister got married and later other sisters were married too. I helped my mom and she taught me what to do and how to cook. At that time I was not able to cook well. When I got married and we went to do a missionary work, since there was no one cooking so we had to cook for ourselves and that was how I knew how to cook well. I like the most food was beef with a lot of oil. My house was close to the market and we could go buy several things such as fishes, meats, fruits and vegetables.

I attended school from kindergarten through seventh grade. I did not have enough opportunities to study as much as I wanted, but I passed every year when I was in school. I did not have a lot of time to study when it was time to take a test. What I did was I would not talk to anyone in the morning, so I would just study and study. I did not have any taken notes, so I had to read the whole book until I had to be inside the classroom. After the teacher handed out the test, I started to answer the questions and I was always the first person who left the classroom.

When the grade results came out I got 1st to 3rd place. There were a lot of things I wanted be, but the one thing I wanted to be most was a doctor. I had this dream when I was young, but my family’s situation and difficulties prohibited me from reaching my goal, so it was just a dream. I liked to swim and play soccer. We had a lake near my house so we went there to swim. We had nothing else near us beside a park and a lake. At that time we could swim for free, but now I heard that they have a new policy and made new rules.

I remember maybe around 9 years old they just taught us how to worship God. I started to date when I was 19 years old. When I was 20 years old, they prohibited dating. At the time my crush (which is my wife now) and I, we lived in the same neighborhood so we met up all the time. I don’t remember when I met my wife. I loved her and I could not really explain it to others. We talked to each other and we decided to live together. I have 4 children and I’m not in good health. I had heart surgeries two times and when I stayed at the hospital my wife had a baby, so I think at that time was my most difficult time. I am unable to think. My eldest son is 32 years old, then my daughter is 25, I have another son who is 19 and another one that is 14 years old. I call them and talk to them when they did do something wrong. I do not disciplines them by physically (like hitting or slapping them). Once a year they celebrated Independence’s Day. Before, on that day they would collect some money and planned out some sports and games, such as hit the pillow, racing, and climbing bamboos. It was just for fun.

I had no expectations when I came to U.S.A, but when I lived in Yangon I faced many difficulties and also my health problems was not good. I decided to go to Malaysia and I stayed there for a while. After eight months, I made up my mind to bring my family as well. For my health problems, I went to the UN office to appealed for help, so I could stayed in the hospital. Later on they helped me get the medical assistance like the (UN) provided me health insurance. One day when I stayed in the hospital, I got a phone call from the UN and they asked me if I wanted to go aboard, so I told them I would discuss with my family first. After I discussed with my family, we all agreed that we should go abroad. I talked to the UN that we will go and after eight months, they sent us to America. We did not really have any difficulties and everything went well. Everybody helped us, but one difficulty thing we did have to face was when we went shopping. Because we did not understand the language and we had no car, so we walked everywhere. I helped one family move to their new home. I helped them carried their belongings, doing this I fell off into the drain and I got an injury on my leg, this was my unforgotten memories.

The happiest time for me was when I got marry. We lived in Yangon and my parents sent us to school. At that time everything was normal like as other kids. But when I was in 4th grade my parent’s business went down and we got economic problems, so they could not afford to send us to school. We had to attend morning and evening classes. When my parents were facing financial difficulty, we all had to work. Sometimes we would go to school just in the morning and worked in the afternoon or did the opposite of that. I had to struggle all those things, I did not really have much of happy time when I was young. But when we have an eit ( it was a festival in our religion ), the most happiest day in my life and still remember until now. That day was special for us and the happiest day since we were a young age. We fasted a whole month. Started in the morning at 4:00 AM until 5 or 6 in the evening. Even we could not swallow our saliva. At that time our mind was peaceful and happy. After that one month we had Eit festival . Buddhist festival called Thedin Gyit. In that month we were so happy, we went to visit and greeted every relative’s houses even though we had an argument before. Every houses made cookies or food. We could not eat at all on that day. Another Eit call Kutmani, we killed animals and after seventy days we bought cows and cut it throats and we all shared the meat together. That day was also my happiest time too.

I do not know exactly how old I was, but I remember we had four people in my grandma’s house: my grandma, my two cousins, who were older than me. We had 6 cows, 4 cattle, 10 dogs and some acre of farm that belongs to my grandma. Do not be surprised that we had ten dogs, they were our security guards. We lived in a farm so our house was a little far from the village. I remember that no one dared to come close to our house because they were scared of our dogs. Anyone who wanted to come to our house had to call us in front of the gate, so we could take care of the dogs and bring them inside the house. My responsibilities were to feed the dogs and bring them inside the house when visitors came to visit us.

Every morning, my father would come to milk the cows. After that, my grandma would bottle it up. Later, my grandma and I would send the milk bottles to the houses that ordered from her. We walked about 20 minutes away from our farm . I used to go every morning with her. On our way home, she showed me different kinds of plants that we could brush our teeth with. Almost every morning, we used that plants to brush our teeth. Once a month, we collected money from the houses we sold milk bottles to, and that was my grandma monthly income. All those things I did with my grandma still stick in my brain and until now. I miss her a lot.

Another happy memory I remember  is that was every Sabbath day my grandma, cousins, and I would go to church together. In church we would go to the children class. I loved  the teacher so much. She taught us songs, and bible stories with pictures on it. Every week, we had to memorize short bible verses. After church, we came back together and my grandma prepared special food or cookies for us. It was a special treat for us after the meal. We would bring our pillows to the living room, and she would teach us one song. After that it was a nap time. When we could not fall asleep, she would tell us one of the bible story. This was another memory from my childhood. Whenever my memories pop up in my mind, I badly miss my grandma. She passed away in 1990, but she still stay in my mind.

 I learned how to cook at age 11 years old. At first my parents taught me basic stuff such as how to cook rice and fish paste. Our daily meals were rice, vegetables soup, fish paste and we did not eat much of meat, because we could not afford it. We usually went shopping at (Gah Ma Moe) and it took us from the morning to night time. We would buy dry fishes, salt, and spices, but not vegetables because we planted them at home. I did go to school and I loved the feeling of going to school and also being with friends. When I was with my friends, we would ask each others what kind of career we would like to do. Since back in the day there were not much of games, but the games we played were with Maw Gae (seeds) or jump ropes.

 I did get to keep the Karen clothes that past down from generation which were from my grandma and mom. I still kept the stuff that belong to my dad who passed away. I have never dated, but just visited each others and got married when I was 21 years old in 1984. We met each others at (Koh Lo Glow) and we have 3 children together. At my village we celebrated New Year and we would eat together and go to church together. Back in the day our ancestors the way they celebrated New Year they would put up a grain of rice on the bamboo and gathered the whole village to come eat together. I would go with my mom and sister. My family religion is Christian. I missed the most when I was a child was having fun and went to school.

 My teacher told me one story and he said there was a wild dog and a crow. The crow was flying and the dog saw it and followed the crow, because the dog knew that the crow going to land on the tree where they hung the sugar block. The dog really wanted to eat the sugar block. When the bird landed on the tree the wild dog said, “My dear friend crow, your skin may seem black but you have a really sweet voice.” The wild dog knew that if he kept repeating over and over how sweet the voice of the crow was somehow the sugar block that hung on the tree will fall, because the echoed of the crow noises. Since the wild dog kept saying nice things to the crow and the crow was really happy and proud inside, but he did not show it. The wild dog repeated and said, “My dear friend crow, your skin may seemed black, but you have a really sweet voice.” Finally the crow could not keep it inside any longer and he let it out and made a big noises. The sugar block that hung on the tree fell on the ground. The wild dog got the chance to eat the sugar block. The meaning behind this story was that as a human we have to be patience, listen carefully whether what others have to said was true or not. Otherwise we would not get what we want or not get to eat liked how the crow just let the food been eating by the wild dog.

 The reason we came here because I heard that the United State is a free country, and also thanks to God we got picked to come. When we first got to America there were a few struggles such as not knowing the language and the foods we did not like, because we were not used to it. As we live longer we started liking the food and other things. The reason I like being in the United States, because we do not have to be scared of the police like I was in my village. In my village if the police see people outside the gate, they would arrest us and take us to jail, because they did not want anyone out and but stay in the community.

I was over 10 year old when I started helping my parents. Part of my jobs were to help them with farming and taking care of pigs and chickens at home. When I got older I started helping them with growing peanuts. My parents were the one who taught me how to cook. I miss eating all Karen foods. It did not matter either the food were good or not, because eating on the farm tastes better than eating at home. We did not get to shop for foods in our village because all the villagers grow their own food.

I did not get to go to school as a child because there was no school or a teacher in our village. I lived in the village my whole life, so I never been to a big city. San Diego was the first and only place that I have been to. When I was with my friends on the farm, as a child we would play around there by trying to copied our parent’s movement as they work so that we could learn how to farm when we grow up. The heirlooms that I got from my parents would be the knowledge of knowing how to weave bags, cloths and the knowledge knowing how to do farm work. I got married when I was around 16 years old. I did not get to date as I grown up. I never met my husband before we got married, but our parents knew each other. After I got married, the hardest part was not to be able to work after having babies. I could not work as a new mom, but at the same time we didn’t have enough food. I have 7 children, the youngest one is 21 and the oldest one might be around 40. The celebration we had in my village was traditional festival such as “Dee-Ku”, “Ee-Lu” where we all gather together to eat and watch the traditional dances. My parents religion was Animist and same as my grandparents.

The saddest thing that have happened to my family in Burma would be when we had to leave our own land and it was the hardest thing, but at the same time living in our own land was also hard because everything that we have taken away by the Burmese soldiers. They would kill our pigs and cows and made our spouse as their worker to carry their materials such as guns and others. The Burmese soldiers would hurt them if they did not do what they asked them to do and soldiers would not let them eat at the same time. I remember the night we escaped Burma to Thailand. It was scary and my children were really young at the time. We walked all the way to Thailand; there was not enough food and water. My oldest one was in jail because they thought he supported the Karenni soldiers. We came to United State for a better future and education for my kids. The hardest thing of being here for me was not know the language.

I did help my parents by selling onions, fish paste and others as I can to help them. I learned how to cook after I got married, because I did not want to get in trouble with my parents in-law. No one taught me, I just learned by observing it. I missed eating fried spicy ground catfish with lemongrass in it. One of the traditional food or dish that we mostly ate was beef. We would go shop at farmer market, they had several different types of food. We took the bus and it took only 10 minutes.

My parents were not strict about dating, but I did not like dating. I met my husband when I went to my brother wedding ceremony. He came with his music group and I was the gift receiver. He told my dad that he liked me and he asked for his permission. He agreed and we got married. I have 6 children and they are under 35 year old and older than 25 years old. I usually spoil my children and taught them what to do and not do. There was lots of celebration, example water festival and ect.. But I like being at home and watching TV’s. Our religious background is Islamic. The heirlooms that I got from my parents was an Islam book.

My happiest moment was the time when I got to live with my family because we got to sell fishes, onions and other foods together on the roadside. Now that I live alone in an another country, I miss all of them so much and I feel so lonely. I missed being with my children. Everything that I have received here in the United State was more than I need, but without my kids being with me I feel so lonely.

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.

When I was young I woke up early in the morning to cook, grind rice by using the mortar and fed pigs, carry water from the well and later fed chicken. After I finished my chores at home, I would take my basket and a knife to head to the rice fields to help my parents cut weeds/ grasses. When I was around 15 years old I would go out with my friends and we would sing, laughs and played together. My friends were from all over the villages and different part of the community. When I was with my friends we would talk, eat, drink and smoke together, because that is the Karen culture. We do have Karen traditional clothes, bag and bless the spirit.

I learned how to cook at age 6 years old and my parents were the ones who taught me how to cook. Since I lived in the jungle the foods we usually made were sticky rice, sesame sticky rice, sticky rice in a bamboo, and fried desserts/vegetables. To go shopping for foods we would go to Te Co Mu Dah, Pa Pu, Ler Doh, and Ger Tah which took us maxima two or one day. The highest grade school we had there was fourth grade. People who graduated from fourth grade focused more on an education to become leaders and teachers. 

I started dating when I was around 30 years old and the girls would be 25 years old. Our culture way of talking to your crush were write poems and singing. My parents taught me that when a guy find a women was to look thoroughly inside and out. I met my wife at age 30 years old and we both liked each others. She wore a really long Karen beautiful dress and it covered everything. One sad thing I had to face during marriage was my children being sick. My happy time was being with my family and having a family of mine own. I taught my children back in the village that you guys are Karen people and we do not have much, which mean we have to work hard and use our own strength. We have a lot of celebrations which are Karen New Year, Martyr’s Day, build new houses and eat together during the month of April. When I was in my village I used to be animism but now I am Christian.

Karen people are originally from Mongolia, but since we moved a lot we were at China, Burma, Te Ta Kae and now the United State. Our Karen people moved a lot and it went smoothly because of God. It was around 1997 when DKBA, Ko Per Baw and Burmese soldiers they were splitting up and fighting against one another. Because of their wars, our Karen people had to escaped which we did not have time to sleep or eat. The soldiers started to invade our hometown and we had to run away. We were all frighten of the Burmese’s soldiers and that was why we were at refugee camp. My family and I later came to America and we got here n 2012.

When I was in my village called Te Ko Mu Der in 1977. Around those time that made me the happiest when I got to spend time with leaders, villagers, eat and farms. We would plant rice fields and we would give a blessing to it afterward of our successful season of planting. We would play instruments and read poems. We would gather our people around and worked together whether it was for a wedding or give a blessing to the spirits. It was the time when people built new houses we would come together as a group and helped each others out. People would provide a lot of foods and alcohol. We invited our wife and children with us and also our friends who lived far from us. The house made out of bamboo and the roof were coconut leaves. We lived in that house for 3 years and we would rebuild it again. The vegetables we ate were taro, corn, squash, green beans, pumpkins and anything else we could find. The seasoning stuff for curry we would plant them in the forest and it was called (paw hir hu pur. We did not get to eat a lot of meat but usually vegetables. People did raised chicken and pigs. When it came to a big day we would kill the animals that we raised and celebrated. When I was young, I would go visit other villages for the weddings and we would asked for bitternuts, crispy rice, alcohol, bags and also asked girls to wear their necklaces. We would read poems to the elders and young girls. We were all young and we had a lot of fun.

I have three siblings and I am the oldest. My mom was the one who taught me how to cook at five years old. The foods we made at home were spicy fish paste sauce and rice. Christmas and birthdays were never celebrated because no one in the house did it. Karen New Year was the only time when I got to celebrate as I got older. The people I grew up with did the same job as me, such as taking care of their brothers and sisters. They Also worked as farmers, just like I did. I have never seen grocery stores because they did not have one at my community in Cha Cher Ki. I have never been to a big city. I lived only in the jungle where the place was filled with mountains, trees, and rice fields. My whole family’s religion is Christian.

I met my husband at the age of twenty one, and he worked in the army. I did not date him, but he would come to visit me often at my house. I would bring out food to him and we ate together. We knew each other for two years before getting married. Before marrying him, he went to my parents to ask for permission if he could marry me. My parents liked him, so the marriage was approved.

I have five kids. There were a lot of struggles while raising the kids. The hardest thing I struggled with was taking care of my kids on my own. When the Burmese soldier captured my husband for one year and six months, they took him to the city. I was the only one who could take care of our children. He got killed in Mae La Ooh and passed away five years ago from now. My happiness are my kids.  I taught my children to respect their elders and parents.

There was one folk story I heard from my grandpa. The story was about a husband who carried a basket on his back by selling vegetables and other things, while his wife had to take care of the children. The husband went to Thailand to work, and there was a Thai guy who asked him, “How are you handling things, providing for your kids and wife, how can you do it?” The wife asked, “While you were in Thailand, did you see anything beautiful or lots of food? Did you eat good food over there?” The wife told him that she wanted to go to Thailand and now it was his turn to take care of the kids. The husband did not stop her because he knew he could not do anything about it. The wife went to Thailand and wanted to experience the same thing as her husband. The same Thai guy asked, “Karen girl, why are you coming all the way here to work? Your husband didn’t provide enough things for you?” The Thai guy told her to kill her husband and come back, and he would take care of her. She did exactly what the Thai guy had said, and she killed her husband at night by pretending that she was looking to find lice in his head. She went back where the Thai guy was. In the end he rejected her because he told her, “ Why would you kill your own kind of people?” The Thai guy also said, “I am scared to stay with you.”

If the hunter would not go the snake will eat him and he had no other choices so he went. He was hungry and it got really dark, so he took a rest. He saw an animal and he told it that he was going to kill him and eat him. The animal told him not eat him. The porcupine asked, “ Where are you going hunter.” The hunter told him the story and the reason why he was here. The porcupine will will help him out by giving him one of his hair. In order for the porcupine to help him, he needed to lit up the hair he gave him and he will be on his way to save him.

The next day the hunter continue his journey and it got dark and he was hungry. He saw an egret fly above, so he tried to catch it and he accomplished it. The egret told him not to eat him or kill him. The egret asked why he was here and the hunter told the egret why. In an exchange of killing the egret, the egret would give him one of the feather and if the hunter needed help he would fly to him. The hunter let the bird go free. The hunter continued his journey and there was a situation he could not do it on his own, so he lit up the porcupine’s feather and the porcupine came and helped him out. He told the porcupine that he could not find a way to get to where he needed to go and the porcupine told him to wait. It was dark and the porcupine dug through ground and finally found a house. The hunter did the same and followed the porcupine.

The house was like a castle and there was a family who lived there. The daughter stayed in the upper level of the house. The dad heard noises of someone talking and thought to himself no one came to visit before and how come there were noises. He called his daughter to come down with him and saw a guy who was under his house. The king asked the hunter if he came by himself and no one else. The king told the hunter if he was by himself  he was going to ask him something. The dad asked the hunter if he passes the tests he would marry his daughter to him. If the hunter did not tell the truth the dad would kill him. The hunter told him that it was up to him to do whatever he wanted and asked him what he had to do. The dad put 30 plates in an order and also 30 mosquito nets. The hunter had to guess which one belongs to his daughter.

The hunter was sleeping at night and something told him the answer. The next day the hunter told him the right answer which belongs to his daughter. The dad told the hunter there was one more things he still had to figured out. The other one was he had to clean all the cloth and it had to be clear white. Since the clothes were really dark and dirty, he did not know what else to do and he remembered the egret. The hunter needed the egret helps so it came flying to him. He told the egret he had to clean it really white and if he did not the king would kill him. The egret took the cloth with him and cleaned it for him. Later that day the egret brought back the cloth clear white to the hunter. The hunter took the cloth to the king and it was really white. The king was surprised and asked the hunter if he was going to go or stay. The hunter told him if the kings not going to give his daughter to him he had no other choice but to leave.

The king’s daughter packed her clothes and left with the hunter. On their half way home the hunter told the girl that in his life he had experienced a lot of misery. Also the hunter told her that when they reached their destination he had to give her to the big snake. The girl started crying and her tears were made out of gold. There was a lot of gold on the ground and he wanted it. Later he made her laugh and her laughs were made out of silver. She told him not to gather the money. When they got to the snake and the snake told the hunter to make two big baskets. He came back and showed it to the snake. The snake told him to scare the girl and when she cries with gold fill it in the basket. When she laughs silver filled it in the basket. Those two baskets he gave to the snake. The reason of this story was that people have to go through things and have to experience things and belief in yourself that you can do anything, which means you can accomplish a lot of things in life. Sometimes if you are not sure and give up easily, that means you can not accomplish anything in life. If people put their minds to it and belief in themselves they can do anything.

When I was young, I did not go to school because my parents could not send me. My dad passed away when I was 12 years old. My older brother went to live with someone and worked there. My sister’s job was to cut grass for farming. At that time, I was the only boy at the house. I had to go with my older sister to cut grasses since she was scared to go alone. The house I used to live in was made out of bamboo and the roof was made with leaves. I have 4 brothers and 1 sister. I am the fourth child . I knew that all of siblings love each other, but their love for me was a little different. One of my brothers lived in the same community as me. Although I knew that he loved me, but he did not care about me much. There were times I had to take care of his wife, when she was sick. I went to work with him whenever he wanted me to. Around 1965 my brother owned a little business and I had a little bit of money left for me to take of my family. My wife just gave birth and I did not work anymore. The Burmese soldiers invaded and shot our village, so my wife and I  could not stay in our home anymore. We decided to go to another village. I asked my brother for some money to help me out, but he did not give me any and I was really hurt by him.

One of the elders told me that I will have a harder life than the rest of my siblings. Especially if I drink water from ( a tree called A Li), I will have a harder life. I drank that water anyways because I wanted my brother to be happy.

Another brother of mine was scared of  traveling by himself, so he asked me to go with him and in return he will give me something. I went with him 3 or 4 times, and he owed me 3,700 kyat (Burmese money), but he still has not given me my money. I had to sell my things, and I tried to borrow money but he would not lend me any. Now, he is too embarrassed to contact me. There was a saying, “If one of your older brothers fall, you pick them up, and if the younger brother falls the older picks them up.” The only person I sent money was to my oldest brother. I really had a hard life, and it was tough for me since my children were so young and they could not help me.

Here is a story: You have to listen to your parents. There were two daughters and both were sent to school. One graduated from 10th grade and her parents wanted what was best for her. However she did her own things and not listening to her parents. Her mom called her (daughter oo), because she worried her parents a lot. The bad daughter gave her mom a heart disease. The other daughter listened to her parents and helped them out in the farm. The parents called her (daughter hat), because she took care of the household stuff, feed the animals and cooked for the parents. She would wash her mom’s skirt by hands and did not throw away the dirty water. She would use the dirty water to mix it with her makeup. She did it out of love for her mom. There were 100 people who were going for a job. She was the only one who got the high position at work. There was this old guy who retold the stories. This young man tried to copy her and it actually worked. He became very successful later on.

My other siblings and I did not get along well, but my youngest brother was nice to me. One time, I went to visit my oldest brother, but it did not seem like the right time to go there. It was around 1995, but I went to visit him in Paw Poe Gur Kee. We walked there and the Burmese soldiers were waiting on the other side. We did not know what to do, still we were planning to take a boat. I was carrying so many things, such as bitter nuts and a few clothes to sell them. I asked my older brother for 100 kyat (Burmese money), but he did not give me any. At the time I was working, when I finished I was planning to be a soldier, because the high position villagers needed me. My youngest brother wanted to be a soldier, so he went in my place instead.  He did not like working in the farm or doing outside work.  He asked me to get him an uniform, which is for him. Unfortunately he passed away when he was 30 years old; he was the only one  closest to me. Wherever I go, he would go with me. All of my siblings work in different kinds of jobs. At that time, money was really hard to earn, and even when we sold 7,200 pounds of rice that was only worth 25 kyat (Burmese money). We had to work really hard. I tried to tell the children nowadays to study hard, so that they do not have a hard life. I brought three harps for them to play and learn, but it seemed like none of them wanted to do it.

My parents were farmers and worked in the garden. They started working from 8 am to 5 pm, when it was just cutting grasses.  However when it was the season of cutting rice, we would start our day at 3 am to 9am. If we did not do it early the birds or other animals would come to eat or destroy them. We used to take breaks to eat and rest in the afternoon. When I was 7 years old, I helped out the house by looking for woods and carrying water from the well to the house. Since I was really young, I went with the elders and just followed them wherever they go to pick up woods. I started cooking at age of 10 years old. I learned to do it by looking at my parents. The food that I miss the most are vegetables that I went to look for in the forest. Also I miss hunting for birds and other animals, and fishing. Karen traditional food would be fish paste. I remember going to fish with a few of my friends when I was around 13 years old. Usually we went shopping in (Pa Poe) and (Co Mu Co Ga). One thing we used to shop was salt. We started walking at 6am and we would get to the store at around 6pm. Back in the day the elders told us that people would go shop for foods first and later they would go check their traps to see if they caught any turkeys, they would spend a few nights there until they catch one.

I did not go to school, because I had to take care of my two year old brother while my mom went to work. Still, I learned how to read a few words of Karen was because I went to work in the afternoon. I just watched television and copy whatever the television showed. I asked my uncle to teach me the Karen alphabet and he did. If I had the chance to go to school, I would have loved attending. One of the many reasons I could not attend was also because my mom could not afford it. The school was not close to me and it usually took 3 and 4 hours to get there if we walked. We did not have any transportation, such as cars. The village I lived in filled with big hills around me and it was a big area. There were a lot of trees, rivers, and a lot of vegetables. When I was with my friends, we would usually go to work together. The games we would play together would be rattan ball. It was around Christmas time, and I was around 13 or 14 years old when one of my uncles asked me to go play some games. The activities we were able to play were racing, jump ropes, and anything like else like that. I got the first place and they gave me certificates. The certificates I received, I sold it to those students in exchange of rice that their parents sent to them.

There was not any heirlooms that I received from my parents. My dad was really poor, he was a farmer and did not own any horses or elephants. My other siblings were the ones who got something from him, such as special rocks. I was 14 or 15 years old when I started to help my family out. I used to work in the garden and rice fields. When my little brother grew up, I finally had the chance to work cutting grasses and taking care of the elephants. I was earning some money to buy salt and rice.

I have never dated, but I was just a guy who would get along with any girl and maybe flirt with them a little. An old man who introduced me to my wife. She only lived with her mom and they had a hard life. This old man asked me if I was interested in her, I said “if we were meant to be together and if she loved me” then I will love her. I did not have a lot of things, but I knew how to work in farming and gardening. She was doing the same work as I was. She was willing to marry me and I was fine with that. I was 31 years old when we met up and the first thing I noticed from her was how pretty she was.  Our houses were really close to each other and we worked together. She worked since she was a little girl and had to look after her nieces and nephews. She had to carry them on her back while doing other things too. My parents did teach me about relationships. My siblings and I did not joke around about relationships, because we respected each other. There was a saying if we do not joke around with our own siblings then there will be a respect for one and another.

I got married when I was 31 years old. After marriage I went to live with her. There was a saying that guys usually do not have a home, so after marriage they would go with their wife and live with her.  (There were 7 girls and 7 boys , they did a contest to see who gather the most rice. The girls built their own houses with woods and the guys built their houses with mud. One day, it was raining really hard and since the guys homes were made out of mud it ruined all their houses. The guys’ parents got all wet. The girls felt bad, and they offered them to live with them.) This is the reason why after marriage the guy opens to live with the girl, instead of the girl going to live with them. If you force a girl to go live with you then your marriage might not end up well and there will be a divorce.

There was no hardship after the marriage, because my life over there consisted of working and supporting the family.  I have 8 girls and 1 boy and 1 stayed in Thailand. I taught my children to be respectful and listen to teachers when they are teaching and parents when they talk to them. In my country we celebrated Karen New Year and Martyr’s Day, because he was well known soldier who fought in the field and died for Karen people. My parents and I religion is Buddhism. I moved around since 1995 to 2013. I was born and raised in Burma and moved to Mae La Camp when I was 30 or 40 years old with my family. We slept a day on the road and we got to Mae La Camp. We did not face any problems while we were on our way to Mae La Camp. When I got to America in 2013 there I faced no problems, beside not knowing how to speak or how to read English. There were times we would come to the Karen Organization in San Diego for help.

I learned how to play harp when I was 12 or 13 years old. I was watching a man who was playing the harp and at the time I did not own any, because we were so poor. Since I knew how to play a little I would later on continue teaching myself on how to play harp.

Both of my parents were farmers and their daily lives consisted of harvesting garden vegetables, and grinding rice. I did not get the chance to help my parents with anything because I left my hometown at age 10. While I was young I never had to cook. My aunt was the only one who did it, because I was at school. Going to school was really fun for me and it was a nice school too. My aunt never let me cook until I was adult, then I started to learn how. We ate our traditional food everyday, in the house it was beef, pork, and chicken curry with rice. My aunt would only made good food, fancier food, not including fish paste. There was nothing that passed down from generation to generation that I was able to keep, but there was clothes that my aunt bought for me. There were no Karen traditional clothes that I received from my mom, because she passed away when I was really young. On the other hand I barely knew my dad. He sent me to stay with my aunt and uncle. Now my dad has passed away as well.

When I left school to work, I was around 18 or 19 years old. I got married at 20 years old. To support my family, aunt and uncle, I worked and I would earn $100 in Burmese money in a week. I would give all the money to them. I worked in  construction to build houses and buildings. I started at 7 a.m and would end at night time and we would only get one hour of break. I never dated, and did not know how. When I was around 19 years old, my aunt arranged for me to meet a girl, we did not get the chance to do couple things because we lived far from each other. She used to live in (Pyi) and I lived in (Asi). We got married when I was 20 years old. I think all girls are beautiful, and my wife was one of them. My parents, aunt or uncle, never told me about relationships. One day, when I was writing a love letter, my aunt caught me and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was doing my homework. Back in the day if you liked someone, you would write love letters to one another.

After marriage, my wife and I lived with my aunt. All of the money that I earned from work, would to my aunt. There is nothing that I can complain about my marriage. I have two kids, one boy and one girl. I never heard of or celebrated Christmas and Birthdays. My religion is Buddhism. When I was a little boy, I had a few friends, but we did not do much other than playing with balls. At a young age, I did not think about what I would like to do as a career. I went to school up to 7th grade.

My brothers and sisters lived in my hometown (Mae Pu Ta). I would go visit them once a year with my aunt only when school breaks started. I got the chance to go visit big city called (Wid Ker Tha), and I watched a movie and it was an English movie. When I was young to an adult, there were no any hardship that I had to struggle. I got to live an easy life. I do not know much about Karen traditions, because I lived in the city and no one told me much about it. Living in a city is much better life than people who live in the village. My aunt was there to help me out whenever I needed help. We used to walk to go shopping, because it was really close. It took us only 10-15 minutes. One time, my friends and I stole a chicken in (Ta Soe Moe month). We got sent to an Elders, and then my aunt found out. When she got there, she started spanking us. She taught me not to ever steal again and she was really strict. Wherever I was going to a place I had to let her know. Not all my kids are with me, because they are living with my ex (pyi). We got separated when my son was 5 or 6 years old. I have two kids with her. I used to send money to my cousin, but I could not do it all the time. My aunt was willing to send me to  college level, if I could do it, but I was not smart enough. Girls and boys who are smart are good. While we were in school we did not think about much about dating. It was fun living in Burma at the time when I was young. In Burma there are groups of Karen people who live in (Asi), but where I was raised there were more Burmese people. I am not planning to go back to Burma, because I do not feeling like going back and I like it here.

I did not go to school. I did have a dream of wanting to become a soldier when I got older. When I was with my friends, we would work together at farming and nothing else. I once did go to the city of (Gi Kaw). I began helping my parents when I was around 14 or 15 years old. I started dating at age 17 or 18 years old. My parents did not teach me anything about relationships. I just learned it on my own. I got to spent a lot of time with my wife and I was drawn to her. We would tell each other I love you. We got married in 1996 and after marriage I had to work a lot to support my family. I raised my kids well. They became good people. There are a lot of celebrations in our country. My whole family’s religion is Buddhism, but I am the only Christian. I miss my childhood life, but I can’t do anything about it. The reason I came to America is because I was not happy in Thailand nor Burma. I am happier living in the United State but it is still kind of hard for me due to not knowing the language, such as reading or writing and communicating in different places such as stores and the hospital.

I started helping my parents when I was 12 or 13 years old by doing farm work. My parents did teach me about relationships. My first impression about my husband was that I liked what I saw. I was planning to move in with my husband when I was around 16-19 years old, but I don’t quite remember the exact age. I have 6 kids. We did celebrate Karen New Years and Martyr’s Day. My family religion is Buddhism. The reason I came to the United States is because of my children and my grandchildren. The first time being in America not knowing the language was hard, because I did not understand anything.

I started to cook when I was 10 years old and my parents were the ones who taught me. We would go buy foods in the city and we would walk there. I did go to school, but I did not get to finish and the school was in the jungle.

I started dating when I was 20 years and above. We did not do much and we just worked together in farming. My parents did teach me about relationship. I met my wife in (Oh Ta Muy city, we were running away from Burmese soldiers. ) My first time I saw her it was my decision to be with her. I got married in 1975. During my marriage the happiest time in my life was being with my wife and kids. I have 4 children and the important things I taught them were by telling them stories what I have been through. I did celebrated holidays and Karen New Year. My parents religion were Buddhism. The reason we came to a new country was because we did not have much and also to support the families. We came to America because our leaders provide a way for us to come here. The first time I got to America there were not any problems that I had, because I was happy and healthy.