Eh Eh

AGE 16

My name is Eh Eh and I was born in Thailand in the Tham Hin refugee camp. From the day I was born I faced poverty along with my family and other Karen people. In the olden days, all the Karen people were living in Myanmar (which is now called Burma) in peace and unity. Everyone was so friendly and caring. There was no war and it was a peaceful world. But as time went on, the Burmese start taking over the land and they kicked us out. We had to flee into the forest, not knowing what was ahead of us and how we were going to survive. They not only kicked us out of our land but they ran after us, torturing and killing us. Some of our people died on the way. But luckily I hadn’t been born at that time so I didn’t have to go through the pain.

And that’s how most of us ended up in the refugee camp. Life in the refugee camp for me was like living in a place with no hope. We lived in a house made of bamboo and had to shower with cold water. If we wanted something we had to literally fight for it. When you wanted access to water, you couldn’t just get it. The water didn’t come to our house automatically. We had to wait for a particular time to access the water (at 2 pm water was available for twenty minutes). The water also wasn’t always clean. Sometimes when it rained the water was quite yellowish brown, and we had to live with that. If we wanted to read at night we couldn’t use light bulbs but had to use candles.

In 2005, Australia started sponsoring people from the refugee camp to move to Australia. It was a good opportunity for a lot of the refugees. As a six-year-old kid all I wanted to do was move to Australia. Every time I prayed I would ask God to help my family move to a better place. My family, along with three other families, moved to Sydney, Australia.

At first I was worried that life in Australia would be stressful and scary because we didn’t know the language at all and we knew no one. But I felt so blessed when I saw a lot of other Karen people settling in Australia, and as time went on the language wasn’t hard to learn.

I started school in Australia in Year 4. When I started I didn’t know anything. We were learning ABCs and how they sound. I didn’t have any problem with racism but people wouldn’t speak to me because I didn’t know how to speak English. I tried so hard to communicate with others but they couldn’t understand me. I didn’t even know how to ask my teacher to go to the toilet. But as time went on I improved.

The difference between Australia and the refugee camp is that we have a lot of freedom and we get to eat all kinds of food. Australia is a multicultural country and I love the fact that everyone gets along really well. But when I look back, my Karen people in Burma are still fleeing into the forest and my only wish is to study hard so that one day I can go back to help my people. What makes me happy is that a lot of Karen people are studying at uni and maybe one day we can use our education to fight to get our land back.

My mum encourages me a lot to go to uni and get a proper job so I can have a good future. My biggest inspiration is my mum due to the fact that she was the one who held me in her tummy for nine months and had to go through all the pain. Sometimes we have family problems and if God hadn’t given me a strong mum like her, our family would have fallen apart.

I think I’m a very warm-hearted person. I help people when they need help and I make people feel very welcome. I like to see people living in peace and that’s what I want for my country.

My mum is Karen and my dad is Poe Karen. I am half and half, but I only know how to speak my mum’s language. Our Karen people love chilli and our everyday food is rice. Every day we eat rice with a different curry. Our traditional clothes are called Say k’nyaw. We wear them when we have celebrations and when we go to church.

God has helped me with many things and the only reason I could escape from the refugee camp and the war was because of God. I truly believe that God has a future in mind for my life and I will live according to His word.