Hello. My name is Ehdeeler and I’m from Thailand but my mum and dad were born in Burma.
I grew up in a refugee camp. My dad worked for money for us so we could wear pretty clothes like the other kids. He didn’t want other kids to look down on us so he worked very hard.
When I was five there was something strange going on in my family. My mum felt bad; she was calling out, ‘Come back, come back!’ but nothing happened. It turns out she was calling out to my little brother who had passed away. He died from sickness. A few months later, we moved houses.
When I was in Year 2 there was a bully in my class. She was tall and nasty. All of the students in my class complained about her.
That year, during the school holidays my dad wanted us to go to America to live but none of us wanted to go, so he asked us if we wanted to go to Australia and we said yes. I thought he was joking but he was serious. A few months later my mum packed our bags and said, ‘Next week we’re going,’ and I was shocked. I asked her ‘Where are we going?’ and she said, ‘You’ll find out – I know you’ll be happy.’ Then my grandma told me that I was going to Australia and I was shocked and I said, ‘I don’t want to go, I want to stay with you,’ and she promised me that she would come, so I was happy once she made that promise.
There is a huge difference between the refugee camp in Thailand and living in Australia. Back in the refugee camp all of our houses were near each other and it was easy for us to visit each other. In the refugee camp you don’t need a car to visit other people or friends; you just go outside and they are already there because we live so close to each other. I loved that. In Australia you need a car to visit other people and friends. After a while I got used to it.
Most nights my mum and dad have told me their history. They told me that there wasn’t much money to buy food so my grandma bought them food once a month. They had to share one small packet of rice (about 15 cm tall and 10 cm wide) between three or four people. My mum told me that when she was young she had to go to with my grandpa everywhere he went, except to the toilet. They had to do everything for their parents, even in the morning before going to school, and she said it was hard back in those days. They accepted this because the Burmese people were trying to kill them, and they ended up having to run away. These are things that I don’t like and have found hard to hear.
My dad hasn’t talked much about his history but I’ll tell you how much he has told me. He has said that his family didn’t have money when he was growing up and they didn’t even have shoes or thongs, but my grandpa planted trees and vegetables and fruit for his children to eat. My dad said his mum died when his youngest brother was nine months – something like that – so I think my grandpa married again.
I am very blessed that I’m here where I am free to read and write Karen. One of the good things I like about being Karen is our clothes. I’m glad that I’m Karen. The thing that I don’t like is we don’t have a country – but I don’t mind.
My mum has always told me to pray before I sleep, but I only do it sometimes when I feel like it. She has told me to pray because she wants me to have a good life. When I first came to Australia I didn’t have any friends at school and I didn’t even know how to speak or write English. I thought that I would never be able to speak or write or learn anything, but God obviously blessed me because I can now speak and write English properly and that is my past life.