ACU Graduation – Thai-Myanmar Graduate | 2019 CLCC Yearbook

“ My home village is located in an area of ongoing conflict in Myanmar. When I was young, Burmese soldiers would come to our village and we had to be afraid of them; when Karen soldiers came we had to be afraid of them as well. Since we stayed between these two groups, we had to do things that both groups asked us to do. One day in 2005, Burmese and Karen soldiers shot at each other at a place not very far away from our village. Because of that conflict, some Burmese soldiers died, and some Karen soldiers were injured. A day after the conflict, Burmese soldiers came to our village and brought the villagers together and said that the villagers were the spies. This led to them arresting some men, including my father. My father escaped from the Burmese and was then afraid to return to the village. He found his way to Mae La Refugee Camp in Thailand to be with his relatives who had already fled Myanmar. My family had to remain in Myanmar in a difficult situation with very little money, and we were troubled because my father was not at home with us. In March 2008, we were assisted to leave Myanmar, and we travelled to Thailand and have stayed at the Mae La Refugee Camp until now. I was only seven years old when we came to the camp. I studied in the camp until grade ten, and then I got a chance to study at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Diploma program in 2017. After 18 months of study here with ACU, I graduated with a Diploma in Liberal Studies in May 2019, and I achieved a GPA of 6.16 out of 7. I am now applying for scholarships to continue my education at Bachelor level in teacher education, but my status as a stateless person means my ability to move internationally for more study is very restricted.”