I was born in a small village, called “Maw Htar” located along the Salween River basin in Burma to the Karen tribe, which for decades has been resisting Burma’s brutal military junta. At the age of three when the Burmese army attacked my village, my parents had fled Burma to seek refuge in a Thailand refugee camp where I stayed for sixteen years before I came to Canada as a refugee claimant through Government Assisted Refugees Program (GARs) in 2009. Although I was too young to remember, my family moved from one refugee camp to another along Thailand-Burma border. I could recall that stateless refugee individuals had limited opportunity to have access to employment and education under the ruling of Thai government. With many rich opportunities in Canada, I can finally call this country “My First Home”. Looking back, although I had a difficult childhood growing up, I am now on the road of graduating from York University with a Bachelor of Social Work degree (BSW) with the dream to have the opportunity to give back to my Karen community in GTA areas and also to go back to my home county to help my people.
Mayria Hla