Being a Working Mom in America

My name is ShaNa Be. My parents were born in Burma. My dad worked on his farm. One day soldiers came and hit him with their guns in the face. We had to hide when they came. We lived like that and my mom said we can’t stay like that because the kids cannot go to school. They don’t speak English. They don’t know how to read Burmese. They don’t know how to read English. They don’t know anything about education, nothing!

They left the country and moved to Thailand when my mom was pregnant with me in 1992. I’m the last of 10 siblings. We stayed in a refugee camp. When I was 16 years old, I said, “I want to go to the United States for education.”

My dad said, “No, you can’t go by yourself.”

But the paperwork went through, so my parents agreed, and I came to the United States.

It was the first time I had ever been to an airport. I was supposed to arrive at 2:30 but my flight was early, so I arrived at 1:30. When I arrived there, I didn’t see anybody. My caseworker was running late. They brought me to a house with one chicken in the freezer. I didn’t know how to cook it, and the neighbor said he didn’t want me bothering him. I had no food and I was so hungry. After five days I went to the refugee office. I talked to my caseworker. I said, “Can you find me a job? I speak English a little bit.”

So she said, “Why do you want a job? You’re not 18 yet. You need to go to school.”

“If I’m not working, how can I eat? I don’t have food.”

They say they were going to give me a check, I just have to wait. But how? How? How can I wait if I’m hungry? How can I go to the grocery store? Where is the grocery store? Where is the school?

When I finally went to school, I found one girl who’s the same age as me. Her parents owned a hotel. She asked her dad if he had a job for me, and we worked together. I painted the rooms, cleaned the windows, cleaned the floor, and then they gave me cash. I saved a little money for myself and I sent a little bit to my mom. I started working on my GED. I would work from 6 am in the morning until 5:30. At 5:30 I’d come back home and take a shower. At 6 pm I would go to school until 9 pm. Sometimes I’d fall asleep on the bus, and the driver would have to wake me up.

I started working in the DoubleTree Hotel there. I worked six months in housekeeping, and after six months I started training people and checking cleaned rooms.

After 2 years by myself, my sister came to Colorado, so I moved there with her. I was pregnant. Then I started working as a production employee through a temp agency. I watched what my leader was doing. I followed her a lot. She said, “What are you doing?” I said, “I want to know what you’re doing.” She said, “Oh you’re so smart. You want to be a leader?” “Of course!” So I trained for the specialty and then they hired me for the specialty after three months. I checked the inventory and orders for them. Normally they don’t hire you if you’re still with a temp agency, but they hired me! After I got five months pregnant, I wasn’t able to sit because of my back pain. I wasn’t able to work a lot and I quit. They didn’t let me quit, they said, “Stay home, relax. If you are able to come back, then come back.” I know they wanted me to come back but I quit the job. Now I’m working as a translator and interpreter in Burmese and Karen.

Today, my oldest, Rowaida, is 13 years old. My other daughter turned 11 in January. I have a six year old, a three year old, and my little one is 5 months old.

If they don’t have an education, they have to work really hard.

I try the best I can. It’s hard with five kids. My mom had 10 kids. How did we grow up? They don’t have diapers there. They don’t have rice cookers. In Thailand if you don’t have money you can’t go to school. That’s why I really wanted to go to the United States.

I plan to build my credit, to buy a house.

Today, I have two older sisters and one big brother in the United States, and my mom lives close to me. My other sister is flying in tomorrow. They are on the way I think they stopped in Dubai, then to Kansas City. I can’t sleep tonight. It’s been 18 years.

Rowaida is really good in school, she has a 4.7 GPA right now. She got another certificate yesterday, she said, “Mommy I got another one!”. She said, “Mommy, I know you’re sad right now, you work too hard.” She says, “When I turn 15 years old I get the driver’s license from school. I’m gonna drive and I’m gonna work at McDonald’s part time!” She really really wants to go to college to be an engineer. And that’s her dream, to go to college. I want to support her. I think education is number one.

Update: In fall 2024, ShaNa purchased her first house.