We Don’t Have to Run Anymore
A family flees from genocide in Myanmar
My name is Htay Mo. I am from Myanmar (Burma). I came to the United States in 2009. My language is Karen.
When we left our country, there was a war. We couldn’t stay there. We went to a refugee camp in Thailand and then we applied to come here.
In our country, we lived in a village. We lived in a small bamboo home. We didn’t have anything. We didn’t have a car, we had no electricity. We just carried everything on our head, and we always worked hard. We lived in the mountains. When it rained, it was very slippery and dirty.
This was when I was young. Now, we are all displaced by the government. We had to flee from them.
Government soldiers arrived in our neighborhood, our community. All the men had to run. If they didn’t run away, the government would take them to do hard work or they would kill them.
Our family was missing, divided. But then my father came back home, and a soldier stabbed him in his chest. He couldn’t walk. And he passed away.
We were always running from the government. We were running and hiding. One time they found us and they just said “We have to kill all the Karenni people. We have to kill them all, big or small.”
So they tried to get in. We had to run to a new place. They just wanted to kill us all.
We went to Thailand to escape the government. We were in a refugee camp. We were lucky to get across the border. Many people lost their lives at the border.
I was really happy when I got here to the US, where I can just say “Oh, we don’t have to run anymore.”
When I came here, people taught us. We had a caseworker, a case manager. They came to pick us up.
We started in Housten, Texas. I had a job there. I worked at Tyson Foods. It’s really cold in the factory. My hand got kind of numb. It was not always great working conditions, but I wanted to do something and not always stay at home. But we didn’t have any benefits because I was always sick. I have something wrong with my stomach and it was really hard to pay for healthcare there. My friend called me and told me in Kentucky I can get benefits from Medicaid, and I could get treatment for my stomach. So we came to Bowling Green.
Refuge Bowling Green helps a lot. They help with transportation. They pick us up in the early morning and drive us to work, and in the afternoon they pick us up from work and drop us at our house. They do everything that they can to help. They help people get jobs and also meet new people. They are also helping me get a driver’s license.
There are things that are still a challenge. It was hard to come to the United States where I didn’t know the language. We don’t drive, and have to take the bus. I worry about my sister. She is still in Burma, alone. She’s always hiding, still. I cannot contact her because I don’t have any way of communicating with her.
My story is not always a good story. It is sometimes a sad story, but now that I am here, I feel safe. I’m glad I don’t have to run anymore.
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