Right Decision

                                                           

March 24, 2020  

Right Decision  

When I was young, I used to live in a very peaceful and beautiful place and never thought that I would have to move to the America. The 2009 war that happened in my village called Parbon led my family to immigrate to the U.S.  Many Karen people live in Kayin state and my family and I have been fighting for an independent state known as Kawthoolei since 1949. Tens of thousands of Karen people have faced genocide, torture, and gang rape by the Burmese army. Our village was also attacked by the Burmese army, so many Karen people, including my family fled to another village to be safe from them, but it wasn’t safe enough for my family and me. None of Karen people were able to work happily and safely because they were afraid of the Burmese army and students would also not dare to go to school.  Many Karen people fled to Thailand, Malaysia, or other neighboring countries to be safe from Burmese army. The effects of 2009 war caused my family and me to immigrate to Malaysia and then to the U.S. 

In 2009, my parents told my eldest brother to move to Malaysia to not be caught by the Burmese army and also to earn money for my family and me. We didn’t have enough money to go to Malaysia all at once, so my parents made my eldest brother to go to Malaysia to be safe, earn more money, and have better life. It got more dangerous for the rest of my family to live in Kayin state because Burmese army kept destroying our belongings and killing Karen people. My eldest brother, SawTaw Naw, in Malaysia started saving money by working in a restaurant. Finally, he was able to save up enough money for the rest of my family and me to go live with him and also to move to the U.S.  

After living in Malaysia for five years, my family and I got a chance to move to the U.S. with the help of UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The UN Refugee Agency, which saves lives, builds a better future for refugees, and resettle stateless people. Malaysia was safe for us to live in because there was no Burmese army to harm us. There were Malaysian police, catching and sending back immigrates back home like, so my family and I weren’t safe to live there any longer. One day, we heard about the UN Refugee Agency, which helps people like us to move to the U.S., so we applied for that and they asked about my family and my background to check and make sure what we told them are true. Finally, we got to move to the Rockford city in the U.S after five years in Malaysia and stayed there for two years. 

After many moves, my family and I also moved to Chicago after living in Rockford for two years. My father has been doing missionary since living in Myanmar. He was a missioner and still a missioner till now. He taught youth about God and participated at my village’s church. He also went to many places in Malaysia to teach Karen people who stay far from church. He continued teaching about bible in Rockford, but Rockford’s church already has a pastor, so my father wanted to do missionary, where Karen people need a pastor. At that time, Karen people in Chicago called my father to be their pastor, but my father and my mother declined their offer because my sister and I were still going to high school in Rockford and my brothers were getting good salaries from their works. My parents weren’t sure whether the offer from Chicago’s church was the right thing, so we kept praying until we heard the news that the Chicago church’s pastor passed away. My father decided to accept the offer because Karen people in Chicago were really in need of a pastor. 

It was hard for my parents to give me and my sibling bright futures in the Kayin state because of the 2009 war in my village, so they decided to move to the U.S. to make our dreams and hopes come true. My family’s life would not be this comfortable and wonderful if my parents did not make the right decisions. Even though we had to move to a lot of places and had face a lot of difficulties in life, everything paid off in the end by having parents who are caring and brave. I am very thankful to have parents that are wise and care for their family’s future. I would like to recommend everyone to care for their family and always choose the right decision to have lives that they wish to have.