Refugee Stories
During our month in Malaysia, one of
our primary ministries was working in Burmese refugee schools supported by the
UN. I absolutely love the Burmese people and it was a joy and honor to work
alongside the Burmese teachers this month. I will never forget the sweet faces
and amazing spirits of the children I was able to teach and love on. After hearing
many of their stories I can’t help but love them even more. Their courage and
hope in the face of adversity and heartache astounds me. As a going away
present at one of the schools, the teachers gave us a little booklet the kids
had put together for fundraising means. It includes artwork and stories from
the refugee children. I was sitting there trying to get through the stories and
having the most difficult time. My eyes kept welling up with tears and I would
have to put it down. For some reason I kept trying though. When I got in the
car I picked up the book again but could only get through a few more stories.
Each one broke my heart.
I can’t share all the stories with
you, but I knew that I had to give you a closer look into the lives of these
children. I have changed the names, but here are just two stories from kids at
the school where I taught.
John, 12 years old
“There are eight people in my
family. I have three young sister. We had many problems in Myanmar and had no
freedom. My father died because soldiers tortured him. They accused him of
being a spy from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). My mother also died and I
lived with my aunty and adoptive mother. My adoptive father ran away when
soldiers tried to arrest him. They arrested my adoptive mother who was five
months pregnant. They abused and tortured her until she lost her pregnancy. One
of the army battalion came to our village and they beat up people whom they
were suspicious of. We have seen soldiers persecuting people and killing them.
We were afraid that they may arrest us so we ran away from our country. The way
I came to Malaysia was very difficult. We often had nothing to eat or drink. We
came to Malaysia because my adoptive father fled here. My adoptive mother was
in a lot of pain and unwell all the time. I want to get human rights for
Myanmar people so they will not be discriminated. I want to be free from a
miserable life. I pray to God that I won’t have to face such a broken situation
again…”
Sarah, 13 years old
In Myanmar I lived with my parents, sister and brother. My
parents were farmers. My sister sold vegetables in the market. My brother and I
were students. My parents were getting old and my sister was the only person in
the family earning income. One day soldiers from the village raped my sister.
So she was afraid to stay and ran away from the village. During that time
solders often searched for our sister, they beat my father and asked about her.
My dad had medical treatment for one week and my mom needed to look after him.
So my eldest brother became the sole bread winner for the family. We sometimes
only ate porridge with vegetables. Our life was a struggle in Myanmar. At that
time our village leader threatened our parents that if he didn’t find our
sister he’ll arrest me and my brother. So my brother, sister and I ran away
from Myanmar my car, foot, and by boat. We haven’t had contact with our parents
since then. In Malaysia our life is still a struggle. Now we pray for our
parents and we hope that one day we will meet again.
