One Burmese refugee boy's journey: "This is the story of a boy who loved his house [in Burma] and loved to eat so much he had to exercise."

A Burmese refugee boy in Kuala Lumpur told and drew this story for his American art teacher at his refugee school. The following 7 posts show the 7 steps in his refugee journey.

Most Burmese refugees have a harrowing, dangerous trip through the Burmese mountains, to escape oppression in Burma. Then, they land in Thailand, and many travel onto Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where their families are seen as illegal refugees and often exploited but, at least, they can find illegal work in the booming capitalism in Malaysia. But, they land in Malaysia only to feel the same sense of danger and need to hide that they felt back when escaping through the Burmese mountains, followed by men with guns in Burma and men with guns in Malaysia (see drawings below, the men with guns look the same in both the Burmese mountains and Kuala Lumpur).

I have a dream of taking the journey. At least, a safe, expat, more posh version. And, I think Fulbright may make that dream a reality. They have small grants for traveling in this part of the world, and the grants are easy to get. I’d like to go to Burma and see some of the hill tribes that are in Kuala Lumpur as refugees now, the Karen, Chin, and Rohingya Burmese. And, I’d like to travel to northwest Thailand and see the Burmese refugee life there.

Sounds rustic, maybe unsafe, and tough, at first glance, I know, but I know two expat families in KL that have taken their children to both places and it’s do-able. There are “homestays” for a night with Karen refugee families in Chiang Mai, Thailand and for expat families to travel to Burma safely also. Luckily, I can work on selling this trip to Ken knowing that those two parts of the world are among the most beautiful.