I will become a medic for my village…

After she finishes her study, Naw Hsa K’Mwee Paw wants to become a medic to help her village. To achieve her dream Naw Hsa K’Mwee Paw has had to pay a high price. Naw Hsa K’Mwee Paw, now 18, has had to live hundreds of miles apart from her family since she was 13 so she could study in a refugee camp across the border in Thailand.

Naw Hsa K’Mwee Paw is one of thousands of children from rural areas in Karen State who move to refugee camps to get an opportunity to study, as their parents can’t afford to send them to school in Burma.

Hsa K’Mwee Paw studies at Mae La refugee camp on the Thai Burma border. She attends the camp’s Number 5 High School as a 10th standard student. She has been studying at Mae La camp since 2007 and is now in her final year of high school.

Hsa K’Mwee Paw wants to continue her study after her high school so she go on to further study and finally become a medic.

“Now, I am in my final year of high school. After this I will continue my study at a post-10 school here in Mae La camp if I manage to pass the 10th standard examination. I want to learn more about English language and computer skills. I will choose a post-10 school that offers those subjects. Then, finally, I hope I will start to fulfill my dream about being a medic.”

Hsa K’Mwee Paw lived in an orphanage boarding house at the camp for two years, but now she is staying at a friend’s house, as the donor of the boarding house couldn’t continue to support the students.

Hsa K’Mwee Paw feels small living with other people and being so far from her own home.

“Sometimes, I feel sad about being alone without relatives or family. But, feeling sad won’t make me give up on my dream. I felt worse when I was younger. It was hard when I wanted to be in the arms of my parents, but I couldn’t. Now, as I grow older, those feeling come a little bit less.”

Hsa K’Mwee Paw added that sometimes when she has to give contributions to her school, she has to contact her parents back home or her uncle who has resettled in a third country to send her some money.

Hsa K’Mwee Paw is from Ler Poe (aka Kyauk Taung Lay) village – a small village with 70 households in Bilin Township in Mon State. She has seven siblings and she is the fourth. Hsa K’Mwee Paw said that she would prefer to live in Burma with her parents and to be able to study there, but it is not possible as her parent can’t afford the cost for education in Burma.

“My parents are farmers. They don’t have much money. They really want me to be educated, so they sent me here to study in Mae La refugee camp. Here, we are provided with school materials, so I can afford to be at school.”

Hsa K’Mwee Paw said that being a medic is not just her dream, her parent have given her their full support.

“My parents want me to become a medic. All my three older sisters got married at a young age. I don’ want to be like that. My parents are now trying hard to send three of my younger siblings to school before they get to old.”

Hsa K’Mwee Paw when asked why she is so keen to be a medic, replies that she wants to contribute by being a healthcare worker back in her village.

“I have been back to my village three times since I came to study in the camp in 2007. I could see that the situation in my village was still the same, nothing has improved – health, education and the economy are all still poor. I thought that I would like to help improve my village in health care as it is my interest.”

Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border is home to, as many as 47,000 refugees from Burma. According to the Karen Refugee Committee Education Coordinator, in Mae La camp alone, there are 12 primary schools, seven middle schools, eight high schools and five post-ten schools with more than 10,000 students.