Re Sue Na Bright is 18 years old. She is from Co Muh Du village in the mountains of Karen State in Burma. She is the youngest of three children. When she was eight years old both of her parents died from an illness; there was no medicine available for them. Re Sue Na and her brother and sister had to drop out of school to grow rice so that they would not starve. There was no one who could provide for them. She was able to study off and on throughout those years and she had made it to 4th grade. This year she was finally able to come to the refugee camp to start 5th grade. She says it is very difficult for her, especially after not being able to study for so many years. But she is determined. She wants to finish high school and to go back to teach in Karen State.
In the year 2000, everyone in her village had to run and hide in the jungle for an entire year, to escape the Burmese military. One man was caught in the village and was shot. Sometimes they would sneak back into the village at night to "steal" food from their stockpile of rice, but that was very dangerous. During this time they had very little food and almost starved because they had to take what they could from the jungle. They had no school and no medicine. Many people died from easily curable illnesses. For me, even after spending two months "roughing" it in the refugee camp, this experience that she lived through is something that I find entirely unimaginable. And it is not only her story, it is the story of most of the people who live in that refugee camp and the many other camps, as well as being the reality at this moment for many more thousands of people in Burma.
When I met Re Sue Na she had only been in the camp for two months. The pain of what her life has been was extremely fresh and she cried throughout the time we spent talking. A beautiful young woman who has maturity and experience beyond her years, she is the oldest in a orphan house of 9 girls who all share similar lives. Some have been in the camp longer and have begun the healing process. They all carry the knowledge that their families are still living amidst the terror that civil war creates and are enduring severe oppression by the Burmese military.