This young man is a 16 year old high school student in Richard's 10th grade English class, and he is also a boarder at a new boardinghouse for youth from Karen State who have come to the refugee camp to further their education. He is not an orphan, but his family, mother, father, 3 brothers and 1 sister, all live in Karen state and he has not seen them for over two years. However, they are able to have sporadic communication through letters. The Burmese military raids the village where his family lives 3 or 4 times a year, burning fields and houses and killing all of the livestock. The family spends an average of one week a month hiding out in the jungle.
In his mountain village, where his family farms rice, the school only goes up to 4th grade and so after that he went to school in a town that was four hours walking from his village. His family does not want to leave Burma, even though life is very hard, but they do want at least one member of their family to have education and he was chosen. They did what they could to make sure he would be educated. After studying for two years in the refugee camp his goal is to study at a post-secondary school and then to return to his homeland to work for his people.
He is an eager student and although he is shy, he was one of the few high school students who was brave enough to visit our home a number of times. The last evening in the camp he came over. We were busy with packing and entertaining other students and didn't have much to talk, so he waited quietly for awhile. When there was a lull in the activity he quietly handed me a little plastic bag, inside of which was a treasure! He was presenting me with a Karen bag that his grandmother had woven in Karen state and that he had brought with him to the camp. What a special gift, and a special friendship that we were not even aware was forming.