Burma Link | September 15, 2016

Mee Lay is a 25-year-old inspiring young refugee woman who spent her early years in malaria infested jungle hideouts with constant food insecurity and struggle to go to school. Despite her childhood memories including bombings and flows of wounded soldiers, the biggest challenge for Mee Lay was attaining education. Mee Lay arrived at Nu Poe refugee camp in 2012 after having lived in Ban Don Yang refugee camp in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, for six years. Growing up amidst armed conflict, Mee Lay and her family finally fled across the border to Thailand during a large scale Burma Army offensive in 1997, first blending into the migrant landscape before moving to Ban Don Yang refugee camp. For Mee Lay, education was the first priority, and after years of struggle, she was finally able to access higher education in Nu Poe refugee camp. There she learned about issues such as human rights, advocacy, public speaking and conflict management. As part of her studies, Mee Lay was even able to go back to her homeland for the first time since she was a little girl, running peace building workshops with local communities. Despite her high level of education–clearly noticeable to anyone engaging with this young talented and open-minded woman–her education is not recognised in Burma nor in Thailand. In this story, Mee Lay shares about her hopes and dreams and also the incredible struggles that she and her family have been through. “I hope that my story, a simple story, is worthy a lesson or case study or something like this for the others to learn,” Mee Lay says humbly, whilst having a profound impact on anyone listening to her. 

 

[/fusion_fontawesome]If they gave opportunities to us, people like us, it would be more beneficial because we know the situation and we have stayed in the camps for a long time

My name is Mee Lay, I come from Burma, I lived in Tanintharyi Division or