Immigrants, and especially refugees, are often very surprised at how difficult it will be for them to succeed here. Language, jobs, rent, expenses and so much more to contend with. Many wonder if they should have come. - - Donna Poisl
Burmese immigrant finds life far from family and culture has its problems
By SHARON HONG, Staff writer
ALBANY The Burmese young man sat at the small kitchen table in his apartment on Delaware Avenue and stared at an e-mail from his old teacher.
"My dear friend in America," began the letter that wove an account of ramshackle shelters and hungry children. The correspondence arrived unexpectedly from his teacher at the Umpium refugee camp in Thailand.
X, the name he uses, is a member of the Karen tribe that has long been persecuted by the Burmese government. When X was 13, his parents paid a Karen soldier to let their son accompany him to the Thai border. X lived at the camp for seven years. He came to America in August.
Despite the uncertainty of life there, the camp meant rations, shelter, education and the comfort of being with his own people. The e-mail found X dejected and disappointed. He felt powerless to help the people whose plight he knows well.
"They think here I have two, three jobs and lots of money," X said. "They don't know it's hard to live in the U.S."
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