LAR LAH

 

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When Lar Lah was 4 years old, her family escaped persecution in Burma, their homeland, and fled to Thailand along with many other members of the Karen minority group.  For the majority of her life, she lived in a Thailand refugee camp until she came to the U.S. six years ago. 

 

Now in Lincoln, Lar Lah lives to serve others in any way she can because she has received so much help in her own life. 

 

When she first arrived in the U.S. after three flights, she didn’t know anything about American culture and didn’t speak any English.  She was scared, but she knew that the Karen refugees who had come before her liked this place.

 

“I feel I miss my old house and town, but in one week or two week we like our new American house,” Lar Lah said.

 

Although she missed her old home, Lar Lah knew she was much better off here.

 

In the refugee camps they were given monthly rations of rice and salt, but it was not enough to feed a whole family for a month.  She lived in a bamboo house and slept on the floor.  Until she came to the U.S., she had never seen a bed.

 

But in the camps, she knew she could rely on others to help her with anything her or her family needed.

 

"They give food and they give anything to help me and my family.  In Thailand, people help each other,” she said of the Karen community in the camps.

 

Over time, Lar Lah began to learn the American culture and began to speak English fluently.  After three years of living in the U.S. Lar Lah met her husband in South Dakota through a mutual friend and they got married and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where they heard her husband would be able to get a job.

 

Because Lar Lah knows what it was like not to be able to read or understand English, she began spending much of her time using her English skills to help others in Lincoln who are in the same situation she was only a few years back.

 

Lar Lah often translates for Catholic Social Services for free whenever they need help with their Karen clients.  Whenever they offer to pay her she refuses to take the money because she simply just wants to help people.

 

Lar Lah also works as a translator for Language Link, a phone translating service that

aids medical staff working with non-English speakers.

 

In the apartment complex Lar Lah, her husband Mya Lin and her 1-month-old daughter,

Mulan Knyawhtoo, live in there is a Karen community office for Karen refugees to get

any kind of help they may need.  Pa Naw Dee, the director of the Karen office has two

sons who often need a babysitter while their dad is working in community.

 

Lar Lah often volunteers at the office helping people read their mail or call their doctor,

but when she isn’t, she can often be found babysitting Pa Naw Dee’s sons in her small

apartment.

 

Although it’s difficult for Lar Lah to watch the two rambunctious boys and her newborn daughter on her own as one of the boys is mentally handicapped and cannot talk, she does it joyfully and never complains, even when he tries to hit her daughter. 

 

“It’s very hard to babysit him.  He cannot play with friends, just himself.  Sometimes he will kick people, but people just cannot understand him.”

 

Babysitting isn’t a new way for Lar Lah to serve others, she has been doing since she was in the refugee camp.  While the other women would cook and clean their houses and their husbands would work in the fields, Lar Lah would watch their children.

 

As Lar Lah continues her education, she hopes to be able to continue serving others in even bigger ways.  Her dream is to go to school to become a nurse and to aid the Karen community by being one of the first nurses to speak their native language.

 

“I want to do that because I want to help people who can’t speak English,” Lar Lah said.  “I will go to the hospital when they need and interpreter and I will help them.”

 

Lar Lah worries about her family if they were to become sick.  They don’t speak English so they would have a difficult time communicating with doctors and nurses.  This need is exactly why she wants to pursue a career in nursing.

 

“Some people, they cannot speak English but they need medical help.  It’s very important,” she said. “It’s good to help them because some people don’t have a car, or can’t speak English or don’t have time and I can help them.”

 

Lar Lah plans to start school at Southeast Community College next quarter to pursue a nursing career.  She will watch her daughter during the day while her husband is at work and will take night classes when her husband is home to watch their daughter.

 

She is nervous, but is excited to be able to help her people in a greater capacity.  Lar Lah says that she hopes someday her daughter will grow up to get an education and become a doctor.  She laughed with joy at the thought of them working in the medical field helping people together.