Life as a refugee student in Malaysia: An interview with Emily

Meet Emily, a student at the Alliance of Chin Refugee (ACR) School in Kuala Lumpur. Emily is a 15 year old who is displaced from Myanmar and lives with her family in Malaysia. this article is written by WRS volunteer Ian Coverdale.

Emily says “I am in the second year of the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE)* at the Alliance of Chin Refugee (ACR) School.  My older sister and younger sister also go to ACR School.”  I ask “Isn’t this unusual?  I thought that generally children worked from the age of 13 or 14 to assist with the family finances, yet you are 15 and your older sister is 17 years old.”

Emily wryly smiles and responds, “My father was a bit of a naughty kid and didn’t go to school much because he didn’t think it was of any use.   He has a very different view now though and tells my sisters and me how important school is.”  Emily adds, “My father is always telling us you need to do well in school to get a job and also so that you can understand things and stick up for yourself.”  Emily finishes with, “ He also says that learning English is important for our futures.”

Emily’s family fled Myanmar when she was four and after a couple of years of living elsewhere in Malaysia, has lived in Kuala Lumpur for the past eight years.  Emily says, “Living in Kuala Lumpur is good.  There is no civil war like there is in Myanmar, the food is healthier and I am able to go to school rather than be working in the fields like I would be if I was living in Myanmar.”

Asked to describe where she lives Emily responds, “I live with my family in a three bedroom apartment.  Our family has one bedroom and the other two bedrooms each have other families in them.  There are also two single people who live in the apartment.”  Emily quickly adds “We are very lucky because we have a loungeroom.  Most people I know don’t  have this extra space.”

I ask Emily about the size of the other families and work out that there are 15 people living in the apartment.  I say to Emily “I live in a family of four and even though we have two bathrooms there are still issues about access to the toilet.”  Emily says, “Yes, it’s hard with 15 of us in the apartment to get into the toilet or to have a shower in the morning, but we manage it.”  I ask Emily about cooking meals and she says “…that’s okay, we have a roster for using the kitchen and it works fine.”

I am still struggling to imagine life in a small three bedroom apartment with 14 other people and ask Emily what it is like.  She looks at me quizzically and says “Its do-able, most people from Myanmar are living like this here in Kuala Lumpur.”

Towards the end of the interview, I ask Emily what her hopes and dreams for the future are?  After contemplating for a moment Emily says “I’d like to buy a big mansion for my whole family to live in.”  I start to ask questions about will there be a pool and a TV?  Emily then explains, “My dream is about the whole family being together.”  She tells me that her father has 12 siblings and her mother has 10 siblings.  Emily goes on to say, “I don’t know how many cousins or aunties and uncles I have, but because we are the only ones to have left Myanmar I haven’t met any of them other than when I was very little.  My dream is to live with them in a big mansion.  I imagine us all having a massive BBQ in the backyard.”

Stay tuned for part two of Emily’s story soon! To support our work providing educational opportunities for students like Emily, click here.

*The IGCSE prepares students for further pre-university level study.  It is equivalent to the British General Certificate of Secondary Education.