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Ya He Ma Interview transcript, May 28, 2015
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Title
Ya He Ma Interview transcript, May 28, 2015
Description
Ya He Ma, a Burmese Muslim refugee from the Mae Sot Thailand refugee camp talks about living and working in Mae Sot, violence in the camp, applying for immigration to the United States, arrival in Salt Lake City, Utah, working with caseworkers and aides from the Salt Lake City mosque, working at JBS Miller (both she and her husband Ka Ma Din are employed there), Har Be Bar�s role as translator in the family, and life in America. Ya He Ma�s son Maung Maung and daughter Har Be Bar were in the front room during the interview. Her husband Ka Ma Din joined part way through the interview. Her daughter Fareda was in her bedroom until the interview concluded and we took pictures of the family.
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CACHE VALLEY REFUGEE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
Interviewee(s): Ya He Ma
Present: Ya He Ma (43 years); Har Be Bar (Translator; Ya He Ma’s eldest
daughter, 20 years); Ka ma Din, (Ya He Ma’s husband, 42 years); Fareda
(Ya He Ma’s youngest daughter, 16 years); Maung Maung (Ya He Ma’s
son, 5 years); Deanna Allred (recordist), Cami Dilg (interviewer); David
Giles (photographer)
Place of Interview: Ya He Ma’s apartment: 274 Riverbend Road, Apartment 4, Logan, Utah,
84321
Date of Interview: 18 May 2015
Language(s): Burmese; English
Translation:
Interviewer: Cami Dilg
Interpreter: Har Be Bar
Recordist: Deanna Allred
Photographer: David Giles
Recording Equipment: Tascam DR-100mk11 linear PCM recorder; Senal ENG-18RL
broadcast-quality omnidirectional dynamic microphone
Transcription Equipment: Express Scribe Transcription Software
Transcribed by: Cami Dilg, 23 May 2015
Transcript Proofed by:
Brief Description of Contents: Ya He Ma, a Burmese Muslim refugee from the Mae Sot
Thailand refugee camp talks about living and working in Mae Sot, violence in the camp,
applying for immigration to the United States, arrival in Salt Lake City, Utah, working with
caseworkers and aides from the Salt Lake City mosque, working at JBS Miller (both she and her
husband Ka Ma Din are employed there), Har Be Bar’s role as translator in the family, and life in
America. Ya He Ma’s son Maung Maung and daughter Har Be Bar were in the front room during
the interview. Her husband Ka Ma Din joined part way through the interview. Her daughter
Fareda was in her bedroom until the interview concluded and we took pictures of the family.
Reference: CD = Cami Dilg (Interviewer)
HBB = Har Be Bar (Translator; Ya He Ma’s eldest daughter)
YHM = Ya He Ma (Interviewee)
KMD = Ka Ma Din (Interviewee’s husband)
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F = Fareda (Ya He Ma’s youngest daughter)
MM = Maung Maung (Ya He Ma’s son)
DA = Deanna Allred (Recordist)
DG = David Giles (Photographer)
NOTE: The interview was conducted with an in-person interpreter. False starts, pauses, or
transitions in dialogue such as “uh” and starts and stops in conversations are not included in
transcript. All additions and added information to transcript are noted with brackets.
TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
[01:30]
CD: Alright. Today is May 18th, 2015, and we are here in Ya He Ma’s home apartment. We
are with the USU Voices project, and I guess we’ll re-introduce us: I’m going to be
interviewing today; Deanna Allred is the recordist; and David Giles is the photographer,
and with me is Har Be Bar, and she’s going to be translating; and this is [referring to Har
Be Bar] Ya He Ma’s daughter, and Ya He Ma’s going to be the interviewee. Ok. We’ll
just be asking one question at a time, and Har Be Bar’s going to be translating for us, so
we want to get as much detail from you [Ya He Ma] as possible, so we will do it [the
interview] kind of slow.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Nods in response.]
CD: Ok. If you could tell me, what is your full name and birth year?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese]
HBB: Full name is Ya He Ma. Then Birth date is January 1st,
YHM: 1972.
HBB: 1972.
[Maung Maung is speaking in the background]
CD: And what languages do you speak?
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YHM: Burmese
HBB: Burmese
CD: So tell me a little bit about your family.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
HBB: She has six peoples in her family: And then her oldest daughters got married. She moved
out to Oregon; and then her, me, another daughter, is going to USU; and then her
youngest, younger daughter going to high school; and the little one will be in school next
year.
CD: K. And could you tell me, or describe the ethnic or religious community of which you are
apart?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.] Muslim [Responding in Burmese.]
HBB: Um just some kind of Muslim group. In a group.
CD: Ok. Tell me about your birth country—where were you born and . . . ?
KMD: [In the kitchen; begins participating in the conversation.] Burma [Responding in
Burmese.]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um in Burma. She was born in Burma. And in Burma she had to work very hard to, like,
get food and stuff.
[05:05]
CD: What did you do for work in Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: She just uh, like, shew? Like sewing? Sew? And then her father work, like go to, go out
and work. And didn’t get a lot of money. Yeah. She doesn’t, like, she was younger and
then there’s no other jobs, so she did not work.
CD: Hm. That makes sense.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: How many children were there in your family?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Six.
CD: Six. And where do you fall? Are you the youngest? The middle? The oldest?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She’s the middle.
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CD: The middle.
YHM: Um hm.
CD: How long, how long did you live in Burma?
HBB: [Translating in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
HBB: Well she was born in 1972 and then 2000 . . . ?
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: 2000 she went to
YHM: [Speaks. I think she says: “Mayanmar. Mayanmar.”]
HBB: Refugee camp.
YHM: Refugee camp. Um hm.
HBB: So she don’t, she don’t know, like to guess how . . . ?
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Yeah. In 1972 to 2000.
CD: Why did you leave Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: She cannot live there anymore; there’s civil wars and the problems, so, so she have to
move.
CD: And what was your experience like leaving? Was it difficult
HBB: [Begins translating in Burmese.]
CD: or easy?
HBB: Sorry
[HBB and CD laugh because they started talking at the same time]
CD: Pardon me. Pardon me.
HBB: Ok.
CD: Go [ahead.] Was it difficult or easy? Can you describe what your departure was like?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s very difficult.
CD: And why was it difficult?
HBB: Um hm.
CD: I’m sure there’s probably many ways that it was.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s a difficult and then she had to go with across jungle. And then take a, like, in the city,
kind of, well she take a car to, to get a ride, get a ride. And walking, and get a ride too.
CD: Did you go with your whole family, or were you alone?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: With the family.
CD: And where did you relocate to? Where did you move from Burma to?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Thai refugee camp.
CD: K. What was your experience like living in the refugee camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[10:13]
HBB: Sometimes she just stay home, and then, there a group that give free foods. And then
when the time comes, like, the people in, like Mae Sot, in Thailand, they open a job for,
like, season. And then her husband and her go out work there, like, if they can. Um hm.
CD: For work did you, did you still sew? Or did you do something else in the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: In the camp, there is no jobs, so just sew a little. Not much.
CD: How did you get the materials for you to sew?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. She bought it.
CD: She bought it.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: In the camp, or did you have to go outside the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: Yeah, inside the camp.
CD: Inside the camp. You said that sometimes you were given, the that the food that you got
was free. What, what did you eat? Was it enough?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s not enough. They just give, like, rice and oil. And for the, like, fish and meat and
stuff she have to find a way to buy those things.
CD: And the meat
HBB: Um hm.
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CD: and the fish would be purchased,
HBB: Yeah
CD: again, outside of the
HBB: Um hm.
CD: camp?
CD: Ok. What about the medical care that you received in the camp? Tell me about that.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: There a hospital, and if you get sick you can go there
HBB: [asks Ya He Ma in Burmese to clarify her statement.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: yeah [confirms] for free.
CD: And the hospital was
HBB: Um hm.
CD: in the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Affirms.]
HBB: Yeah. In the camp.
CD: Did you have to go there often?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No she didn’t ‘cause, uh um, [illegible] she didn’t have to go.
CD: That’s good.
CD: Did any of your children have to go there?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No.
CD: What about the school? I, I’m assuming you didn’t attend, but maybe you did, if not,
could you tell me about, did your children go to school? What was that like?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Well she didn’t attend to school, but her childrens they don’t have to go to school.
It’s not like in here, if you want to you can go, and you don’t have to.
CD: So, your children did not go to school?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yes. They did.
CD: Ok, but it wasn’t required?
HBB: Yeah, it wasn’t required.
CD: And what were the, I’m going to follow that up with another question later, but [makes a
notation in notebook to ask a follow-up question prompted by the previous one she just
asked. Moving on down her list of questions:] what were the day-to-day living
conditions? What was it like spending a day in the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
[15:02]
HBB: She had to worry about the food, ‘cause it’s not enough, and then she has no money, so
every day that she had to worry about money.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, because of the war, there is no work. And here, she can work, and then, if she
want, like, clothing, she can go buy. She can go buy . . . Yeah, she got money.
CD: Hm. That’s the difference.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: How many, because, you got married in the camp, um, how many children did you have
while you were still living there in the Thai camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. She, she got married in Burma, and then, her childrens are all born in Burma.
CD: Ohh. Ok.
KMD: [Speaking in Burmese in the background.]
CD: What about your religious holidays, or your worship, how could, how did that differ from
being in Burma, and then the camp?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: There’s no difference, because with her people, her community, they did, like, the same
thing.
CD: Ok.
HBB: And here also. It’s the same. They celebrate, the, the the religious holidays.
CD: Um hm. What did your celebrations look like in the camp then?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in English and Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in English and Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Yeah.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Um, the religious month, she had to fast for a month, and then after that, she had to,
like, cook for it—the holiday. And, and then the end of the holiday, she would, she
would, like, kill a cow and then serve the meat.
CD: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: If, only if she had money to, to buy cow.
[Har Be Bar and Cami laugh]
CD: I was going to ask you, how difficult was it to get a cow? Did you sometimes have to go
without a cow?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Well,
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, there’s people that who can buy cow, they will, like, give people that who don’t
have, who can’t buy, so, they share meat.
YHM: Um hm.
CD: That’s very nice.
HBB: Um hm. Yeah.
CD: What was the political climate towards refugees, of the, yeah, towards refugees? Was it,
does that make sense [asking Har Be Bar]?
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HBB: Yeah.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: He’s [Ka Ma Din] helping [laughs].
CD: That’s, that’s fine.
[20:00]
DG: Is that your dad?
HBB: Yeah, that’s my dad.
DA: What’s his name?
HBB: Ka Ma Din.
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DA: Ka Ma Din?
HBB: Um hm. Hm.
CD: Nice to meet you?
HBB: K-a, M-a, D-i-n [spelling his name].
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.] But the government there, uh, didn’t help at all. They just, like,
looked down to, to them.
DA: Hm. Um hm.
HBB: Yeah, they didn’t help. At all. That’s what he’s trying to say.
CD: Ok. That makes sense. Describe to me your feelings about, about safety in the camp.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Sometimes she feel like she’s not safe because um people might come to the camp and
then burn the houses and then with the gun come, can come and shoot them.
CD: Did you ever have this happen to you or see this happen to someone else?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese. (Ka Ma Din has)]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. It didn’t happen to them but they have seen that happen to others.
DA: Hm.
HBB: Yeah, the, they will come and kill and, like, shoot them, and then burn their houses.
CD: How did you learn about the U.S. refugee program?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: U.I.
YHM: U.I.
YHM: U.I.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: There is a group called the U.I. help the, the refugee camp, and then they would they
announce them: “If, if you guys want to come to U.S. you have to register.” And then if
you don’t want to then you don’t have to. So, that’s how they learned it.
CD: Ok. How did you apply? Did you have any help?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: There was, there was a translator that helped them with how many families they have.
And then, yeah, basically how to register, like, with the translator.
CD: So what about your parents? Where, where did they live?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Her mom already passed away; only her dad lived in then Burma.
CD: He’s in Burma still?
HBB: Yeah.
CD: And why is he still there?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Well, he’s not in the camp. He just in Burma. And then he’s very old so he cannot
come to U.S.
CD: Maybe going back to this question about getting help to apply for the refugee camp. You
said you had a translator. Describe for me the process? Was it difficult or easy? And how
long did it take for the application to go through?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[25:11]
HBB: It took, it took like, three months, because there are a lot of people. And then they have to
do the training to, like, how to get, when you get in the plane, what do you have to do,
like, they give, like, training for everything; also use, using the bathroom too. Like, sort
of that stuff.
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CD: So, preparing them culturally
HBB: Yeah. Um hm.
CD: for going to wherever they were going to.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: And where did those trainings take place?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, at the camp.
CD: At the camp. Did the, who did, who conducted the training?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: There are people from the U.S., and, like Americans and Thai people too.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. In one training there are two people, like, one American and the one the who can
speak English. Like the translator.
CD: And if this is too personal [laughs], but you said that you had to be trained, like, things
like, how
HBB: Um Hm.
CD: to use the bathrooms?
HBB: Um Hm.
CD: What is the, what’s the difference?
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HBB: Um, I know it so . . . [Har Be Bar does not need to ask her mother because she knows the
answer to my question.
CD: Ok. You go ahead.
HBB: Um hm. Yeah, for that, in the camp we just only use the water.
CD: Um Hm.
HBB: And then here they use toilet paper.
CD: Um Hm.
HBB: So yeah,
CD: Um Hm.
HBB: we don’t, you guys don’t use water, so we trained like that.
CD: Yeah, that’s true. Interesting.
HBB: Um hm. Yeah.
[all laugh]
CD: I personally think it’s better to use water
[all laugh]
YHM: [speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [speaks in Burmese.] Yeah.
CD: Alright. What other things, that you just didn’t know about before, or you know, for the
training, can you think of any?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, basically the training is for the plane. Like, inside of the plane you have to wear
seatbelt. And then you cannot just walk around. You have to stay in the seat, and then if
you need, like, help, and then you want to throw up, like, what do you need to do.
CD: So, pretty standard though, I guess [laughs],
HBB: [laughs]
CD: for anybody who is a first-time flyer.
HBB: Yeah [laughs].
[Cami and Har Be Bar laugh]
CD: Alright. And how long were you in the Thai camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese]
HBB: Seven years
CD: Seven years. Wow.
CD: Where did you first arrive in the U.S.?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Uh hm. Salt Lake City.
CD: Salt Lake City?
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah then case, caseworker um, like, send them here [I am assuming she means Cache
Valley], because they have job here for them.
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CD: How long were you in Salt Lake before you moved to Logan?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Six months.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese
CD: Six months. What was, what was that first day, like in, in the United States, or that first
um, first week, or the seven months? Could you tell me a bit about that?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese; laughs]
[30:01]
HBB: Well, um, like, the first week they slept day, and then, like, nighttime they will wake up
and then cook and eat,
[Har Be Bar, Ya He Ma, and Cami laugh]
HBB: which is funny.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, because now it’s different time.
CD: Um hm.
HBB: It would be day here and then night over . . .
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CD: Um hm. Um hm. Anything else you’d like to share [I meant anything else to add to my
question I just posed, but Ya He Ma misunderstood me to mean that I was asking her if
she wanted to keep interviewing]?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm hm. Would, what else do you have more questions?
CD: What do I mean?
HBB: Um hm. No.
CD: Oh!
HBB: What do you have, like,
CD: Oh! For questions?
HBB: left?
CD: Um, we have a few more.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Are you alright if we, if we ask some more or are you tired?
[Cami laughs]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah.
CD: Ok. Um. You worked, you have a caseworker here, when you first arrived. Was he or she
helpful?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, he’s helpful.
CD: Hm. Did you get, did you receive aid from any, anyone else? A religious organization or
a government organization?
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HBB: Um, like help from . . . ?
CD: Help or aid. Yeah.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Help.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, there was a religious group that came, and then give cloth and food. Then they also
give their number. Like, if we need, we need help they can call.
CD: Do you remember the religious group?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, he remember. It’s in still in Salt Lake. And then it’s at the Mosque called [illegible,
she may be saying Khadeeja.]
CD: Ok. Through the Mosque?
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you ever go back there to Salt Lake to visit that mosque?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah he did, like, once a year when the Eid comes.
CD: Still do you?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: yes still.
CD: Do you have friends that, or acquaintances there that you meet when you go back?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yes.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
CD: Was there anything that could have been improved? For those people that helped you, do
you wish they would have done something else, or something more?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese].
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, um, they don’t have to, like, improve, like, improve themselves. Um it’s enough
from them. Like, they give free food and clothes. The shirts. Stuff.
CD: So it felt like
HBB: Yeah.
CD: it it was enough?
HBB: Um hm. Yeah, it was enough. And then they also, like, um, talk to them, like, don’t feel
bad in this country, its, like, a good country. Then they, the people are in here, like, very
nice. Like culturally. Yeah.
CD: How long have you lived in Cache Valley, or Logan?
YHM: [Responds in Burmese].
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese].
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
[35:02]
HBB: Seven years.
CD: Seven years [laughs]?! So the same amount of time that you spent, that you spent in the
camp.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah. Um hm.
CD: Wow.
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CD: What, what do you do here in, in Logan? What, what is it like for your family?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese].
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese].
HBB: Um she’s working at Miller [known as the E. A. Miller Plant, or the JBS Plant. I’m not
sure what the official name is; my research gave several names.]. And then also her
husband work. Yeah, at the beginning only her husband work, and then now she work,
just only, like, [Begins speaking in Burmese to her mother.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like, yeah, almost a month. Like, nine, nine months.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Oh, not a month! A year! Yeah.
CD: So just started?
HBB: Yeah just . . .
CD: This is your first year here? Working there?
HBB: Um hm.
HBB: No, like, no. [Begins speaking in Burmese to her mother.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: She work there like one, one year before. Yeah.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: And then she got pregnant, so she quit. And then now she started again.
CD: Ohhh. Wow.
CD: So what do you do at Miller?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese]
HBB: Um, when they already take out the skin. And then she would, like, clean the body of the
cow.
David: Eew.
DA: Um hm.
CD: Wow. Hard work?
YHM: Yeah. Hard.
CD: Wow. How many uh . . .
YHM: Hour?
CD: Yeah. How many hours and how many cows do you do? Every hour?
YHM: Today, [Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: 1800 cows per day. And then
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: seven and a half hours.
CD: Hmm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: That’s a lot of cows
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like, over a thousand cows.
CD: Hm.
DG: Wow.
CD: Are you, do you work by yourself? Do you work with other women? Other men?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um hm.
HBB: Oh with mens and womens around her.
CD: Um hm. Is the job that you do typically done by women or men?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, that work it’s not that hard, so it’s for women.
CD: Um hm. Are there many women that work at Miller? I guess compared to how many men
are there?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah there a lot of womens, but mens are, like, more mens.
DA: Um hm. Um hm.
CD: Do you, do you ever, Oh sorry go ahead [I interrupted Har Be Bar here, but she
acknowledged she had nothing more to say]!
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you ever see your husband at work?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No.
CD: No. You don’t . . . ?
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KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s different times.
CD: Ohh. So what . . . ?
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: He works more hour.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like, nine hours a day. And then, yeah. And the lunch time is different.
CD: Um hm.
HBB: So they never see each other.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[40:01]
HBB: in the same.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: She work in hot department and then he work in cold department.
CD: And what do you do there [asking Ka Ma Din]?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: He take out the, like, something from the skin. Not skin, but from the meat.
CD: Um hm.
DA: Um hm.
HBB: Yeah.
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KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um, like, three, like whole meat, in the minute.
CD: Oh. Three, three from the knife?
HBB: Yeah. Um hm.
DA: Wow.
CD: Three cuttings?
HB: Yeah, three cuttings.
CD: And because you work at, you’re working different shifts, do you, do you travel there
together in the morning, or do, how do you get to work?
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah it’s different. Um, they go, like. They didn’t go together. He go with his car and
then she go with other, like, coworker’s car.
CD: And are, are they friends from, um, this housing area here that you go? Or does
somebody pick you up from somewhere else?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, from, uh well, she live, like, very, pretty close from here.
CD: Um hm. K.
CD: Is this someone you met at work? Or knew before?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Mmm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: Yeah. She, she met her before she worked there.
CD: Do you feel like, do you feel included in the Logan community? Do you feel like your
family is accepted?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
[Maung Maung is talking in the background, as well as Ka Ma Din]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, they feel like part of the community.
CD: Is there anything that the, the, that you wish the community would do to make you feel
more welcome? Or things that you wish you could, or your family could, participate in
that would, would, would help you feel more welcome?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um, well, she’s living here, it’s um, they feel like part of the community, and then they
don’t have to like, they don’t have to improve.
CD: Ok.
HBB: Everything’s fine.
CD: How, how is your home here different than the one in the Thai camp? Or in Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s different, like, way different.
CD: Can you explain?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Well there . . .
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um, well, it’s, the house is made of um bamboo tree. And they don’t have couch
and beds. And they only have to sleep on the floor with pillow. And with the, uh they
make canopy too, because there are, like, bugs still. Yeah.
[45:16]
DA: That was my question about bugs.
[Cami laughs]
[The Muslim Call to prayer sounded from the computer in the room.]
CD: Is it . . . ?
David: Is it the call to prayer?
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yes.
CD: Should we . . . ?
DA: Do you need us to go?
HBB: Well, it’s ok. Well this time it’s fine.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, we are supposed to be, like, praying but
DG: We, we can step outside if you need to, if you need us to.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: Well, when that come, we have to listen,
DA: Ok.
HBB: so you can stay here.
CD: We will, we will stay if that’s alright.
HBB: Um hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
[Maung Maung is speaking in the background while the call to prayer is taking place.]
HBB: Ok it’s done now.
CD: Thanks.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Could you tell me about your experiences with your landlord?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um, well, she don’t have much experience with him because she lived in another
apartment for six years, so. Just only, about . . .
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: a year in here.
DG: Ok.
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CD: How, how was the landlord in the other place you were living for six years?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She’s a
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, she’s good. Yeah, she’s helpful.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[50:01]
HBB: Um, it’s not landlord. Like a manager.
CD: Manager.
HBB: Yeah.
CD: Mm hm.
HBB: We never see landlord, landlord
CD: Ok.
HBB: in that apartment.
CD: K. Ummm, what would you like the people of Logan to know about you and your
family? Your ethnic group?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, before they do, but now they don’t because, um well, they can handle, like, their
situation them, themselves, because now, like, I can help them with the letters that come. Yeah.
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CD: Oh the, the letters in the mail?
HBB: Yeah. Mm hm.
CD: Oh. Like the bills and
HBB: Yeah. Bills and stuff.
CD: everything like that? So, you don’t need, they don’t need any help?
HBB: No. No Help.
CD: Ok. Would you, would you like to go back to Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She would just like to visit. She don’t like to go live there, because, well, she has a father,
so she would like to go visit.
CD: I see. Do you ever get to talk to him or contact him? Your father?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, she called and . . .
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: And she sometimes send money to him.
CD: What are you most proud of?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um, they’re very happy that they could come here. And then people are here,
like, very fair, fairly. And then the policy, yeah the policy, they like the policy here.
Yeah, because people are here don’t look down to them. Then, yeah, from camp or
Burma, well the people, like, looked down. They don’t have money or anything. It’s way
different.
CD: What are your dreams for your future?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Her dream is to buy a house. And then his dream is, like, to raise his, his childrens. Like,
finish college. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
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CD: K. Those are, I’m done with my questions. Is there anything else you’d like to share with
us? That I haven’t asked you about?
[55:06]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She don’t have anything to say, but, for him, he’s happy that you guys came and asked
these questions. He’s very proud of them.
CD: We’re very grateful that you gave, that you let us.
DA: Thank you.
CD: Do any of you, I’m going to ask my colleagues if they have any follow-up questions from
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
CD: from the . . .
DA: I do. Do have questions?
DG: Ah yes, I do.
DA: Want to go first?
DG: Ok.
CD: So, go ahead, David.
DG: So, first, we spoke to Har Be Bar this morning [during Har Be Bar’s interview], and she
said that you, you organized the dishes [in the kitchen; the dishes are arranged in a
pattern for beauty; see photos.]? We, we it looked, it looked very, like
DA: It was beautiful.
DG: Yeah.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
DG: Now um, let me see. My next question is, I noticed you have Arabic posters on the walls.
Can you read Arabic? Or is it just for decoration?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, yeah they know how to read.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
DG: Is he, is he reading the text?
HBB: Hm?
DG: Is, is he reading the text or . . . ?
WBB: Well, that text is, it says, “Allah.” It’s, like, our god.
DA: Um hm. Um hm.
DG: I see.
HBB: Um hm. That one is Mecca. It’s in Saudi Arabia.
DA: Right.
DG: Um hm.
CD: Yeah.
DG: K. Awesome. Um, let me see. You said now that, you said now that you’re in this
apartment you have a couch and a bed. Um, do you prefer sitting on the couch, sleeping
on the bed? Or do you prefer what you had in Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Uh, yeah, she prefer a couch and beds.
DG: Ok. Ok now, uh, my last question: You said when you came here you got to a, you were
given a number to call if you ever needed help with something? And, I’m just curious,
did you ever call that number? And if so, what happened?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No. He never called.
DG: Ok. Those are my questions.
DA: Ok. Where in Oregon does your other daughter live?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: Portland.
HBB: Portland.
YHM: Portland. Portland.
KMD: Portland. Portland.
HBB: Portland.
DA: Portland!
HBB: Portland.
DA: Yeah. Oh yay!
CD: I have family there.
[all laugh]
DA: I love Portland.
CD: My dad is from Oregon.
DA: Yeah. Is she happy there?
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YHM: Yeah.
DA: Yes. She’s likes it there. Ok. Who has bigger bugs? Burma or America?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: There’s a jungle, so it’s bigger over there. Here, like, they never see the big [illegible
(bird?)].
DA: How big is the biggest bug?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[1:00:10]
HBB: Bird
[Laughs]
DA: Yeah
HBB: [laughs] Not bird. Not bird.
[Har Be Bar and Deanna laugh.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like you mean, like what kind of, like,
DA: Yeah. Like,
HBB: bugs
DA: yeah. So the jungle I would think
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HBB: Um hm.
DA: has different, different animals and different
HBB: Um hm.
DA: insects. You know? What were they like? They, I mean, ‘cause you say like you had to
have a, a bug shield or something?
HBB: Um hm.
DA: So from what? Like what? Little ones? Big ones?
HBB: Yeah! Um we, we had the bug, like, the canopy?
DA: Yeah! Canopy!
HBB: Yeah. Um it’s for the little bugs.
DA: The little, like, mosquitos and ?
HBB: Yeah the mosquito.
DA: Yeah.
HBB: Yeah.
DA: Ok. Um. Ok. This is, it’s ok if this is a question that we don’t want to talk about, but, in
America women usually live longer than men. But I hear a lot of you say, “My mother
has passed away.” Is there a reason for that? A reason why? It’s just different.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[1:02:06.4] First file ends
[00:01] Second file begins:
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: Because there are, like, no good hospitals
DA: No hospitals
HBB: and then by giving birth
DA: Um hm.
HBB: they pass away mostly.
DA: Um hm. That’s what I wondered. Ok. I think that’s all of my questions.
CD: I guess I had one more [laughs].
[Har Be Bar laughs]
CD: Because we talked about [laughs] furnishings in the home,
HBB: Um hm.
CD: I know you all have mats like this.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you get them from the Asian market? Or where, where do you get these mats from?
DA: They’re beautiful.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, from
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Asian Store.
CD: Um hm. ‘Cause I’ve seen them down there [West Valley area in a Polynesian store],
HBB: Um hm.
CD but I didn’t know [laughs]
HBB: Yeah, we all have it.
DA: Yeah.
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HBB: Each of our [selves? Illegible].
DA: Yeah. It’s very beautiful.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you have mats like, like this in Burma? Or the Thai camp? Or did you just start
getting them . . . ?
DA: ‘Cause you came here?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah. We do have in Burma. And in the camp.
DA: Um hm. So this is traditional?
HBB: Yeah. Yeah, traditional.
CD: Beautiful. Alright. Ok, well that, that concludes our interview. Thank you
DA: Yeah,
CD: very much.
DA: Thank you very much.
CD: We have forms.
DA: Yeah.
CD: Yeah a couple forms
DA: Um hm.
CD: to sign. Release forms. We’re hoping that you’ll, we can use this information. We’ll put it
in the Utah State library—in the archives. And we are also going to create an exhibit about your
community.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
CD: And we hope that you can attend the event? This is the invitation. Um, I’ll put my phone
number on the back if you need any help getting there—if you need a ride there. We’d like you
to bring your family and your friends if you . . .
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
DG: Now uh, as you guys are filling out the forms and stuff, would it be ok if I took a few
pictures?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
DG: Ok.
[All laugh. Ya He Ma seems a little nervous—Worried about how she looks.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
CD: That’s alright.
DA: You look beautiful.
[Cami laughs]
DA: You look beautiful. So shall I, can I stop the recording? Are we done?
CD: Oh, I guess I did have, I have one more question,
DA: Ok good.
CD: I do
DA: Um hm.
CD: Do you, do you still sew at all for, for your family, or do you sew, sew, um, for yourself
[I interrupt Har Be Bar’s translation]?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
CD: Sorry
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Well now she start working so she didn’t sew that much.
DA: Um hm.
CD: Alright, now I’m done.
DA: Ok. We will stop the recording now.
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[03:14]
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CACHE VALLEY REFUGEE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
Interviewee(s): Ya He Ma
Present: Ya He Ma (43 years); Har Be Bar (Translator; Ya He Ma’s eldest
daughter, 20 years); Ka ma Din, (Ya He Ma’s husband, 42 years); Fareda
(Ya He Ma’s youngest daughter, 16 years); Maung Maung (Ya He Ma’s
son, 5 years); Deanna Allred (recordist), Cami Dilg (interviewer); David
Giles (photographer)
Place of Interview: Ya He Ma’s apartment: 274 Riverbend Road, Apartment 4, Logan, Utah,
84321
Date of Interview: 18 May 2015
Language(s): Burmese; English
Translation:
Interviewer: Cami Dilg
Interpreter: Har Be Bar
Recordist: Deanna Allred
Photographer: David Giles
Recording Equipment: Tascam DR-100mk11 linear PCM recorder; Senal ENG-18RL
broadcast-quality omnidirectional dynamic microphone
Transcription Equipment: Express Scribe Transcription Software
Transcribed by: Cami Dilg, 23 May 2015
Transcript Proofed by:
Brief Description of Contents: Ya He Ma, a Burmese Muslim refugee from the Mae Sot
Thailand refugee camp talks about living and working in Mae Sot, violence in the camp,
applying for immigration to the United States, arrival in Salt Lake City, Utah, working with
caseworkers and aides from the Salt Lake City mosque, working at JBS Miller (both she and her
husband Ka Ma Din are employed there), Har Be Bar’s role as translator in the family, and life in
America. Ya He Ma’s son Maung Maung and daughter Har Be Bar were in the front room during
the interview. Her husband Ka Ma Din joined part way through the interview. Her daughter
Fareda was in her bedroom until the interview concluded and we took pictures of the family.
Reference: CD = Cami Dilg (Interviewer)
HBB = Har Be Bar (Translator; Ya He Ma’s eldest daughter)
YHM = Ya He Ma (Interviewee)
KMD = Ka Ma Din (Interviewee’s husband)
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F = Fareda (Ya He Ma’s youngest daughter)
MM = Maung Maung (Ya He Ma’s son)
DA = Deanna Allred (Recordist)
DG = David Giles (Photographer)
NOTE: The interview was conducted with an in-person interpreter. False starts, pauses, or
transitions in dialogue such as “uh” and starts and stops in conversations are not included in
transcript. All additions and added information to transcript are noted with brackets.
TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
[01:30]
CD: Alright. Today is May 18th, 2015, and we are here in Ya He Ma’s home apartment. We
are with the USU Voices project, and I guess we’ll re-introduce us: I’m going to be
interviewing today; Deanna Allred is the recordist; and David Giles is the photographer,
and with me is Har Be Bar, and she’s going to be translating; and this is [referring to Har
Be Bar] Ya He Ma’s daughter, and Ya He Ma’s going to be the interviewee. Ok. We’ll
just be asking one question at a time, and Har Be Bar’s going to be translating for us, so
we want to get as much detail from you [Ya He Ma] as possible, so we will do it [the
interview] kind of slow.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Nods in response.]
CD: Ok. If you could tell me, what is your full name and birth year?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese]
HBB: Full name is Ya He Ma. Then Birth date is January 1st,
YHM: 1972.
HBB: 1972.
[Maung Maung is speaking in the background]
CD: And what languages do you speak?
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YHM: Burmese
HBB: Burmese
CD: So tell me a little bit about your family.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
HBB: She has six peoples in her family: And then her oldest daughters got married. She moved
out to Oregon; and then her, me, another daughter, is going to USU; and then her
youngest, younger daughter going to high school; and the little one will be in school next
year.
CD: K. And could you tell me, or describe the ethnic or religious community of which you are
apart?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.] Muslim [Responding in Burmese.]
HBB: Um just some kind of Muslim group. In a group.
CD: Ok. Tell me about your birth country—where were you born and . . . ?
KMD: [In the kitchen; begins participating in the conversation.] Burma [Responding in
Burmese.]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um in Burma. She was born in Burma. And in Burma she had to work very hard to, like,
get food and stuff.
[05:05]
CD: What did you do for work in Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: She just uh, like, shew? Like sewing? Sew? And then her father work, like go to, go out
and work. And didn’t get a lot of money. Yeah. She doesn’t, like, she was younger and
then there’s no other jobs, so she did not work.
CD: Hm. That makes sense.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: How many children were there in your family?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Six.
CD: Six. And where do you fall? Are you the youngest? The middle? The oldest?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She’s the middle.
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CD: The middle.
YHM: Um hm.
CD: How long, how long did you live in Burma?
HBB: [Translating in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
HBB: Well she was born in 1972 and then 2000 . . . ?
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: 2000 she went to
YHM: [Speaks. I think she says: “Mayanmar. Mayanmar.”]
HBB: Refugee camp.
YHM: Refugee camp. Um hm.
HBB: So she don’t, she don’t know, like to guess how . . . ?
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Yeah. In 1972 to 2000.
CD: Why did you leave Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: She cannot live there anymore; there’s civil wars and the problems, so, so she have to
move.
CD: And what was your experience like leaving? Was it difficult
HBB: [Begins translating in Burmese.]
CD: or easy?
HBB: Sorry
[HBB and CD laugh because they started talking at the same time]
CD: Pardon me. Pardon me.
HBB: Ok.
CD: Go [ahead.] Was it difficult or easy? Can you describe what your departure was like?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s very difficult.
CD: And why was it difficult?
HBB: Um hm.
CD: I’m sure there’s probably many ways that it was.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s a difficult and then she had to go with across jungle. And then take a, like, in the city,
kind of, well she take a car to, to get a ride, get a ride. And walking, and get a ride too.
CD: Did you go with your whole family, or were you alone?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: With the family.
CD: And where did you relocate to? Where did you move from Burma to?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Thai refugee camp.
CD: K. What was your experience like living in the refugee camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[10:13]
HBB: Sometimes she just stay home, and then, there a group that give free foods. And then
when the time comes, like, the people in, like Mae Sot, in Thailand, they open a job for,
like, season. And then her husband and her go out work there, like, if they can. Um hm.
CD: For work did you, did you still sew? Or did you do something else in the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: In the camp, there is no jobs, so just sew a little. Not much.
CD: How did you get the materials for you to sew?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. She bought it.
CD: She bought it.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: In the camp, or did you have to go outside the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: Yeah, inside the camp.
CD: Inside the camp. You said that sometimes you were given, the that the food that you got
was free. What, what did you eat? Was it enough?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s not enough. They just give, like, rice and oil. And for the, like, fish and meat and
stuff she have to find a way to buy those things.
CD: And the meat
HBB: Um hm.
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CD: and the fish would be purchased,
HBB: Yeah
CD: again, outside of the
HBB: Um hm.
CD: camp?
CD: Ok. What about the medical care that you received in the camp? Tell me about that.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: There a hospital, and if you get sick you can go there
HBB: [asks Ya He Ma in Burmese to clarify her statement.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: yeah [confirms] for free.
CD: And the hospital was
HBB: Um hm.
CD: in the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Affirms.]
HBB: Yeah. In the camp.
CD: Did you have to go there often?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No she didn’t ‘cause, uh um, [illegible] she didn’t have to go.
CD: That’s good.
CD: Did any of your children have to go there?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No.
CD: What about the school? I, I’m assuming you didn’t attend, but maybe you did, if not,
could you tell me about, did your children go to school? What was that like?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Well she didn’t attend to school, but her childrens they don’t have to go to school.
It’s not like in here, if you want to you can go, and you don’t have to.
CD: So, your children did not go to school?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yes. They did.
CD: Ok, but it wasn’t required?
HBB: Yeah, it wasn’t required.
CD: And what were the, I’m going to follow that up with another question later, but [makes a
notation in notebook to ask a follow-up question prompted by the previous one she just
asked. Moving on down her list of questions:] what were the day-to-day living
conditions? What was it like spending a day in the camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
[15:02]
HBB: She had to worry about the food, ‘cause it’s not enough, and then she has no money, so
every day that she had to worry about money.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, because of the war, there is no work. And here, she can work, and then, if she
want, like, clothing, she can go buy. She can go buy . . . Yeah, she got money.
CD: Hm. That’s the difference.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: How many, because, you got married in the camp, um, how many children did you have
while you were still living there in the Thai camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. She, she got married in Burma, and then, her childrens are all born in Burma.
CD: Ohh. Ok.
KMD: [Speaking in Burmese in the background.]
CD: What about your religious holidays, or your worship, how could, how did that differ from
being in Burma, and then the camp?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: There’s no difference, because with her people, her community, they did, like, the same
thing.
CD: Ok.
HBB: And here also. It’s the same. They celebrate, the, the the religious holidays.
CD: Um hm. What did your celebrations look like in the camp then?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in English and Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in English and Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Yeah.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Um, the religious month, she had to fast for a month, and then after that, she had to,
like, cook for it—the holiday. And, and then the end of the holiday, she would, she
would, like, kill a cow and then serve the meat.
CD: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: If, only if she had money to, to buy cow.
[Har Be Bar and Cami laugh]
CD: I was going to ask you, how difficult was it to get a cow? Did you sometimes have to go
without a cow?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Well,
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, there’s people that who can buy cow, they will, like, give people that who don’t
have, who can’t buy, so, they share meat.
YHM: Um hm.
CD: That’s very nice.
HBB: Um hm. Yeah.
CD: What was the political climate towards refugees, of the, yeah, towards refugees? Was it,
does that make sense [asking Har Be Bar]?
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HBB: Yeah.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: He’s [Ka Ma Din] helping [laughs].
CD: That’s, that’s fine.
[20:00]
DG: Is that your dad?
HBB: Yeah, that’s my dad.
DA: What’s his name?
HBB: Ka Ma Din.
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DA: Ka Ma Din?
HBB: Um hm. Hm.
CD: Nice to meet you?
HBB: K-a, M-a, D-i-n [spelling his name].
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.] But the government there, uh, didn’t help at all. They just, like,
looked down to, to them.
DA: Hm. Um hm.
HBB: Yeah, they didn’t help. At all. That’s what he’s trying to say.
CD: Ok. That makes sense. Describe to me your feelings about, about safety in the camp.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Sometimes she feel like she’s not safe because um people might come to the camp and
then burn the houses and then with the gun come, can come and shoot them.
CD: Did you ever have this happen to you or see this happen to someone else?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese. (Ka Ma Din has)]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. It didn’t happen to them but they have seen that happen to others.
DA: Hm.
HBB: Yeah, the, they will come and kill and, like, shoot them, and then burn their houses.
CD: How did you learn about the U.S. refugee program?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: U.I.
YHM: U.I.
YHM: U.I.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: There is a group called the U.I. help the, the refugee camp, and then they would they
announce them: “If, if you guys want to come to U.S. you have to register.” And then if
you don’t want to then you don’t have to. So, that’s how they learned it.
CD: Ok. How did you apply? Did you have any help?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: There was, there was a translator that helped them with how many families they have.
And then, yeah, basically how to register, like, with the translator.
CD: So what about your parents? Where, where did they live?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Her mom already passed away; only her dad lived in then Burma.
CD: He’s in Burma still?
HBB: Yeah.
CD: And why is he still there?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Well, he’s not in the camp. He just in Burma. And then he’s very old so he cannot
come to U.S.
CD: Maybe going back to this question about getting help to apply for the refugee camp. You
said you had a translator. Describe for me the process? Was it difficult or easy? And how
long did it take for the application to go through?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[25:11]
HBB: It took, it took like, three months, because there are a lot of people. And then they have to
do the training to, like, how to get, when you get in the plane, what do you have to do,
like, they give, like, training for everything; also use, using the bathroom too. Like, sort
of that stuff.
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CD: So, preparing them culturally
HBB: Yeah. Um hm.
CD: for going to wherever they were going to.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: And where did those trainings take place?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, at the camp.
CD: At the camp. Did the, who did, who conducted the training?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: There are people from the U.S., and, like Americans and Thai people too.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. In one training there are two people, like, one American and the one the who can
speak English. Like the translator.
CD: And if this is too personal [laughs], but you said that you had to be trained, like, things
like, how
HBB: Um Hm.
CD: to use the bathrooms?
HBB: Um Hm.
CD: What is the, what’s the difference?
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HBB: Um, I know it so . . . [Har Be Bar does not need to ask her mother because she knows the
answer to my question.
CD: Ok. You go ahead.
HBB: Um hm. Yeah, for that, in the camp we just only use the water.
CD: Um Hm.
HBB: And then here they use toilet paper.
CD: Um Hm.
HBB: So yeah,
CD: Um Hm.
HBB: we don’t, you guys don’t use water, so we trained like that.
CD: Yeah, that’s true. Interesting.
HBB: Um hm. Yeah.
[all laugh]
CD: I personally think it’s better to use water
[all laugh]
YHM: [speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [speaks in Burmese.] Yeah.
CD: Alright. What other things, that you just didn’t know about before, or you know, for the
training, can you think of any?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, basically the training is for the plane. Like, inside of the plane you have to wear
seatbelt. And then you cannot just walk around. You have to stay in the seat, and then if
you need, like, help, and then you want to throw up, like, what do you need to do.
CD: So, pretty standard though, I guess [laughs],
HBB: [laughs]
CD: for anybody who is a first-time flyer.
HBB: Yeah [laughs].
[Cami and Har Be Bar laugh]
CD: Alright. And how long were you in the Thai camp?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese]
HBB: Seven years
CD: Seven years. Wow.
CD: Where did you first arrive in the U.S.?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Uh hm. Salt Lake City.
CD: Salt Lake City?
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah then case, caseworker um, like, send them here [I am assuming she means Cache
Valley], because they have job here for them.
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CD: How long were you in Salt Lake before you moved to Logan?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Six months.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese
CD: Six months. What was, what was that first day, like in, in the United States, or that first
um, first week, or the seven months? Could you tell me a bit about that?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese; laughs]
[30:01]
HBB: Well, um, like, the first week they slept day, and then, like, nighttime they will wake up
and then cook and eat,
[Har Be Bar, Ya He Ma, and Cami laugh]
HBB: which is funny.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, because now it’s different time.
CD: Um hm.
HBB: It would be day here and then night over . . .
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CD: Um hm. Um hm. Anything else you’d like to share [I meant anything else to add to my
question I just posed, but Ya He Ma misunderstood me to mean that I was asking her if
she wanted to keep interviewing]?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm hm. Would, what else do you have more questions?
CD: What do I mean?
HBB: Um hm. No.
CD: Oh!
HBB: What do you have, like,
CD: Oh! For questions?
HBB: left?
CD: Um, we have a few more.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Are you alright if we, if we ask some more or are you tired?
[Cami laughs]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah.
CD: Ok. Um. You worked, you have a caseworker here, when you first arrived. Was he or she
helpful?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, he’s helpful.
CD: Hm. Did you get, did you receive aid from any, anyone else? A religious organization or
a government organization?
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HBB: Um, like help from . . . ?
CD: Help or aid. Yeah.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Help.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, there was a religious group that came, and then give cloth and food. Then they also
give their number. Like, if we need, we need help they can call.
CD: Do you remember the religious group?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, he remember. It’s in still in Salt Lake. And then it’s at the Mosque called [illegible,
she may be saying Khadeeja.]
CD: Ok. Through the Mosque?
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you ever go back there to Salt Lake to visit that mosque?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah he did, like, once a year when the Eid comes.
CD: Still do you?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: yes still.
CD: Do you have friends that, or acquaintances there that you meet when you go back?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yes.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
CD: Was there anything that could have been improved? For those people that helped you, do
you wish they would have done something else, or something more?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese].
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, um, they don’t have to, like, improve, like, improve themselves. Um it’s enough
from them. Like, they give free food and clothes. The shirts. Stuff.
CD: So it felt like
HBB: Yeah.
CD: it it was enough?
HBB: Um hm. Yeah, it was enough. And then they also, like, um, talk to them, like, don’t feel
bad in this country, its, like, a good country. Then they, the people are in here, like, very
nice. Like culturally. Yeah.
CD: How long have you lived in Cache Valley, or Logan?
YHM: [Responds in Burmese].
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese].
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
[35:02]
HBB: Seven years.
CD: Seven years [laughs]?! So the same amount of time that you spent, that you spent in the
camp.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah. Um hm.
CD: Wow.
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CD: What, what do you do here in, in Logan? What, what is it like for your family?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese].
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese].
HBB: Um she’s working at Miller [known as the E. A. Miller Plant, or the JBS Plant. I’m not
sure what the official name is; my research gave several names.]. And then also her
husband work. Yeah, at the beginning only her husband work, and then now she work,
just only, like, [Begins speaking in Burmese to her mother.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like, yeah, almost a month. Like, nine, nine months.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Oh, not a month! A year! Yeah.
CD: So just started?
HBB: Yeah just . . .
CD: This is your first year here? Working there?
HBB: Um hm.
HBB: No, like, no. [Begins speaking in Burmese to her mother.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: She work there like one, one year before. Yeah.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: And then she got pregnant, so she quit. And then now she started again.
CD: Ohhh. Wow.
CD: So what do you do at Miller?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese]
HBB: Um, when they already take out the skin. And then she would, like, clean the body of the
cow.
David: Eew.
DA: Um hm.
CD: Wow. Hard work?
YHM: Yeah. Hard.
CD: Wow. How many uh . . .
YHM: Hour?
CD: Yeah. How many hours and how many cows do you do? Every hour?
YHM: Today, [Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: 1800 cows per day. And then
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: seven and a half hours.
CD: Hmm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: That’s a lot of cows
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like, over a thousand cows.
CD: Hm.
DG: Wow.
CD: Are you, do you work by yourself? Do you work with other women? Other men?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um hm.
HBB: Oh with mens and womens around her.
CD: Um hm. Is the job that you do typically done by women or men?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, that work it’s not that hard, so it’s for women.
CD: Um hm. Are there many women that work at Miller? I guess compared to how many men
are there?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah there a lot of womens, but mens are, like, more mens.
DA: Um hm. Um hm.
CD: Do you, do you ever, Oh sorry go ahead [I interrupted Har Be Bar here, but she
acknowledged she had nothing more to say]!
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you ever see your husband at work?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No.
CD: No. You don’t . . . ?
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KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s different times.
CD: Ohh. So what . . . ?
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: He works more hour.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like, nine hours a day. And then, yeah. And the lunch time is different.
CD: Um hm.
HBB: So they never see each other.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[40:01]
HBB: in the same.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: She work in hot department and then he work in cold department.
CD: And what do you do there [asking Ka Ma Din]?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: He take out the, like, something from the skin. Not skin, but from the meat.
CD: Um hm.
DA: Um hm.
HBB: Yeah.
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KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um, like, three, like whole meat, in the minute.
CD: Oh. Three, three from the knife?
HBB: Yeah. Um hm.
DA: Wow.
CD: Three cuttings?
HB: Yeah, three cuttings.
CD: And because you work at, you’re working different shifts, do you, do you travel there
together in the morning, or do, how do you get to work?
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah it’s different. Um, they go, like. They didn’t go together. He go with his car and
then she go with other, like, coworker’s car.
CD: And are, are they friends from, um, this housing area here that you go? Or does
somebody pick you up from somewhere else?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, from, uh well, she live, like, very, pretty close from here.
CD: Um hm. K.
CD: Is this someone you met at work? Or knew before?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Mmm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: Yeah. She, she met her before she worked there.
CD: Do you feel like, do you feel included in the Logan community? Do you feel like your
family is accepted?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
[Maung Maung is talking in the background, as well as Ka Ma Din]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, they feel like part of the community.
CD: Is there anything that the, the, that you wish the community would do to make you feel
more welcome? Or things that you wish you could, or your family could, participate in
that would, would, would help you feel more welcome?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um, well, she’s living here, it’s um, they feel like part of the community, and then they
don’t have to like, they don’t have to improve.
CD: Ok.
HBB: Everything’s fine.
CD: How, how is your home here different than the one in the Thai camp? Or in Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: It’s different, like, way different.
CD: Can you explain?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Well there . . .
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um, well, it’s, the house is made of um bamboo tree. And they don’t have couch
and beds. And they only have to sleep on the floor with pillow. And with the, uh they
make canopy too, because there are, like, bugs still. Yeah.
[45:16]
DA: That was my question about bugs.
[Cami laughs]
[The Muslim Call to prayer sounded from the computer in the room.]
CD: Is it . . . ?
David: Is it the call to prayer?
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Yes.
CD: Should we . . . ?
DA: Do you need us to go?
HBB: Well, it’s ok. Well this time it’s fine.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, we are supposed to be, like, praying but
DG: We, we can step outside if you need to, if you need us to.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: Well, when that come, we have to listen,
DA: Ok.
HBB: so you can stay here.
CD: We will, we will stay if that’s alright.
HBB: Um hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
[Maung Maung is speaking in the background while the call to prayer is taking place.]
HBB: Ok it’s done now.
CD: Thanks.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Could you tell me about your experiences with your landlord?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um, well, she don’t have much experience with him because she lived in another
apartment for six years, so. Just only, about . . .
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: a year in here.
DG: Ok.
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CD: How, how was the landlord in the other place you were living for six years?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She’s a
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, she’s good. Yeah, she’s helpful.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[50:01]
HBB: Um, it’s not landlord. Like a manager.
CD: Manager.
HBB: Yeah.
CD: Mm hm.
HBB: We never see landlord, landlord
CD: Ok.
HBB: in that apartment.
CD: K. Ummm, what would you like the people of Logan to know about you and your
family? Your ethnic group?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, before they do, but now they don’t because, um well, they can handle, like, their
situation them, themselves, because now, like, I can help them with the letters that come. Yeah.
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CD: Oh the, the letters in the mail?
HBB: Yeah. Mm hm.
CD: Oh. Like the bills and
HBB: Yeah. Bills and stuff.
CD: everything like that? So, you don’t need, they don’t need any help?
HBB: No. No Help.
CD: Ok. Would you, would you like to go back to Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She would just like to visit. She don’t like to go live there, because, well, she has a father,
so she would like to go visit.
CD: I see. Do you ever get to talk to him or contact him? Your father?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, she called and . . .
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: And she sometimes send money to him.
CD: What are you most proud of?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm. Um, they’re very happy that they could come here. And then people are here,
like, very fair, fairly. And then the policy, yeah the policy, they like the policy here.
Yeah, because people are here don’t look down to them. Then, yeah, from camp or
Burma, well the people, like, looked down. They don’t have money or anything. It’s way
different.
CD: What are your dreams for your future?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Her dream is to buy a house. And then his dream is, like, to raise his, his childrens. Like,
finish college. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
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CD: K. Those are, I’m done with my questions. Is there anything else you’d like to share with
us? That I haven’t asked you about?
[55:06]
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. Hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: She don’t have anything to say, but, for him, he’s happy that you guys came and asked
these questions. He’s very proud of them.
CD: We’re very grateful that you gave, that you let us.
DA: Thank you.
CD: Do any of you, I’m going to ask my colleagues if they have any follow-up questions from
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
CD: from the . . .
DA: I do. Do have questions?
DG: Ah yes, I do.
DA: Want to go first?
DG: Ok.
CD: So, go ahead, David.
DG: So, first, we spoke to Har Be Bar this morning [during Har Be Bar’s interview], and she
said that you, you organized the dishes [in the kitchen; the dishes are arranged in a
pattern for beauty; see photos.]? We, we it looked, it looked very, like
DA: It was beautiful.
DG: Yeah.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
DG: Now um, let me see. My next question is, I noticed you have Arabic posters on the walls.
Can you read Arabic? Or is it just for decoration?
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Well, yeah they know how to read.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Um hm.
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
DG: Is he, is he reading the text?
HBB: Hm?
DG: Is, is he reading the text or . . . ?
WBB: Well, that text is, it says, “Allah.” It’s, like, our god.
DA: Um hm. Um hm.
DG: I see.
HBB: Um hm. That one is Mecca. It’s in Saudi Arabia.
DA: Right.
DG: Um hm.
CD: Yeah.
DG: K. Awesome. Um, let me see. You said now that, you said now that you’re in this
apartment you have a couch and a bed. Um, do you prefer sitting on the couch, sleeping
on the bed? Or do you prefer what you had in Burma?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Uh, yeah, she prefer a couch and beds.
DG: Ok. Ok now, uh, my last question: You said when you came here you got to a, you were
given a number to call if you ever needed help with something? And, I’m just curious,
did you ever call that number? And if so, what happened?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: No. He never called.
DG: Ok. Those are my questions.
DA: Ok. Where in Oregon does your other daughter live?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: Portland.
HBB: Portland.
YHM: Portland. Portland.
KMD: Portland. Portland.
HBB: Portland.
DA: Portland!
HBB: Portland.
DA: Yeah. Oh yay!
CD: I have family there.
[all laugh]
DA: I love Portland.
CD: My dad is from Oregon.
DA: Yeah. Is she happy there?
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YHM: Yeah.
DA: Yes. She’s likes it there. Ok. Who has bigger bugs? Burma or America?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: There’s a jungle, so it’s bigger over there. Here, like, they never see the big [illegible
(bird?)].
DA: How big is the biggest bug?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm. [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Hm.
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[1:00:10]
HBB: Bird
[Laughs]
DA: Yeah
HBB: [laughs] Not bird. Not bird.
[Har Be Bar and Deanna laugh.]
YHM: [Speaks in Burmese.]
HBB: Like you mean, like what kind of, like,
DA: Yeah. Like,
HBB: bugs
DA: yeah. So the jungle I would think
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HBB: Um hm.
DA: has different, different animals and different
HBB: Um hm.
DA: insects. You know? What were they like? They, I mean, ‘cause you say like you had to
have a, a bug shield or something?
HBB: Um hm.
DA: So from what? Like what? Little ones? Big ones?
HBB: Yeah! Um we, we had the bug, like, the canopy?
DA: Yeah! Canopy!
HBB: Yeah. Um it’s for the little bugs.
DA: The little, like, mosquitos and ?
HBB: Yeah the mosquito.
DA: Yeah.
HBB: Yeah.
DA: Ok. Um. Ok. This is, it’s ok if this is a question that we don’t want to talk about, but, in
America women usually live longer than men. But I hear a lot of you say, “My mother
has passed away.” Is there a reason for that? A reason why? It’s just different.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: [Speaks in Burmese.]
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
[1:02:06.4] First file ends
[00:01] Second file begins:
KMD: [Speaks in Burmese.]
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HBB: Because there are, like, no good hospitals
DA: No hospitals
HBB: and then by giving birth
DA: Um hm.
HBB: they pass away mostly.
DA: Um hm. That’s what I wondered. Ok. I think that’s all of my questions.
CD: I guess I had one more [laughs].
[Har Be Bar laughs]
CD: Because we talked about [laughs] furnishings in the home,
HBB: Um hm.
CD: I know you all have mats like this.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you get them from the Asian market? Or where, where do you get these mats from?
DA: They’re beautiful.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah, from
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Asian Store.
CD: Um hm. ‘Cause I’ve seen them down there [West Valley area in a Polynesian store],
HBB: Um hm.
CD but I didn’t know [laughs]
HBB: Yeah, we all have it.
DA: Yeah.
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HBB: Each of our [selves? Illegible].
DA: Yeah. It’s very beautiful.
HBB: Um hm.
CD: Do you have mats like, like this in Burma? Or the Thai camp? Or did you just start
getting them . . . ?
DA: ‘Cause you came here?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Yeah. We do have in Burma. And in the camp.
DA: Um hm. So this is traditional?
HBB: Yeah. Yeah, traditional.
CD: Beautiful. Alright. Ok, well that, that concludes our interview. Thank you
DA: Yeah,
CD: very much.
DA: Thank you very much.
CD: We have forms.
DA: Yeah.
CD: Yeah a couple forms
DA: Um hm.
CD: to sign. Release forms. We’re hoping that you’ll, we can use this information. We’ll put it
in the Utah State library—in the archives. And we are also going to create an exhibit about your
community.
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
CD: And we hope that you can attend the event? This is the invitation. Um, I’ll put my phone
number on the back if you need any help getting there—if you need a ride there. We’d like you
to bring your family and your friends if you . . .
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HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
DG: Now uh, as you guys are filling out the forms and stuff, would it be ok if I took a few
pictures?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
KMD: [Responds in Burmese.]
DG: Ok.
[All laugh. Ya He Ma seems a little nervous—Worried about how she looks.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
CD: That’s alright.
DA: You look beautiful.
[Cami laughs]
DA: You look beautiful. So shall I, can I stop the recording? Are we done?
CD: Oh, I guess I did have, I have one more question,
DA: Ok good.
CD: I do
DA: Um hm.
CD: Do you, do you still sew at all for, for your family, or do you sew, sew, um, for yourself
[I interrupt Har Be Bar’s translation]?
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
CD: Sorry
HBB: [Translates in Burmese.]
YHM: [Responds in Burmese.]
HBB: Well now she start working so she didn’t sew that much.
DA: Um hm.
CD: Alright, now I’m done.
DA: Ok. We will stop the recording now.
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[03:14]
Source
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives, Cache Valley Refugee Oral History Project, FOLK COLL 58
Date
2015-05-18
Rights
Reproduction for publication, exhibition, web display or commercial use is only permissible with the consent of the USU Special Collections and Archives, phone (435) 797-2663;
Relation
Cache Valley Refugee Oral History Project
An inventory for this collection can be found at : http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv67608
Cache Valley Refugee Oral History Project Digital Collection
Language
Type
Identifier
http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16944coll14/id/102
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