My life as a refugee in Malaysia: Mee Chung's story

I grew up in a small village in Mon state, which is in the east of Myanmar. My mum and dad had a small farm and grew rice. My older sister got married and had two children. But she found it very hard to make enough money to survive, so she came to Malaysia with her husband in 2004. They left the children with my parents, so that they could be looked after.

I was scared of staying in my village. The military sometimes came and harassed people, especially women on their own. My parents were very old, and were worried about my safety, since I didn't have a brother or husband to protect me. So I decided to run away to Malaysia.