I am Karen. The country where I was born is Burma. This landscape is of Kwe Ka Baw mountain in Myanmar, also known as Burma. I left Burma when I was 4 or 5 years old. Before I came to the United States I lived in a Thai refugee camp for about 10 years, so I don’t remember a lot about Burma. In my landscape, you can see the big mountain called Kwe Ka Baw mountain. This is what it looked like many years ago. My uncle told me about this mountain. Only Karen people lived there a long time ago. Karen farmers planted rice and banana plants around Kwe Ka Baw mountain. The farmers and their families lived in the houses next to the river.  The mountain was mostly covered by grass, trees, and rocks. My painting is important for me, because I can remember the place where I was born and lived for four years. It is in Karen State in Burma. I never went to see or visit this mountain. I will go there one day to see what it looks like right now. I want to see if it looks like how I painted it in my picture. I also want to go back to see my relatives who still live there and see the village where I was born.

– LEAP High School Student

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant