In the country of Cambodia, in the year 1975, my grandma had to take my dad and his siblings to flee the country to escape from genocide and incoming war and conflict. My grandma ended up in a refugee camp somewhere in Thailand. When she was in the refugee camp, she learned how to paint things like animals from some other people in the refugee camp. It became one of my grandma’s favorite hobbies, to get her mind away from the grief the war brought upon her after losing almost everything.  When my grandma moved with her family to the U.S a few years later, she continued to do what she liked to do, painting animals. She started selling paintings for money to pay for rent and to feed my dad and my other aunts and uncles. She eventually used some of this money to improve her family’s life, by buying a house and a vehicle. After I was born, my grandma liked to paint artwork for me to show her love and affection for me. On my fifth birthday, my grandma gifted me a painting of a sunflower that she had worked really hard on to paint for me. This means a lot to me because it symbolizes how if you put your heart into something, you can achieve great things, such as make people happy and support your family, just like how my grandma did when she started painting. 

– Nathan Voeung

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant