Sophomore Sai Rat, came to the U.S. in 2007. He was 6 when he and mother came to the states, his father Ceu Naw Thang, did not come with them.

Rat says his father  was in Malaysia before being able to come to the states. Rat didn’t know his dad very well. He says his dad left for Malaysia before he was born. So he and his mother came to the U.S. without him.

Not being able to see his father for eight years, Rat says that he really didn’t think about him because he didn’t know enough about him. His mother showed him pictures of his father and told him stories about him and of him all the time according to Rat.

Rat had the reassurance of knowledgeable hope of getting to see his father someday.

“I was born in 1999, but my dad went to Malaysia before I was born,” Rat said. “The first time I saw my dad was after he came back from Malaysia.”

Education in Burma was different than how it is in the states. If they don’t have money, they can’t go to school, because schools there are expensive. The United States has a higher education rate than Burma does according to Rat.  He says that the teachers would hurt the students if you talked to them or weren’t paying attention during class, and that the relationships teachers in America are different than the relationships students have with their teacher in Burma

Rats mother, Esun Zathang was a Language Arts teacher in Burma, but she did not hurt the  students like the other teachers did. Talking in school was not allowed according to Rat. Teachers had sticks they would use when they did anything.

“…Back in Burma, the teachers have sticks, so they could just like hit you and you can’t do anything about it,” Rat said.

Rat’s parents like America very much, it does not compare to how it was in Burma. Zathang says that their life is very comfortable here.

“It’s a beautiful country, and people are kind and friendly,” Zathang said.

According to Rat, they feel as though they have more freedom and there is better education for his sister and himself.

Now, in America, Both Rats parents have jobs working in a factory. Rat says that it brings in more money than they’ve ever made for his family.

Rat says he believes coming to the U.S. was the best thing that has ever happened to them.

“The living standard is high, and we can do what we want, with the freedom and better education in America,” Zathang said.

According to Thang, living in the U.S. feels like a dream.